The Ladykillers (2004)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lucas M

  
  Coen brothers flaw. The Ladykillers (2004) is nothing like the original.

• Mark W

  
  The Coen Brothers' recent remake of "True Grit" was exceptionally better than the original. The same can't really be said with this one, as it's a lesser effort from the brothers. However, the Coens off form can still be better and more enjoyable than most on… More
  The Coen Brothers' recent remake of "True Grit" was exceptionally better than the original. The same can't really be said with this one, as it's a lesser effort from the brothers. However, the Coens off form can still be better and more enjoyable than most on it. Polite and eloquent Southern gentleman, Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, (Tom Hanks) rents a room from churchgoing widow Marva Munsen (Irma P. Hall), then plots a daring heist in her basement with an ill-chosen group of accomplices disguised as purveyors of religious music. They soon fall foul of their gospel-clutching landlady and as they desperately attempt to eradicate her, it's themselves who one-by-one pop their devious clogs. Once again the Coens working with cinematographer Roger Deakins deliver a film that is crisp and sharphly detailed. Their usual ingredients are all here, except for one thing and that's surprisingly the one thing the Coens are most accomplished at; a tight screenplay. The film takes too long to set up the heist and by the time the plan is foiled and the whole deal goes south, the film is drawing to a close and leaves you with an unsatisfied feeling of what could have been. The cast do a fine job, but with the characters on show I couldn't help wanting to see some of the old tried-and-tested ensemble of actors the Coens regularly employ; Steve Buscemi, John Turturro or Jon Polito could have fitted in nicely here. Marlon Wayans is completely out of sorts. He seems as though he stepped off the set of a disasterous Ice Cube comedy. Other than him though, the cast are good. Irma P Hall is a joy as the sassy landlady, and it's great to see the Coens' new regulars J.K. Simmons and Stephen Root but the real star of the show is Tom Hanks. He's funnier than he's been in a long time and delivers a performance of such wily eccentricity -complete with southern gentlemanly accent - it's hard to take your eyes off him. It's one of my favourite Hanks performances and his effort deserved a better script to work with him. I just hope the Coens can find another role for him in the future. It's a collaboration I'd love to see again. This is probably my least favourite of the Coens' work but there's still plenty to enjoy and the gags are good enough to maintain a level of entertainment. A fine attempt at remaking the classic Ealing comedy of 1955, but it never quite excites the way the Coens are capable of and resorts to some heavy-handed slapstick. Tom Hanks adds a big reminder of how good he can be though, making it worthwhile just for him.

• Cameron S

  
  5 random men attempt a bank robbery and hilarity ensues, apparently. The Ladykillers is not a bad film, but then again it is not a terrific one, don't get me wrong I enjoyed it but that was mostly because of the second half which revolves around attempting to kill an old lady and… More
  5 random men attempt a bank robbery and hilarity ensues, apparently. The Ladykillers is not a bad film, but then again it is not a terrific one, don't get me wrong I enjoyed it but that was mostly because of the second half which revolves around attempting to kill an old lady and what's not funny about that? The high point in this film for me was Marlon Wayans who play one of the most foul mouthed characters to ever grace film, he almost tops the amount of profaninty featured in the Window Licker. All in all a slow relatively laugh free first half and a second half which featured a few laughs makes this film enjoyable while it lasts but leaves you nothing to reminisce on afterwords.

• Lewis C

  
  "The old woman is a more formidable antagonist than one had imagined." I'm a big fan of the Coens, and I'm always interested in a movie featuring the southern settings and people that I'm so familiar with. So, I can't help but be a little disappointed… More
  "The old woman is a more formidable antagonist than one had imagined." I'm a big fan of the Coens, and I'm always interested in a movie featuring the southern settings and people that I'm so familiar with. So, I can't help but be a little disappointed that The Ladykillers, which should be an excellent combination of both those things, isn't better than it is. Other than Tom Hanks' slimy and loquacious charmer and Irma P. Hall as the elderly religious lady who unwittingly serves as the foil for the would-be thieves of the story, The Ladykillers really has little of note to make it worthy of a recommendation. Only glimpses of the Coens' trademark style shine through from time to time. And surprisingly, other than the two characters I previously mentioned, the rest are unremarkable, boring, annoying, or all of the above. The always watchable Hanls pushes this southern-fried black comedy slightly above mediocrity, but one can't help but guess that the Coens' grasp of their subject matter didn't extend far beyond picking some good gospel music.

• Conner R

  
  It is by no means the best from the Coen Brothers, but in no way is it a bad movie. While it doesn't have some of those great shots or well thought out storylines, it does have some great elements. The characters are what really sell the entire movie, the most strange being Tom… More
  It is by no means the best from the Coen Brothers, but in no way is it a bad movie. While it doesn't have some of those great shots or well thought out storylines, it does have some great elements. The characters are what really sell the entire movie, the most strange being Tom Hanks. I don't think he has ever done such a bizarre role before or since. While it does become a little bit too typical and moral in the end, it's go some good humor and moments.

