The Ladykillers (2004)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Five merry miscreants: Charlatan Professor, Goldthwait Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks), Jack-of-all-trades Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons), a retired General/Donut Shop owner (Tzi Ma), Custodian Gawain McSam (Marlon Wayans), and dumb but adorable, brute Lump Hudson (Ryan Hurst); have all teamed up to rob Mississippi's hottest Casino, The Bandit Queen.For this purpose, The Professor has rented a room in the house of the unimpeachable, and Godfearing Mrs. Munson (Irma P. Hall), a no nonsense widow of strong moral convictions.Under the pretext of being "devoted and passionate musicians of the early Renaissance", the five thieves gain access to the root cellar, in Malva Munson's house.With Gawain as the inside man at the Casino, they set out to tunnel their way to the counting room of said establishment, and rob it blind (while snowing the nice old lady).Mrs. Munson, however is not quite the fool the thieves take her for.When the men make a disastrous mistake which finally leads to her discovering the truth, the well meaning old widow gives them an ultimatum in an attempt to help save their souls which results in events that are catastrophic, brilliant, and totally hilarious.This is the kind of movie that needs to be WATCHED. A mere description of the plot not nearly doing it justice.The script and direction by the Coen Brothers in impeccable. The entire cast is spectacular (especially Tom Hanks, and Irma P. Hall).The gospel music threaded throughout the story, adds tremendously, and always makes me want to see the movie again.This comedy is realistic, funny, and completely original. A classic, and one of the best ever made.So will the miscreants kill the widow?As Garth Pancake is fond of saying:"It's the easiest thing in the world."That may appear to be the case, but God always has a few aces up His sleeve.Originally, Review #45Posted On: December 22, 2009

An American, a man who portents is a French musician (professor), a Black man, an Asian, and a rugby player. Refers to 5 continents. And grandmother is our planet earth!These guys rub a casino which refers to Luck and Chance (earth, creation), and non of them can take the money. The endless recycle-bin refer to our birth and death, coming and going! Watch this movie to get more, by yourself.Movie is written and directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. Please watch more movies from this two brothers, then you understand all their movies better.Ethan and Joel Coen are a credit to cinema.

Well, my Momma always told me if ya don't got anything nice to say about something then don't say anything at all... That's about it with this one other than I really tried to get into the movie enjoying spirit to no avail... But then again I have seen it again and again... That one man's trash is another man's gold! I think the characters were starving for a meatier script perhaps... And too much reliance on old Mamma character. Perhaps someone other than Tom Hanks for THIS particular role. And mabey a good crack of the whip by the director for a speedier tempo! Honzarelli

Professor G.H Dorr (Tom Hanks) responds to an advert where an old lady Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) is advertising for a room to let at her home. However, he has an ulterior motive and intends to rob a casino located close to Marva's house. Dorr recruits a ensemble team to assist in the heist which will start in Marva's cellar. They use the pretence that they are a group of musicians and make Marva believe that they are practicing in her cellar. Although Marva is unsuspecting at first a serious of mishaps cause her to become more and more suspicious of this bunch of 'musicians'.Having not seen the original film, I'm going to have to just stick to reviewing this film and I must admit that I did find it very enjoyable on the whole. There were some minor issues I did have with this film; I didn't think it was particularly well paced; I felt the set-up was perhaps a little long given the fact that it has a relatively straight-forward plot, there were also odd occasions when the film seemed to have unnecessary deviations away from the main plot. The introduction of Mountain Girl also seemed rather pointless to me as her character added very little to the film. However, these were very minor problems and didn't cause too many problems whilst I was watching the film.The cast were all good here, but particular praise should go to Hanks & Hall; I've no idea what the original film was like, but the Coen's have given this a 'black comedy' feel to it and it works really well. Hanks enhances this effect by giving Dorr a creepy and weird feel to his character and at times he does give you that 'cringe' feel when watching him on screen - this is meant as a compliment and is a testament to both Hanks as an actor and the Coen's as writers. Hall is also very good here and manages to give her character a sort of naïve charm, but she's also quite ballsy and has no problem in keeping the men in line. Her comic timing & delivery was also fantastic. Tzi Ma doesn't speak much here, but he actually manages to be funny more for what he does than what he says but he does get some funny lines as well. Simmons & Wayans are both good for the most part and their constant squabbling and one upmanship was pretty funny to watch. On occasions, Wayans was close to crossing the line between being funny and being annoying, but I think he just about gets away with it here. Hurst for the most part is just the clichéd lumbersome jock although like Ma, the Coens do treat him to some good one liners.Like many Coen brothers film, the film is also excellent from a technical basis with editing, direction, score and cinematography all being superb.As mentioned, I haven't seen the original version of The Ladykillers, but I have to admit that I really enjoyed this Coen brothers remake. The characters are inherently quirky (as they are in most Coen brothers films). When it hits it is incredibly funny - it's very rare that I laugh out loud when watching any comedy, but this film achieved that result on a few occasions. The cast were all terrific with Hall & Hanks being notable standouts. Simply put this is a wonderful black comedy.