The Ladykillers (2004) Movie Information:
| The Ladykillers (2004) Directed by: |
 Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen |
| The Ladykillers (2004) Written by: |
| Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen |
| The Ladykillers (2004) Cast: |
| Tom Hanks, Irma Hall, Marlon Wayans, Ryan Hurst, George Wallace, Stephen Root, Greg Grunberg, J Simmons, Jeremy Suarez |
|
|
Our Rating: 
User Rating: 
Log in to rate this movie
The Ladykillers (2004) Synopsis:
Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III is a charlatan professor who has assembled a gang of experts for the heist of the century. The thieves are experts in explosions, tunneling and muscle. The professor is their critical inside man. The base of operations is the root cellar of an unsuspecting, church-going, little old lady named Mrs. Munson. The ruse: the five need a place to practice their church music. The problem: it quickly becomes evident that Dorr's thieves lack the mental capacity to do the job. The bigger problem: they have seriously underestimated their upstairs host. When Mrs. Munson stumbles onto their plot and threatens to notify the authorities, the felonious five decide to 'do her in' before she ruins their heist. After all, how hard can it be to knock off an old lady? They'll soon find out.
The Ladykillers (2004) Movie Review:
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.
Our Rating: User Rating:
Log in to rate this movie
The Ladykillers (2004) review written by: Bailey Henderson
