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Ladykillers

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Ladykillers (2004)

55%
45%
52%
N/A
N/A
N/A
55 %
Reviews Counted: 181 Fresh: 100  Rotten:81 Average Rating: 6.1/10
 
Consensus: Hanks' performance in the lead role is inspired, but this is a relatively minor offering from the Coen brothers.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Theatrical Release: Mar 26, 2004 Wide

Box Office: $39,671,084

Synopsis: It is always difficult to try to recreate a classic movie, so Joel and Ethan Coen took the premise of Alexander Mackendrick's beloved 1955 Ealing Studio caper comedy, THE LADYKILLERS, as the basis for coming up with their own entertaining and bizarre remake. Tom Hanks stars as Goldthwait... It is always difficult to try to recreate a classic movie, so Joel and Ethan Coen took the premise of Alexander Mackendrick's beloved 1955 Ealing Studio caper comedy, THE LADYKILLERS, as the basis for coming up with their own entertaining and bizarre remake. Tom Hanks stars as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, Ph.D., a would-be professor who talks his way into the root cellar of Mrs. Munson (Irma P. Hall), where he and his supposed band will practice their "Renaissance music." But they are actually plotting to tunnel through to steal a mint from a riverboat casino. The motley crew of incompetent criminals includes Marlon Wayans as Gawain MacSam, a hip-hoppity thug pretending to be a janitor; J.K. Simmons as movie prop man and demolition "expert" Garth Pancake, who has problems with intestinal bowel syndrome; Tzi Ma as the General, a Vietnamese tunnel rat with a Hitler mustache; and Ryan Hurst as a pathetically dumb football wannabe named Lump. Just when they think all is going well, they run into a curious Mrs. Munson, who smells something funny. The film includes several exhilarating Gospel scenes set in southern churches, and lots of riotous site gags. The Coen brothers have done it yet again. [More]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, Tzi Ma

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Screenwriter: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Producer: Barry Josephson, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Tom Jacobson, Barry Sonnenfeld
Composer: Carter Burwell, T-Bone Burnett

DVD Info

Release:

Sep 7, 2004

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - French

Additional Release Material:

  • Featurette - 1. Danny Ferrington: The Man Behind the Band
  • Additional Footage - 1. The Slap Reel - Outtakes
  • 2. Gospel of THE LADYKILLERS - Deleted Music Scenes

DVD-ROM Features:

  • THE LADYKILLERS Script Scanner

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image
4/5

Hanks is looser and funnier than he has been in quite some time.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/24/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
N/A

The Ladykillers is small and compact -- it doesn't kill, it's just a doodle -- but it's a very pleasant cartoon for grown-ups. It's some sweet fodder.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/18/07
David Edelstein
Slate
Ratings Image
3/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image
3/4

Despite cartoonish characters, over-the-top hijinks, and occasional lapses of bad taste, any movie that leaves you laughing up the aisle, has to remain well-recommended.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/02/07
Kam Williams
Princeton Town Topics
Ratings Image
2/4

The story, adapted by the Coens themselves, is reduced to a series of hoops the characters must jump through to prove just how strange they are.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/29/06
Eric Melin
Lawrence.com
Ratings Image
N/A

While being far from the Coens' finest hour, it remains more intelligent and ambitious than most of what currently passes for Hollywood mainstream comedy.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Ratings Image
3.5/5

Good but not great, The Ladykillers is simple, somewhat funny and 'nothing more.'

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Mark Sells
Film Threat
Ratings Image
3.5/5

The picture ranks with the brothers' best mid level output.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat
Ratings Image
N/A

A lukewarm live-action Loony Tunes cartoon.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
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2.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/14/05
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image
2/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/06/05
Independent
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Here's hoping their next project aims a little bit higher.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

The Coen Brothers remake of The Ladykillers is a half-baked mess.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/31/05
Dan Callahan
ToxicUniverse.com
Ratings Image
B-

... second-tier Coen brothers ... technically excellent and never less than entertaining, it doesn't arrest and stun the way Miller's Crossing or Fargo or Raising Arizona did.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/27/05
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image
2.5/4

That sophisticated stride that made [the Coen Brothers'] first run of films so remarkable has here degenerated into a sophomoric stumble.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/31/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Christianity Today
Ratings Image
9/10

This is one of the best-cast films I’ve seen in a long time.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com
Ratings Image
6/10

The Ladykillers contains several gross errors of judgment that must have given the Coens at least some degree of hesitation at some point in the filmmaking process.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/08/04
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
Ratings Image
3.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
08/23/04
Sunday Times (Australia)
Ratings Image
N/A

Exciting and perplexing at once.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/08/04
Rex Roberts
Film Journal International
Ratings Image
N/A

It's both lowdown and effete, a jamboree of whoopee jokes and sick wit.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/07/04
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
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Related Forums

Majdy
Is That True That Tom Was Disappointing In This Movie?
by: Majdy 2/11


Darko, Donnie
THE LADYKILLERS features a lot of Tom Hanks & only a few laughs, why is that? (SLAP!)
by: Darko, Donnie 7/9/06


THE spammer - NO mercy!
Is this the year all the classics get remade...almost as much fun as colorizing, eh?
by: THE spammer - NO mercy! 1/6/05


THE spammer - NO mercy!
Is this the year all the classics get remade...almost as much fun as colorizing, eh?
by: THE spammer - NO mercy! 1/6/05


Coen Brothers Missed Classics
by: sharpe95th 11/29/04
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Around the Network

• Ladykillers at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ladykillers at IGN
• Ladykillers at AskMen
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