• Lenny M

  
  The Coens make great movies, but throughout their career they'll stumble and bust with a few. They busted here. It's a remake but the writing is actually weak sauce, a paradox. Very weak indeed and dim-witted, blame Marlon Wayans. Just kidding not really, Tom Hanks was a… More
  The Coens make great movies, but throughout their career they'll stumble and bust with a few. They busted here. It's a remake but the writing is actually weak sauce, a paradox. Very weak indeed and dim-witted, blame Marlon Wayans. Just kidding not really, Tom Hanks was a farfetched trouser snake delivering a completely forgettable performance. Irma P. Hall was mighty fine, thick as a brick like Jethro Tull and delicious at the same time, still going strong pushing 70. Sorry about that but good lawd!!

• Wahida K

  
  Tom Hanks is a Random actor but his perfomance in this Movie was tiny bit shocking and a tiny bit not Tom Hanks alike.

• Anthony L

  
  I think if anyone was going to make a decent contemporary remake of The Ladykillers it would be the Coen Brothers. Unfortunately, as much as they got the foundations right, their version is woefully miscast. They also seem to have swapped their usually brilliant script for downright… More
  I think if anyone was going to make a decent contemporary remake of The Ladykillers it would be the Coen Brothers. Unfortunately, as much as they got the foundations right, their version is woefully miscast. They also seem to have swapped their usually brilliant script for downright awful slapstick. The casting of Marlon Wayans was a huge mistake but that said, everyone else did a pretty good job, esp Tom Hanks and Irma P. Hall. I guess we?ve come to expect great things from the brothers Coen that this is a bit of a shock, luckily they?ve returned to form since. Everyone?s allowed a couple of mistakes eh!

• Randy T

  
  By far my least favorite Coen brothers' production. Why you ask? Mainly the foul language. I'm no Puritan, not by a long shot, and frankly I know many, many good films that you wouldn't talk about in Sunday School, but there is a line between realism and gratuitous… More
  By far my least favorite Coen brothers' production. Why you ask? Mainly the foul language. I'm no Puritan, not by a long shot, and frankly I know many, many good films that you wouldn't talk about in Sunday School, but there is a line between realism and gratuitous obscenity. Even ex-sailors, like myself, don't use more than one or two f-bombs in a sentence, much less p-bombs, c-bombs and xyz-bombs. It's one thing to be embarrassed watching a film with your Mom, but if you can honestly say you'd be embarrassed to watch a film in a room full of construction workers then it's just too much. *<i>NOTE:</i> See also <i>The Departed</i>

• danny d

  
  while this is my least favorite of the coens films, i still enjoyed it. some of the deaths at the end clearly got out of hand, but the humor was fun, the story was enjoyable enough, and the film was made well. not great, but a solid watch for a night of escapism.

• Film C

  
  weird bloody film its ok until the ending and then its just a bit pointless

• Cassandra M

  
  The Coen Brothers are devastatingly in charge again in this film and their humour is more than black, blacker than black, a blacker shade of black, especially since the main heroin is black and the sheriff is black and the essential member of the gang, the inner agent of the… More
  The Coen Brothers are devastatingly in charge again in this film and their humour is more than black, blacker than black, a blacker shade of black, especially since the main heroin is black and the sheriff is black and the essential member of the gang, the inner agent of the operation, is black too. Black humour indeed. But Jewish humour as you can't even imagine. The humour of influencing people with effete verbosity, with elaborate totally unbelievable lies that are all the more believable because they are unbelievable. People only believe what is unbelievable and everything that is logical, predictable, obviously evident will be rejected without even being considered because all that is obvious can only be false. Isn't it why they did not believe in Auschwitz even when they were arrived? Jewish too their humour because it is shown from the only point of view of the leader who sees every event as a new difficulty and he is so relieved when finally his last accomplice falls into the trash boat after this last accomplice of his has killed himself convinced as he was that the gun was empty. It is so good when it stops, when the raven flying out of Edgar Allen Poe crosses the sky over his head and he jubilates then because he misinterpret the omen: the beginning of his own end whereas he thought it was the beginning of the end of it all, except of course himself. And he was rich. The punch line for him is a real punch line falling from the sky, hard and stony, deadly and fatal. And what his that poor black woman going to do with 1.6 million dollars? Even the sheriff tells her what the effete PhD had told her: no one cares because the insurance is going to pay anyway. So what is she going to do with all that money? And that is the last straw that breaks the camel's back, the drop of water falling into the sea that causes a tsunami, a tidal wave of the old times. It makes the whole film a farce of divine, celestial and even cosmic dimension. Stealing is covered by insurance contracts and the victims are just nearly congratulated with insurance money that looks like some kind of a reward for them having been robbed. So go on robbing the rich and businesspeople that deal with too much money. Anyway we pay we have paid, through our own insurance premiums what they will be compensated with. So at least let us get what we are paying for, once in a while. Very black Jewish humour. If it did not exist we would have to invent it. Thank you so much, Coen Brothers.

