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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

US Box Office: $39,671,084

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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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
03/14/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Mark Halverson
Mark Halverson
Sacramento News & Review

Hanks is looser and funnier than he has been in quite some time.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/24/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

The Ladykillers is small and compact -- it doesn't kill, it's just a doodle -- but it's a very pleasant cartoon for grown-ups. It's some sweet fodder.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
08/18/07
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

Despite cartoonish characters, over-the-top hijinks, and occasional lapses of bad taste, any movie that leaves you laughing up the aisle, has to remain well-recommended.

Full Review Source: Princeton Town Topics | comment Comment
05/02/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
Princeton Town Topics

The story, adapted by the Coens themselves, is reduced to a series of hoops the characters must jump through to prove just how strange they are.

Full Review Source: Lawrence.com | comment Comment
09/29/06
Eric Melin
Eric Melin
Lawrence.com

While being far from the Coens' finest hour, it remains more intelligent and ambitious than most of what currently passes for Hollywood mainstream comedy.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Good but not great, The Ladykillers is simple, somewhat funny and 'nothing more.'

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Mark Sells
Mark Sells
Film Threat

The picture ranks with the brothers' best mid level output.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Rick Kisonak
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat

A lukewarm live-action Loony Tunes cartoon.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
03/06/05
Independent
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Here's hoping their next project aims a little bit higher.

Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic

The Coen Brothers remake of The Ladykillers is a half-baked mess.

Full Review Source: ToxicUniverse.com | comment Comment
01/31/05
Dan Callahan
Dan Callahan
ToxicUniverse.com

... 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.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
01/27/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

That sophisticated stride that made [the Coen Brothers'] first run of films so remarkable has here degenerated into a sophomoric stumble.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
12/31/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Christianity Today

This is one of the best-cast films I’ve seen in a long time.

Full Review Source: tonymedley.com | comment Comment
10/07/04
Tony Medley
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

The Ladykillers contains several gross errors of judgment that must have given the Coens at least some degree of hesitation at some point in the filmmaking process.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
09/08/04
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian 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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