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Ladykillers

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Ladykillers (2004)

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Reviews Counted:182

Fresh:100

Rotten:82

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.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language including sexual references

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Comedies

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... 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]

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

Starring: Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, Tzi Ma, Ryan Hurst, Diane Delano, George Wallace, Stephen Root

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

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
Studio: Touchstone Pictures

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Release:

Sep 7, 2004

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • The Ladykillers
  • Academy Award(R)-winning Tom Hanks (Best Actor, FORREST GUMP, 1994; PHILADELPHIA, 1993) turns in a hilariously original performance in THE LADYKILLERS, the laugh-out-loud comedy that explodes with outrageous wit and slapstick humor from the Coen Brothers (O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?, FARGO). Underneath Professor G.H. Dorr's (Hanks) silver-tongued southern gentleman persona is a devious criminal who has assembled a motley gang of thieves to commit the heist of the century by tunneling through his churchgoing landlady's root cellar to a casino's vault of riches. But these cons are far from pros. As their scheme begins blowing up in their faces, their landlady smells a rat. And when she threatens to call the police, they figure they'll just bump her off. After all, how hard can that be? Wickedly funny from start to finish, it would be a crime to miss THE LADYKILLERS.
  • Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Ladykillers

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
    04/29/09
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Cinema Crazed
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
    10/18/08
    Urban Cinefile Critics
    Urban Cinefile Critics
    Urban Cinefile

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
    08/07/08
    Mark Halverson
    Mark Halverson
    Sacramento News & Review

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

    Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
    09/24/07
    Rob Gonsalves
    Rob Gonsalves
    eFilmCritic.com

    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 Source: Slate | comment Comment
    08/18/07
    David Edelstein
    David Edelstein
    Slate

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
    07/14/07
    Joe Lozito
    Joe Lozito
    Big Picture Big Sound

    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 Source: Princeton Town Topics | comment Comment
    05/02/07
    Kam Williams
    Kam Williams
    Princeton Town Topics

    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 Source: Lawrence.com | comment Comment
    09/29/06
    Eric Melin
    Eric Melin
    Lawrence.com

    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 Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    06/24/06
    Geoff Andrew
    Geoff Andrew
    Time Out

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

    Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
    12/06/05
    Mark Sells
    Mark Sells
    Film Threat

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

    Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
    12/06/05
    Rick Kisonak
    Rick Kisonak
    Film Threat

    A lukewarm live-action Loony Tunes cartoon.

    Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
    05/04/05
    Nick Schager
    Nick Schager
    Lessons of Darkness

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
    03/14/05
    Garth Franklin
    Garth Franklin
    Dark Horizons

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
    03/06/05
    Independent

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

    Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
    03/05/05
    Ethan Alter
    Ethan Alter
    NYC Film Critic

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

    Full Review Source: ToxicUniverse.com | comment Comment
    01/31/05
    Dan Callahan
    Dan Callahan
    ToxicUniverse.com

    ... 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 Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
    01/27/05
    Philip Martin
    Philip Martin
    Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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

    Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
    12/31/04
    Jeffrey Overstreet
    Jeffrey Overstreet
    Christianity Today

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

    Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
    10/07/04
    Tony Medley
    Tony Medley
    tonymedley.com

    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 Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
    09/08/04
    John J. Puccio
    John J. Puccio
    DVDTown.com
     
     
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