Not Coming to a Theater Near You

The Ladykillers / USA / 2004

A mishmash of featureless and unadorned humor that, in all honesty, should never have come from great filmmakers like Joel and Ethan Coen. JK Simmons and George Wallace are forgettable, Marlon Wayans is just annoying, and Stephen Root deserves much better than this. Even Tom Hanks, speaking with a dialect weighed down by a roguish Southern swag, forced me to consult my “volume” and “subtitles” buttons, as his lines are more often than not delivered in a rambling, frenzied hush. And as the film ends in what appears to be an odd homage to Home Alone antics, I was left to chuckle over Marva Munson’s humorous devotion to Bob Jones University and the General’s Buddhist outlook on how to do away with her (“Must float like leaf on river of life… and kill old lady”). That, and that alone.

Leo’s thoughts on Alexander MacKendrick’s 1955 original.

by Adam Balz | Source: Walt Disney DVD
11 Feb 2007 1:51 PM | Comments (2)

Comments / 2 total / Submit Comment

1. leo / 12 February 2007 / 11:48 AM / URL

   Notwithstanding Marva, the General’s final scene, and Tom Hanks’ return to the dumb comedies in which he truly belongs, this remains the only Coen Bros. film that I consider completely unnecessary. Some would say the same for Intolerable Cruelty, but I think that film, slight though it is, is masterfully, even anachronistically funny, and it never quite stoops to the IBS-related softballs on offer here. As it is, their Ladykillers owes nearly all of its worth to the original, which unfortunately exceeds it in every way.

   But who are we to judge? America’s done spoken: This is their second largest grossing film ever (after O Brother). Here’s hoping they pump that money into worthier projects to come.

2. Adam B. / 12 February 2007 / 12:13 PM / URL

   I’m willing to forgive the Coen Brothers their last two films as long as their next, No Country for Old Men, holds true to the blood-and-guts modern-Western feel of McCarthy’s novel. Perhaps a return to the dark grit of Blood Simple will do them good.