The Ladykillers

[Zixar]

Finally, the Coen Brothers have made another decent comedy! After their smash success with O Brother, Where Art Thou? they utterly failed to follow up on its comedic promise. Intolerable Cruelty could have been so much better than it was, and The Man Who Wasn't There wasn't really a comedy to begin with.

No matter, all is forgiven with The Ladykillers. A remake of an earlier film, Ladykillers is the story of a motley group of casino thieves who wind up stymied by their landlady, an elderly black woman who bothers the town sheriff at length over such things as rap lyrics and getting her cat out of the tree. I can't say much more without spoiling some of it, but judging from our audience's reaction (and ours) anyone who likes a good slightly-dark comedy will find their money well-spent on this film.

The only caveats are that there is some violence, (you've seen worse, trust me), some toilet humor at the expense of IBS sufferers, and Marlon Wayans' character could be dropped into an episode of "Deadwood" for all his gratuitous f-bombing.

Tom Hanks does a good job going against his usual role, playing an oily, pretentious "professor". Between his annoying laugh and scenery-chewing bombast when trying to bluff his way out of a dilemma, Hanks actually looks like he's having more fun performing in this movie than he has in any other film of the past five years.

It's not quite as quotable as O Brother was, and it probably won't survive re-watching as many times, but for those who loved Raising Arizona, Fargo, and O Brother, it's a happy return to the Coen-ville we're used to.

*** out of four.

[TheInvisibleDan]

I agree, a *** movie.

What a whacky cast of criminals.

A very "biblical" comedy.

Danny

[Raf]

I laughed just about non-stop throughout. Even Marlon Wayans, who normally annoys me, seemed like a perfect fit with this particular bunch. My personal favorite: "You brought your b**ch to the Waffle Hut!"

[Tom Strange]

well... I'd go ahead and give it four... or at least strongly suggest to you to put it on your "must see" list...

We took my sainted Mother (almost 79)... she laughed hard, long and out loud almost through the whole movie... we did too...

She even kept laughing to herself on the way out to the car... and then on the way home... finally I asked her if she was going to see it again and take one of her senior friends... she said "I think I'm going to have to"...

she doesn't usually like cussin'... but she didn't say anything about it... I loved that line as well Raf...

... and the music was awesome!

[George Aar]

Right on the cutting edge of things, as usual, I finally saw this last night on PPV.

It wasn't quite the caliber of "Oh, Brother"

but it was very enjoyable. One thing you can always count on in a Coen Bros. flick is to have several scenes where the camera angle and set dressing is sooooo well done that it almost stops the show.

I particularly liked the football scene (through the helmet view) and the scenes of dropping (whatever) into the barges as they passed under the bridge.

This wasn't their best work, but it's still worth a look.

I'd give it ***

[Trefor Heywood]

I have not seen the "remake" but being a Brit I do have a soft spot for the original.

Some things do not translate across the Pond very well and it is impossible to reproduce the post war atmosphere of a much more innocent age.

Besides which I doubt very much if they have used the music of Bocherini in this new one!

[Kit Sober]

I am looking for the original.

This version was funny but much too much f-ing for me to be able to relax and enjoy it.

[Oakspear]

quote:

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Originally posted by Raf:

My personal favorite: "You brought your b**ch to the Waffle Hut!"

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Mine also!

Of course the cat dropping the body part onto the barge was great

[def59]

While I got the joke, Wayans, for me, took away from the movie with his constant barrage of profanity. Other than that, I liked it.