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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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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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

[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

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; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
all

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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