The Ladykillers Movie Review:


For this remake of the 1955 Ealing comedy, the Coen Brothers share directing credit for the first time, mixing their love of detailed period farces (The Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother Where Art Thou) and free-wheeling black humour (Fargo, Blood Simple). It's not a flat-out success, but it's still great fun.

Professor GH Dorr (Hanks) is one of those smooth-talking Southern gentlemen who belong to another time and place. Happy to speak an entire paragraph where one word would do, he blinds everyone with his verbosity, especially the nice old woman, Marva (Hall), who runs the Mississippi boarding house that's conveniently located next to a casino he's planning to rob with his rag-tag cohorts (hip-hopper Wayans, explosives expert Simmons, Vietnamese tunneller Ma, muscle-head Hurst). They say they're practicing religious music in the cellar, but Marva can tell something's not quite right.

There's a hilarious streak of vicious comedy that quickly lets us know just about anything can happen. And it does. The Coens play gleefully with death--accidental, deliberate, fatalistic--while catching us off-guard with startlingly funny touches when we least expect them. Meanwhile, they work with their cast to constantly subvert stereotypes; no one is quite as helpless, hapless, efficient, ruthless or stupid as we think they'll be. The string of errors and inconveniences suffered by this gang is great fun to watch; each of them seems to come from a different film genre, and yet it somehow comes together due to their sharply focussed performances.

The Coens fill the film's edges with Southern culture, from terrific gospel music to down-home hospitality and wary friendliness. It's impeccably designed and filmed, as you'd expect, with touches that are clever (the ubiquitous garbage scow) and overused (Simmons' disastrously irritable bowel). And even if it's not quite consistent enough to keep us laughing nonstop, when it does hit a funny high note, it soars. Like The Big Lebowski, it feels like it was probably funnier on the page than on screen. The result is extremely slight, but it's also consistently enjoyable, especially when we realise that no matter how perfect Hanks is, Hall is the real star.

Rich Cline

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Yep, it's the Coen Brothers. Yep, it's a remake. Yep, it's the first foray for the indie loving Coen's with Mr Mainstream himself, Tom Hanks.
After the tame, safe, 'Intolerable Cruelty', they are going back to their roots, it seems.

Hanks plays Professor Dorr, a tricksy con artist with delusions of grandeur and a vocubulary which exceeds that of the Oxford English. He's planning to pull off a fantastically creative job, emptying the contents of a casino boat's safe into his well - tailored pockets.

However, to do so, he must gain access to the basement of a home inhabited by a feisty granny, Marva (Irma P. Hall).

By renting a room in her property, and using the basement to practice his 'choral music', he hopes to tunnel through the crumbling wall directly into the loot.

Like most crafty hookwinkers though, he isn't keen to do the hands - on work himself, so employs a mis-matched group of greedy assistants to help him.

'Ladykillers' is a simple shaggy - dog story, whimsical almost.

Set in the present day, it would seem, but delving into the old - style dialogue and dressing reminiscent of 'Oh Brother', it attempts to blend the two into something totally different. This leads to some very amusing culture clashes between the characters of the bluesy old school and the young upstarts, with their 'hippy de hop' music and exotic swear words.

Dorr is of the old school, with his natty attire and 'speaking in dead tongues', you can see how poor Marva is taken in by him.

Character-wise though, it feels like Hanks is trying a little too hard here, it feels a little forced. The beauty of the Coen's movies is how (seemingly) effortlessly a performance can be played out. Like 'Dude', in 'Big Lebowski', or Marge the weary cop in 'Fargo'.

It could be that as a central caricature bad - guy, he's felt the need to be this way. His speeches are always delivered impeccably, but some of the mannerisms are a little over - used.

On the flip - side, it is pleasing to see the Coens extending their stable of actors, showing that they can be adaptable and take chances, as the supporting cast clearly show.

Imra P.Hall is so natural as the church - going battleaxe Marva, grumpy and kind - she's a challenge for the group, keeping them on their toes in a series of near - discoveries.

