The title “Intolerable Cruelty” suggests we’re about to view something unbearably cruel. It’s a film that attempts to be both humanistic and cruel at the same time.

George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a brightly-smiling divorce lawyer who makes a killing at his profession. Although many other savage lawyers across this trial-plagued nation probably would drool at the chance to fill his shoes, Miles is stricken with a case of boredom — a midlife crisis for the increasingly spoiled. Of course, we don’t hate Miles. He’s charming, well-groomed, well-lit, and most of the time, he’s actually a little compassionate (for a lawyer).

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However, Miles is quite a strange character. One minute he’s uttering cliches, and the next he’s quoting Shakespeare. Clooney plays Miles with intellectual daftness. Had another actor played the part, I may have felt pity for him — but Clooney invokes the opposite. We know Miles will bounce back from any setback, and he’ll make us laugh doing so.

Miles is stuck, bored with his life until his next big case walks through his door. Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) has been caught cheating by his wife, Marilyn, and he consults Miles to get him off the hook in divorce court. Did I mention Miles has a prenuptial agreement named after him? In other words, this guy does not lose a case.

And he wins this one, but there’s a minor setback — he falls for Marilyn. She’s a sure choice for a divorce lawyer; she’s snotty, she’s rich and she’s extremely gorgeous.

But Marilyn is played by the always untrustworthy Catherine Zeta-Jones. I ask you, when was the last time a Zeta-Jones character did anything good for anybody? With Zeta-Jones cast, we know Marilyn is not sweet, she’s not honest and she’s bound to ruin someone by the end of the film. And the easy part: We know it will be Miles.

One could argue the Coen brothers, who directed and produced the film, didn’t want to give us too many surprises in the narrative for effect. In some ways, the satirical nature of the film makes it humorous enough. But still, I expect a lot more than this out of the duo who gave us the last Clooney collaboration “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and the masterpiece “Fargo.”

The film’s script almost is as pretentious as its characters. Whichever one of the four writers had the idea for the slow clap near the end of the film either will be considered a two-bit hack, or a maniacal genius.

The slow clap has been around for ages — a character gives a resounding speech, then one single individual in a large crowd begins a slow “clap … clap … clap.” The rest of the crowd looks around and joins in, leading to a standing ovation. Other than the classic “table flip,” the “slow clap” is the ultimate movie cliche.

No doubt the Coen brothers did this intentionally. It’s as if they want to suck the average moviegoer into this conventional trap, just for their own giggles. Think it sounds ludicrous? People at my screening were cheering at this moment of the film. All I could picture was one of the brothers sitting in the back row, laughing at the mockery they just made of the audience.

You may feel this is quite pretentious or exceedingly hilarious. But it’s the perfect situation to describe “Intolerable Cruelty” — a funny, arrogant, tolerable film.