Movie Review: The Ladykillers

Stars (Out of 10): 4

One Word Summary: Stereotypical

Movie Details: Ladykillers, The Crime | Comedy MPAA RATING R for language including sexual references 104 minutes | Color USA WRITTEN BY Ethan Coen Joel Coen William Rose (1955 movie The Ladykillers) DIRECTED BY Ethan Coen Joel Coen THEATRICAL RELEASE Mar 26, 2004   Relevant Sites: IMDB Official Movie Website Watch The Movie Trailers Shopping: Shop Amazon for items related to this movie. Shop for movie posters at AllPosters

"The Ladykillers" Review:

          The Ladykillers stars Tom Hanks as Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr, a scholarly man with a knack for thievery. One day he comes knocking on Marva Munson's door, an old lonely woman, who's lost her only son, and can only keep busy by going to church, and by frequently visiting the police to file statements about things such as her young neighbor's new affinity for rap music. Dorr asks about the room she has for rent, saying he's on sabbatical from his university, and is looking for a place to stay and for his gospel band to practice.

'The Professor' and his four accomplices (Gawain MacSam, the 'inside man', Garth Pancake, the demolitions 'expert' who has IBS, 'The General', a man short on words, but full of experience, and Lump Hudson, the dumb football player who's the muscle of the operation) are going to rob riverboat casino, and make it look like the money just disappeared. The plan is to dig a tunnel to the boat, take the money, destroy the tunnel and get away before anyone realizes what happened. For the plan to work though, they'll have to dig the tunnel through Ms. Munson's basement, and tricking her will turn out to be the biggest 'set-back' of all.

The Ladykillers features a cast of walking clichés: Hanks plays the Edgar Allen Poe quoting Professor, who, between his outfit and rhetoric, is even more annoying than Frasier Crane. Wayans plays MacSam, the young, black, lazy, cursing janitor who is a product of every racial stereotype that's ever been made. There's also 'The General', an Asian, Hitler-moustache-bearing, no-smiles, criminal, who stands out against stereotypes only in that he owns a donut shop as opposed to a beauty salon or convenience store. And of course, there's Lump, a football player so stupid that he's only supposed to dig, not to think.

I'm still not sure if Tom Hanks' performance was overacted, or if his character was just completely overblown, but the whole thing was so off that it's irrelevant. The Coen Brothers bring a certain level of idiosyncrasy to each of their characters in all of their movies, but Goldthwait Higginson Dorr is all quirk and no substance.

The movie never touches on why he became a criminal, or how he came up with this particular plan, his past is barely mentioned at all. Hanks' entire role is composed of quirky ramblings about music, literature, or pure B.S., few of which are understandable at all. The idiosyncrasies do allow for most of the film's humor, but the movie wouldn't have been hurt in the least if Hanks' professor rhetoric was just an act he put on around his landlady Munson (it probably would have made the movie a lot better). Irma P. Hall, as the lonely yet strict landlady who doesn't allow smoking or 'hippity-hop language' in her house, gives the film's best performance, even though for the most part she's as audible as Mike Tyson on Novocain.

What was my biggest problem with The Ladykillers? It's just too unconcise and scattered; the Coen Brothers, in an effort to create another offbeat Coen gem, tore away the core of the movie, leaving just a poorly conceived plot and flat stereotypical characters. The movie should've been about a) stealing the money or b) killing Ms. Munson; The Ladykillers is anything but a crime caper, and they don't start plotting to kill Ms. Munson until ten minutes before the end of the movie (which, although humorous after the downfall of the first few characters, pun intended, quickly comes to look like a cop out).

The Bottom Line is that The Ladykillers is 104 minutes of bad film making; the plot plays second fiddle to the film's stereotypical and overly simplified characters. There are laughs to be had, but they're piled under a stack of garbage bigger than the city dump featured in the movie's opening scene. If you want to know the point of the movie, here it is: go to church, don't steal, listen to wise old woman, and send money to Bob Jones University (if you're wondering what to do with that ticket price I just saved you, there's your answer!).