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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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    Full Review Source: Sunday Times (Australia) | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Sunday Times (Australia)

    Exciting and perplexing at once.

    Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
    08/08/04
    Rex Roberts
    Rex Roberts
    Film Journal International

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

    Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
    08/07/04
    Peter Rainer
    Peter Rainer
    New York Magazine
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Everybody in and around this movie is trying too hard.

    Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
    08/01/04
    Anthony Lane
    Anthony Lane
    New Yorker

    The Coens have found their stride again.

    Full Review Source: FilmFocus | comment Comment
    07/20/04
    Joe Utichi
    Joe Utichi
    FilmFocus

    The film offers several big laughs, some of which are so outrageous, audiences will likely be talking about them after the show.

    Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
    07/08/04
    Christopher Smith
    Christopher Smith
    Bangor Daily News (Maine)

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
    07/03/04
    Anton Bitel
    Anton Bitel
    Movie Gazette

    Enjoyable Coen caper, enlivened by a strong comic performance by Tom Hanks.

    Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
    07/03/04
    Matthew Turner
    Matthew Turner
    ViewLondon

    Even a less-than-spec Coen movie is a good deal better than the aimless, guileless pap cranked out by mere mortals.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    07/03/04
    Ian Nathan
    Ian Nathan
    Empire Magazine

    It is neither terrible nor terrific, just... unnecessary.

    Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
    06/22/04
    Nev Pierce
    Nev Pierce
    BBC

    Si buscan cine de culto esta definitivamente no es la opción, pero no por ello deja de ser divertida en momentos.

    Full Review Source: Cinenganos | comment Comment
    06/17/04
    Alex Ramirez
    Alex Ramirez
    Cinenganos

    ...easily my least favorite Hanks performance.

    Full Review Source: Broomfield Enterprise | comment Comment
    06/11/04
    Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
    Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
    Broomfield Enterprise

    'Frankly, this doesn't have that Coen magic.'

    Full Review Source: Teletext | comment Comment
    05/19/04
    Annette Dasey
    Annette Dasey
    Teletext

    Hanks is a beautiful vintage cartoon of a southern dandy, planted amidst modern Mississipean miscreants of all shades. Hall is a treasure.

    Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
    05/08/04
    Karina Montgomery
    Karina Montgomery
    Cinerina

    It might get a little indiscernible at times, but the laughs and guffaws are there, and there’s nobody like the Coens working today who can balance such a peculiar picture so impeccably.

    Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
    04/24/04
    Brian Orndorf
    Brian Orndorf
    FilmJerk.com

    The Coens appropriate their caricatures to serve a greater payoff: The Ladykillers is devised as a morally corrupt treatment of moral corruption.

    Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
    04/22/04
    Mark Palermo
    Mark Palermo
    Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

    The Coens play gleefully with death--accidental, deliberate, fatalistic--while catching us off-guard with startlingly funny touches when we least expect them.

    Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
    04/18/04
    Rich Cline
    Rich Cline
    Shadows on the Wall

    ...a bit hit and miss as far as the Coens are concerned, but I daresay Hanks has never been so delicious.

    Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
    04/16/04
    Sean Burns
    Sean Burns
    Philadelphia Weekly

    The Ladykillers just feels indulgent, without imparting any notion of whom it might be indulging. Everyone in it looks as though they're punching a timecard.

    Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment Comment
    04/15/04
    Nick Davis
    Nick Davis
    Nick's Flick Picks

    ... The Coen Brothers have crafted what may be their funniest film.

    Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
    04/11/04
    Greg Maki
    Greg Maki
    Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
     
     
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