• Curtis L

  
  I love how everyone dies. The music is awesome too.

• Aaron N

  
  Professor G.H. Dorr: You, madam, are addressing a man, who is in fact quiet... and yet, not quiet, if I may offer to you a riddle. One of the few misfires by the Coen Brothers. This film is a remake of the 1955 dark comedy of the same name, which retains the basic plot and structure… More
  Professor G.H. Dorr: You, madam, are addressing a man, who is in fact quiet... and yet, not quiet, if I may offer to you a riddle. One of the few misfires by the Coen Brothers. This film is a remake of the 1955 dark comedy of the same name, which retains the basic plot and structure of that film, but has its characters play it up way over-the-top, making it too cartoony to feel like something better. Tom Hanks is strangely cast as the criminal mastermind who rents a room from an old woman, played by Irma P. Hall, which is located in a house situated in a spot perfect for a heist. The other members of Hank's criminal crew include Marlon Wayans and JK Simmons. Once the crew pulls off the heist, they must then deal with the old lady, for she knows more than she should. Problems arise when they have trouble dealing with how to get rid of her. As mentioned, the problem with this movie is how ridiculous the characters are. Coen Brothers movies always contain characters who are dimmer than their situations require, but this is too much and not very fitting with the film. These things being said, the movie does have funny moments, mainly involving the relation between Wayans and Simmons characters. Gawain MacSam: You brought your bitch to the Waffle Hut?

• Al S

  
  An incrediably hilarious comedy that dosnt stop packing the seroius laughs. Tom Hanks is outragiously funny. The Coen bropthers best and most inventive and outragious comedy since The Big Lewboski.

• Tim S

  
  I am scarcely able to contain my glee. This was a wonderful film, from beginning to end. Filled with the Coen's key dark comedy, this entertaining heist had me on the edge of my seat. Tom Hanks and J.K. Simmons both do some excellent work here.

• Chris W

  
  It's a shame this film is so underrated and unapppreciated. It is a 'lesser' Coen Brothers film, but it's still great. There's plenty of typical Coenesque stuff here, and even though it can't compare to works like Fargo or The Big Lebowski, it is still… More
  It's a shame this film is so underrated and unapppreciated. It is a 'lesser' Coen Brothers film, but it's still great. There's plenty of typical Coenesque stuff here, and even though it can't compare to works like Fargo or The Big Lebowski, it is still hilarious, and the performances are great. Give this one a few more chances.

• Stephen M

  
  I don't think the Coen Brothers are capable of making a downright terrible movie, but this is the worst of theirs I've seen. To be honest, I think the original version is slightly overrated -- I would rank it as Alexander Mackendrick's third best Ealing comedy, behind… More
  I don't think the Coen Brothers are capable of making a downright terrible movie, but this is the worst of theirs I've seen. To be honest, I think the original version is slightly overrated -- I would rank it as Alexander Mackendrick's third best Ealing comedy, behind "The Man in the White Suit" and "Whiskey Galore" -- so I was completely open-minded about any fresh ideas the Coens might have brought to it. Unfortunately, they don't make the most of the suspense potential of their one significant improvement: their decision to stage the robbery from the basement of the old lady's house. The pleasures of the film are in small but telling details, such as the cobweb on the Sheriff's cell key at the very start, or the ever-changing facial expression on the portrait of the widow's beloved husband. Overacting is rife, but Irma P. Hall's redoubtable Big Momma is every bit as wonderful as Katy Johnson's indestructible spinster was in the original. As spouted by Tom Hanks, for once the Coens' verbose wordplay is more tedious than charming, and it's J.K. Simmons who has most of the best lines.

• Tsubaki S

  
  "You brought your bitch to the waffle hutt?"

• Jens S

  
  The remake of the Alec Guinness classic suffers from several weaknesses: it's hard to care about the rather one dimensional characters on both sides, the humor isn't dark enough to be called black and just generally not all that funny, the plot is somewhat predictable and… More
  The remake of the Alec Guinness classic suffers from several weaknesses: it's hard to care about the rather one dimensional characters on both sides, the humor isn't dark enough to be called black and just generally not all that funny, the plot is somewhat predictable and just not very exciting. Oh and Marlon Wayans is annoying like hell, as always basically. That being said, the movie isn't boring and rather nicely shot, especially Tom Hanks gives a really good performance making the audience forget it's him. Still, a movie classified under: why did we need this? I hear the Coen Brothers returned to their old strength this year. I really hope so.

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