It is neither terrible nor terrific, just... unnecessary.
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.
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
Reviews for Ladykillers
Even a less-than-spec Coen movie is a good deal better than the aimless, guileless pap cranked out by mere mortals.
The Coens play gleefully with death--accidental, deliberate, fatalistic--while catching us off-guard with startlingly funny touches when we least expect them.
While being far from the Coens' finest hour, it remains more intelligent and ambitious than most of what currently passes for Hollywood mainstream comedy.
Enjoyable Coen caper, enlivened by a strong comic performance by Tom Hanks.
One of the most bizarre performances of Tom Hanks' long and illustrious career.
When the Coen brothers are capable of making brilliant stuff like Fargo, should they really be spending their time making pictures like The Ladykillers?
A mirthful and twisted meditation on crime that’s reminiscent in theme to the Coen’s Fargo and Blood Simple.
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.
Instead of feeling cleverly obtuse, the movie ... seems desperately wacky.
... second-tier Coen brothers ... technically excellent and never less than entertaining, it doesn't arrest and stun the way Miller's Crossing or Fargo or Raising Arizona did.
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
It's the Coens being flashy instead of truly funny, and much of the problem stems from Hanks' bizarrely over-the-top performance.
Already as dark as London soot, the comedy hardly needed work to bring it in line with the Coen brothers' sensibility, but the remake moves to a beat of its own, one unexpectedly in sync with the gospel music dominating its soundtrack.
The film offers several big laughs, some of which are so outrageous, audiences will likely be talking about them after the show.
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