The Ladykillers
RATING: 8/10

Review Date:        March 29, 2004
Director:             Joel and Ethan Coen
Writers:              Joel and Ethan Coen
Actors:                Tom Hanks as Professor G.H. Dorr
                           Irma P. Hall as Marva
                           Marlon Wayans as Gawain
Audience of Choice:                 Dark Comedy/ "Coen Brothers" Fans
Year of Release:  2004

STORYLINE: A remake of the 1955 comedy, the story revolves around a Southern professor who puts together a group of odd, but useful, people to rob a casino's vault. They rent a room in an old woman's house, but soon she discovers the plot and they must...er..."dispose" of her, a task that is more difficult than it seems.

MY REVIEW: The Coen brothers do it again! After such great movies as Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, and Raising Arizona, a new movie has arrived. The Coen Brothers previous movie, Intolerable Cruelty, was a major dissapointment, partially due to the more mainstream feel of things. Fortunately, The Ladykillers goes back to their roots with fantastic dialogue, creative characters, and hilarious dark comedy. First off, we have Professor G.H. Dorr, P.H.D. Tom Hanks was awesome as the intelligent, ring-leader. His dialgoue was very funny and witty, and everytime he spoke, I felt the need to spit up coffee even though I wasn't drinking any. Next up is Marlon Wayans, who plays the punk black-dude. He was definetely and obviously exploited as being black, so my previous comment was not rascist(translation= no hate mail please). His character had a lot of funny lines, but considering the feel of the movie, he seemed out of place. Moving on we have J.K. Simmons (who was Jameson in Spider-Man) as Garth Pancake. He plays a oddly entertaining explosions expert who always brings along his wife, the unwanted Mountain Girl (played by Diane Delano). We also have Tzi Ma, as the cigarete smoking General (hilarious), and Ryan Hurst, as the slow-minded but extremely strong Lump(very well played). But wait, there's one more. Here's a character that I feel nearly stole the show. Irma P. Hall plays Marva, the church-going, hippidy-hop hating, widowed land-lady. Her dialogue with Tom Hanks was wonderful. I really felt that there could be this old southern widowed woman exactly as I saw her. A splendid performance(did that sound retarded?). The main reason why I'm putting all my focus on the characters is because they're what makes the movie so creative and enjoyable. But moving on to different things...

    I do have a few complaints to accompany my praise. I disliked how out of the constant stream of very witty jokes, the Coen brothers decided to lower themselves to just plain stupid jokes in a few minor cases. Most of these cases involved Marlon Wayans, who I do believe is a very talented actor, just during this movie he felt uninspired. In a different setting though, it could have easily been pulled off. That's pretty much it for my complaints, and now it's time for my final words. The soundtrack was very lively and enjoyable, that is, if your fond of gospel music. There is a lot of church sung music that I normally wouldn't have enjoyed, but due to feel and energy in the movie, I was able to flow with it. For some, the music is an irritation, but for others it's a blessing. Same goes for this movie.

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