Bludgeons you with cartoonish gags about stupid football players, irritable-bowel syndrome and (for the second Coen film in a row) somebody accidentally shooting himself in the head.
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
Reviews for Ladykillers
Though there are moments of genuine humor ... they feel hollow without any depth to the characters who populate them.
[Hanks] lends the movie the full, devious force of his bristly spirit.
Wears out its welcome early as an interminably long comedy with a mannered and unfunny performance by Tom Hanks as the leader of a bumbling gang of thieves.
Another offbeat Coen gem, gleaming with verbal and pictorial style, exploding with wit and slapstick.
If you like your comedies dizzying, smart, silly and Coen country-fried, then The Ladykillers is an absolute must-see!
The Ladykillers is funny. Or, as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr would say it, it’s an exorbitantly capricious motion picture presentation that has a lithe, whimsical air.
An interesting collection of character work, ultimately The Ladykillers is a disappointment.
Hanks has never been better than he is here, as a Colonel Sanders with fake teeth who constantly uses 40 words when two or three would do just fine.
One's ability to enjoy The Ladykillers is directly proportionate to one's willingness to accept the incredibly broad performances.
A Fargo without that crucial, defining final speech about the beauty of a new day dawning.
Has a good chance at being the year's funniest film--and the only one with an English Bulldog wearing a gas mask. Tom Hanks gives the funniest performance of his career.
[It] isn’t just a misfire, it’s an annoying misfire, irksome, tedious, and on the whole, unnecessary.
'The Ladykillers in Big Momma's House'...a film that, despite some inspired moments, is alternately arch and crude.
Imperfections aside, "Ladykillers" is still a great deal of fun: excellent costuming, sweet cinematography, strong direction, and wonderfully crisp quirky dialogue.
Only lip service is paid to the heist, as the Coen Brothers are far more interested in milking the foibles and idiosyncrasies of their cast of lowbrow clowns.
I’ve been waiting a long time for Tom Hanks to return to comedy. It looks like I’m going to keep on waiting.
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