Another newbie to the Coen fold, Marlon Wayans, (as Gawain) gets the big laughs. He's a little fire-cracker waiting to blow - up at any second, particularly at his polar opposite, fellow stooge Garth (J.K.Simmons). Wayans is an unusual choice for the Coens, more famous for dick and fart joke features like 'Scary Movie', and upcoming 'White Chicks', but he's fun to watch, and gets a chance to show what he can really do here.
Garth is the most tedious man on the planet, boring the fold with his tales of meeting his 'mountain girl' (oddball lady - friend, mountain goat more like!) and irritable bowel syndrome. Completing the line-up are The General (Tzi Ma), owner of the 'Hi Ho Donut Shop', and Lump, (Ryan Hurst) an aptly named character with the body of a pro - footballer and the brain of a pigeon. All give the good, solid performances befitting of an ensemble comedy, and are most entertaining to watch.

The fine Coen touches come in the quoting of 'Poe', the use of sepia tones, and nifty tricks of light and shadow. The direction is slinky and innovative, often we view a scene played out literally through the eyes of the character involved. There's a clever through - gag with Marva's painting of her late husband using the same trick. Things are kept chantering along nicely with a score of blues and toe - tapping gospel.

What really captivates are the visual and verbal clues, building up and weaving together the strands of this dark (but not quite black) comedy into a fully rounded fable.

Okay, it's not as out and out dark and cerebral as some of their previous works, nor as intricate, but it still delivers plenty of laughs and ludicrous scenarios. Hopefully Coen fans will be satisifed.
It would be nice to see them do something a little more edgy next time, just for the sake of variety, but this is a very fine film. Oh, and cat lovers will find plenty to revel in too!

A Hippy - De - Hopping 7.5/10

Terresa Gaffney

It seems that the Coen brothers’ comedic magic seems to be disappearing. After delivering a stiff, but not unbearable Intolerable Cruelty last fall, they now unveil a pointless and truly horrendous remake of the 1955 British dark comedy The Ladykillers.

Subbing in the Mississippi Bible Belt for the English suburbs, the story follows the intellectually ambitious Professor Goldthwait Higginson Door, Ph.D. (Tom Hanks) renting out a room from a elderly widowed African-American church-goer named Mrs. Munson (Irma P. Hall). Claiming that he and his fellow musicians need a quiet area to practice their church music, the Professor and his crew take to use of her basement. The musicians are actually criminals, and instead of practicing music they are actually planning a heist to drill from Mrs. Munson’s basement to rob a nearby riverboat casino. The Professor’s diverse crew includes The General (Tzi Ma), who is a chain-smoker and silent tunnel rat retiree from South Vietnam. Gawain MacSam is the young hip-hop loving inside man that has a job as a janitor at the casino. Besides getting on Mrs. Munson nerves, Gawain and explosives expert Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons) are also continuously arguing over every decision. Pancake is gentle and well spoken, but he painfully suffers from “Irritable Bowel Syndrome” on a constant basis. Rounding out the crew for muscle is Lump (Ryan Hurst), who is a football player that has suffered one too many hits to the head. Despite last minute change of plans and differences within the group, the heist seems to be beneficial for every member. The Professor uses his charm and about way of giving excuses to keep Mrs. Munson occupied from their supposed practice. However, once the nosy old lady does stumble upon their secret heist, the Professor and the crew must decide who must take her out.

Easily the worst film on the Coen brothers’ resume, The Ladykillers offers nothing memorable, quirky, or even funny in the tradition of the Coen standards. The film is full of cartoonish violence and not a drop of unpredictability. The atmosphere of Mississippi is capture elegantly, but that is about it. The characters are really dry and though the actors try to take them to another level, they come nowhere close to saving the film. A portrait of Mrs. Munson’s late husband Othar is also a character in the film and by changing his facial expressions each time the camera cuts to him, he serves as the film’s conscience. The staging and comedic deliveries are also bland, and for Coen standards it is unfortunate.

