It is worth watching just to see Hanks chewing into a juicy, throwaway comic role.
Ladykillers (2004)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Ladykillers
[Feels] like Hollywood execs are trying to get the Coen brothers to cash in on formulas that have proven profitable rather than letting them play.
[Directors Joel and Ethan Coen] aren’t for everyone, but those who like their offbeat material will discover a new gem here.
The talented but increasingly eccentric Coen Brothers always walk a tightrope between the brilliantly offbeat and movies that are swallowed up by their idiosyncratic mindset
...nowhere near the Coens' funniest or most distinctive or even most endearing work.
The Coen Brothers try their hand at remaking one of the best of the 1950s Alec Guinness comedies. A version that has little to offer anyone who has seen the original.
With a mix of Poe, rap, and gospel, the Coens and Hanks create a fascinating portrait of the modern, Gothic South.
It is certainly curious to contemplate how the combination of the genius, subversive Coen brothers with the talent of the world's biggest movie star could produce a film that feels so thoroughly robbed of its best treasures.
Skimming the surface of its subjects, The Ladykillers is really little more than an acting showcase for its ensemble.
a sharp, funny, smart comedy that draws its humor from hysterical situations, visual jokes and wonderful characters
...a flat and flimsy escapade of a shapeless farce...has all the fizzle of warm root beer in a dirty mug...meager and baseless
The humorous linchpin in the movie rests on a running (so to speak) gag about irritable bowel syndrome. The Coens need to do better than that, but they don’t.
Each of the characters is occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, and if you can go into this comedy with low expectations, you may emerge refreshed. Considering what this movie might have been, though, makes me long for the old Coen Brothers magic.
I can think of no good reason to recommend that you buy a ticket to see the Coen brothers remake of The Ladykillers. Unless, of course, you’re feeling charitable.
When the Coen brothers are capable of making brilliant stuff like Fargo, should they really be spending their time making pictures like The Ladykillers?
I like the movie, but with the top-notch acting, cinematography and dialogue it has, I should have loved it.
The Coens' take on this material is a happy blend of respecting the original and leapfrogging from it with their own inimitable creativity.
The kind of conspiratorial comedy that makes us feel we're privy to an inside joke.
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