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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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    101 - 120 (sorted by date)
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    Worth sticking with for Hanks' and Hall's superlative acting -- and a rollicking gospel score assembled by T. Bone Burnett.

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Lou Lumenick
    Lou Lumenick
    New York Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    [The Coen brothers have] made a broad comedy out of a black comedy and completely lost its charm in the process.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Jack Mathews
    Jack Mathews
    New York Daily News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    As wonderful as it is wicked.

    Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Bruce Kirkland
    Bruce Kirkland
    Jam! Movies

    Always wildly signaling for us to notice it. Not content to be funny, it wants to be FUNNY! Have you ever noticed that the more a comedian wears funny hats, the less funny he is?

    Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    If you set your expectations low enough there are real laughs to be had, but coming to the Coens with low expectations somehow just feels wrong.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Ty Burr
    Ty Burr
    Boston Globe

    Those carpetbagger auteurs, the Coen Brothers, have descended again on Dixie and brought back a heapin' helpin' of Southern caricature and racial condescension...

    Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    John Beifuss
    John Beifuss
    Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

    like Hanks' verbose professor, the Coens continue to justify some of the simplest ideas through heaps of complexity.

    Full Review Source: Lawrence Journal-World | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Jon Niccum
    Jon Niccum
    Lawrence Journal-World

    The Ladykillers is the first comedy of the year that isn't playing down to the teen market.

    Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Daniel M. Kimmel
    Daniel M. Kimmel
    Worcester Telegram & Gazette

    The Ladykillers may not rank among the Coens' most excellent films, but I bet it still ends up as one of this year's best comedies.

    Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Scott Weinberg
    Scott Weinberg
    eFilmCritic.com

    Such a slight effort compared to the original Ladykillers and past Coen works.

    Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Sean Means
    Sean Means
    Salt Lake Tribune

    The Ladykillers is filled with laughs, great characters and a twisted, black tale that stands the test of time 50 years after it was first conceived.

    Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Jeff Otto
    Jeff Otto
    IGN Movies

    The Coens have been better, yes, but that doesn't make The Ladykillers any less entertaining.

    Full Review Source: Flipside Movie Emporium | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Rob Vaux
    Rob Vaux
    Flipside Movie Emporium

    [A] cheerfully weird concoction...

    Full Review Source: Lowell Sun | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Austin O'Connor
    Austin O'Connor
    Lowell Sun

    A comedic tidal wave that gains momentum and mass as it goes along, engulfing contrived story twists and thin characters in an all-out rush.

    Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Phil Villarreal
    Phil Villarreal
    Arizona Daily Star

    Pious, earnest, and broadly drawn, Marva is the first black character in a Coen brothers movie to occupy center stage. For a minute, anyway.

    Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Cynthia Fuchs
    Cynthia Fuchs
    Nitrate Online

    ...watching [the Coens'] version of The Ladykillers really made me want to see the original again

    Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Robin Clifford
    Robin Clifford
    Reeling Reviews

    O Coen brothers, where art thou? Where is your deft touch, your perfect balance between the affected and the authentic?

    Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    MaryAnn Johanson
    MaryAnn Johanson
    Flick Filosopher
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Boston Phoenix
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
    03/26/04
    Kim Morgan
    Kim Morgan
    Hollywood.com
     
     
    101 - 120 (sorted by date)
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