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Movies / On DVD / Ladykillers
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.

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Comedies

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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Reviews for Ladykillers

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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While being far from the Coens' finest hour, it remains more intelligent and ambitious than most of what currently passes for Hollywood mainstream comedy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Coens have found their stride again.

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

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

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

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
03/06/05
Independent

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

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

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

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

Hanks masters the wordy dialogue, and coconspirator Marlon Wayans has several memorable moments, but the cast focuses too much on characteristic mannerisms, which diminish the story.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
03/25/04
E! Online

Click to read the article

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

Tom Hanks seizes the chance to play a comic villain with almost indecent vaudevillian glee in this uneven, prankish caper comedy by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
03/25/04
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Although The Ladykillers is a skillfully executed caper movie, the fun lies not in its mechanics but in its characterizations, especially Hanks's and Hall's, and especially when they're together.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/26/04
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

Click to read the article

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

[A] cheerfully weird concoction...

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

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.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas CityLife | comment Comment
03/24/04
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Las Vegas CityLife

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

A mirthful and twisted meditation on crime that’s reminiscent in theme to the Coen’s Fargo and Blood Simple.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
03/28/04
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

As wonderful as it is wicked.

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

... [this] update seems bloated and sluggish, packed with outlandish, arbitrarily exaggerated detail. To borrow one of Prof. Dorr's favorite adjectives, it's rococo.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal | comment Comment
03/26/04
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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Latest News for Ladykillers

October 17, 2008: UK Critics Consensus: Is Burn After Reading A Coens Classic? Does Eagle Eye Have Enough Action, Man?
In this week's roster of UK cinema releases we have the latest addition to the Coen canon in the CIA comedy caper, Burn After Reading, Shia LeBeouf stakes a further claim to the... More...

November 07, 2007: Total Recall: Welcome to Coen Brothers Country
Before expanding wide on November 21, No Country for Old Men (90 percent) will play in select cities this Friday riding a wave of huge expectations. The Cormac McCarthy-based... More...

March 16, 2007: "Ocean's 13" Set to Debut at Cannes
If you wanted to be one of the first to see the year's biggest confluence of star power on a single screen, you'd better start shopping for a ticket to France -- Variety reports... More...

February 02, 2006: Coens Aim to Tackle New "Country"
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joel & Ethan Coen's next film will be an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." Word is that Tommy Lee... More...

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