The Ladykillers (2004)

An absolute waste of money

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I haven't seen this film for a couple of years and then popped it into the DVD the other night. Loved it from start to finish. The great thing about this movie is the ensemble cast. What a great bunch of characters - all of them. The story is hilarious and gets funnier as things go on. The writing is superb ... seriously... "Phd"... "Like Elmer"" "Phd --- Fudd." As always, Tom Hanks is great,, one of the best. The cast of characters that surrounds him couldn't be better. It's hilarious story and the character created by Irma P. Hall, is fantastic. A real well done performance. One of my all time favorite movies. Great directing and great story. Well done. Keeps me laughing.

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

"The Ladykillers" is a black comedy directed by the Cohen Brothers and featuring a terrific cast so it should have been money in the bank, but something must have gone wrong along the way because it's not particularly funny. The film is about a group of criminals who want to rob a casino by tunneling into the building's vault. To do this, their leader "Professor" Goldwaite Higgins Dorr (Tom Hanks) rents a room from an elderly widow named Mrs. Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall). Under the pretense of band practices several days a week, Dorr invites over his "friends" Lump (the muscle, played by Ryan Hurst), "The General" (a tunneling expert, play by Tzi Ma), Garth Pancake (J. K. Simmons as the demolitions expert) and Gawain (Marlon Wayans as the inside man) they spend the evening digging towards the tunnel. As the criminals get closer to their ill-earned goods, trouble arises not only because the widow grows suspicious, but from the group itself. In this case, there's little honor among thieves.It's difficult to pin-point why the film overall doesn't work, but a big part of it are the characters. Most, like "The General" and Lump are basically one-joke characters that get very little dialog. Even the others who get more scenes to clearly define their personality are mostly identifiable by their single joke. About halfway into the film we learn that Pancake has irritable bowel syndrome, so in pretty much every single scene we see him in from then on, he has to go to the bathroom. Even the mastermind Dorr feels more like long strings of articulate, elaborately-woven Southern Dandy-speak than an anti-hero you can follow with glee. None of these would be a problem if the movie was genuinely funny but isn't. I actually found it to be quite annoying. Most of the characters are so bumbling that I knew there was going to be one thing that would go catastrophically bad after another so I found it predictable in that way. I did find some genuine laughs here and there (like when Pancake makes an argument for worker's compensation) but that never counterbalanced the endless, irritating scenes where I had to listen to Tom Hanks and Marlon Wayans talking constantly. I had some real problems with the ending as well, which comes in so quickly it feels like an afterthought. The film doesn't feature any particularly inspired cinematography and the story is just OK. I wish there was more to say, but it's a comedy that's competently made, except for the fact that there's nothing about it that stands out and there aren't enough laughs to keep the film afloat.The most frustrating thing about "The Ladykillers" is that everything about it should have worked. We have a great cast, talented directors and a good premise, but it's probably the worst of the Coen Brother's films. It's not unwatchable and I can see some people actually liking it quite a bit but I can't really recommend it. (Full screen version DVD, January 26, 2014)

As a remake this movie falls flat, as a stand alone movie its not too bad and will appeal more to a younger audience and probably mostly American one at that.Here is the problem with remakes - If you make it exactly like the original then there is little point in remaking it, if you just change the country what is the point when the dialogue and the setting is the exact same almost, with a few words changed here and there... Coupling UK and Coupling USA is a good example... and also maybe Life on Mars. Of course these are TV shows but the comparison stands.They made this movie very different to the original and shouldn't have called it a remake, or even The Ladykillers. In no way does this resemble the original, which is a classic and is still watchable today but set far in the past when TVs were black and white... is it better than this movie if you are comparing them as the same movie... the original blows this away without a doubt.So bare that in mind when watching this movie. I wouldn't compare these movies at all, to be honest they are far too different to compare, the only comparison i can come up with is that they have the same name and some of the characters are similar... the scenario is quite different except that they are both about stealing money.Not a bad or great movie by any means, and i think Hanks character tried to be like the Alec Guinness one, a little strange, and it didn't quite work, for me anyway...