The costumes seem to be a mix from different times, with Hanks’ Professor dressing more like Colonel Sanders, while Gawain dresses to the modern times. Hanks himself with his gratuitous giggles, heavy Southern accent, and intelligent speaking terms just seemed to be reaching for something that was not there. Though he has a few moments that stir a chuckle, this is probably one of the most ineffective performances of this great actor’s career. The annoying Marlon Wayans once again smirks and curses a lot, but it is humorous to see Irma P. Hall’s Mrs. Munson slap him silly a few times. Hall herself is perfect as the church going Mrs. Munson. J.K. Simmons is also efficient in his role as Pancake, even though the IBS jokes get old quick. Ryan Hurst makes a commendable dunce as Lump and Tzi Ma serves his purpose as The General.

Dark comedy is one of the most difficult film genres to pull off, because there is no actual formula to it, like a romantic comedy or an action film. The Coen brothers have pulled off successful dark comedies in the past (Fargo, Raising Arizona) and it is what they are remembered for in cinema history. However, with this dark comedy they strike out miserably. With two back to back studio films and no John Goodman, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Frances McDormand, or any of the other Coen veterans involved it makes one wonder if they have something up their sleeves for the future. Let’s hope so.

Grade: D

Joseph Tucker

Renting a room from an elderly, church-going widow called Mrs. Muson (Hall), Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, Ph.D. (Hanks) enlightened his new landlady to the fact that he and his group of fellow artists would like to convene in her root-cellar to practice their church music. What he didn’t tell her was the fact that his was an elaborate rouse on their part and their nefarious plan was in fact to partake in a sophisticated heist that would relieve the local casino of a large amount of currency. The only slight hindrance to their audacious undertaking is Mrs. Munson’s curiosity.

Remaking an Ealing classic could be considered tantamount to blasphemy by many but in the hands of the illustrious Coen brothers your fears about The Ladykillers should be quickly abated.

More of an homage to the 1955 Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers classic, the film relocates the action from the fog ridden streets of post-war London to modern day Mississippi but keeps the heist and troublesome landlady of the original. The rest is pure Coen brothers filled with elaborate, larger than life characters and a certain kookiness that is their cinematic trademark.

Chief among this peculiar ensemble is Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, Ph.D. played magnificently by Tom Hanks. The Oscar winning actor throws convention to the wind as he breathes life into a character and creates something really special. The Edgar Allan Poe loving gentleman who excels in the art of conversation is a joy to behold as Hanks relentlessly bombards you with classically quotable Coen Brother’s dialogue. Anyone who ever doubted Hanks’ substantial comedic talent should take note, as this powerhouse of hilarity adds more diversity to an already extensive range.

In what could be considered as a rather dubious choice by our esteemed directors, the rest of the ensemble isn’t filled with the usual Coen stalwarts Buscemi, Goodman or Turturro but this shouldn’t deter you from the enjoyment. JK Simmons is a character actor of great skill and he proves this again with his portrayal of Mr Pancake, the group’s explosive expert. His comedic timing is first rate as his character struggles with the gravity of the situation and his IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). The Coen’s also do the impossible by making you think that Marlon Wayans can actually act. His Gawain MacSam, the inside man, is a typical “hippty-hop” character whose persona is all a sham as he true feelings are revealed in the final act. Tzi Ma is a character actor who you always recognise but can never put a name to. His role as The General, the tunnel expert, is extremely funny as this man of little words goes about his business with a clinical efficiency. Ryan Hurst is also good as Lump, the muscle of the team.

Almost stealing the show from the unbelievable Hanks is Irma P. Hall as gospel loving, inquisitive Mrs Munson. This is a character that you should have sympathy for, as she is the victim but because of Hall’s performance you can’t but help but route for the group’s dastardly scheme to succeed. This is a truly irritating character that you just have to despise.

While the Ladykillers isn’t as good as the Coen’s own originally scripted masterpieces, a below average film from them is still far better than most other mainstream fair. With an excellent ensemble and occasional laugh-out-loud moments, this is a heist movie that you cannot help but like as it steals your attention away.

Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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