Customer Reviews

The Ladykillers [DVD] [2004]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The Ladykillers--remade with irritable bowel movements? WHY?

What a falling off was there! Run, do not walk to the Alec Guinness/Katie Johnson version to see what was so foully trampled on here.

Two stars ... because the professor is on rare occasions slightly amusing, so I cannot entirely despise the film.

The normally safe hands of Tom Hanks and the Coen brothers failed to conjure up the magic of the original Ealing classic The Ladykillers [DVD] [1955]

This remake possibly suffers from the fact that it is a remake of a classic. Perhaps if you haven't seen the original, it will be possible to view it in a more open-minded and sympathetic manner than I and thousands of other people have managed. However, I have to wonder, why did they bother doing a remake of something that was already perfect?!

I think that all fans of the original Ealing comedies must now pray that Holywood (or anyone else for that matter), never contemplate remaking Kind Hearts And Coronets [DVD] [1949], which is the best of the best Ealing comedies. If it's a classic, leave it alone!

Absolutely dreadful. The original is so good and this is so bad, it's worth watching just to compare and marvel. Just mind boggling.

Whilst I can see why and that it's automatic for originals to be compared with remakes, it's probably only us not so old/oldies that would even have heard of, let alone seen the 1955 original. A half-century gap and it's not as if one can nip into Blockbuster and get an old black & white Ealing comedy out.

No, it's not as good as the Alexander Mackendrick directed movie but that's partly because Joel & Ethan Coen haven't copied it, or even re-made it. On many fronts, it's a different film entirely. They obviously loved the original premise and have indelibly stamped their own black comedy and directorial flourishes onto it, plus some great twists at the end.

Because, unlike the Ealing, it's set for comedy, it can only be so good, given the limitations. Comments about the robust, Southern black woman that the gang infiltrate, who is far too much of a tour de force for the film to work, are missing the point. SHE is the comedy, whilst the supporting cast add - or possibly detract from - the whole set-up. Moving it all from the East End to (I guess) the Mississippi makes it as American as it can be - can you envisage a timid, naive black woman playing that role? Similarly, our very English stereotype is that quaint old dear, who inadvertently becomes a hero.

Anyways, the comedy for us Brits is hit and miss and too broad for many, which when mixed with the perceived messing with our National Treasure, make it sit even more awkwardly. I'm certainly not pro American but the Coen bros have made some very fine films - and while this certainly isn't one of those, it does deserve more credit than is often given.

Sometimes it only takes a single mistake to destroy a movie. The joke in The Ladykillers is a very simple one: namely, that a sweet tiny little old lady who lives in a world of her own and who wouldn't hurt a fly not only thwarts a gang of criminals who want to kill her and ends up with their ill-gotten gains but does it without even knowing it. Unfortunately, the Coens just didn't seem to get it and make one disastrous change in their remake: Mrs Lopsidey is now a huge, loud, obnoxious, hateful and extremely violent woman who you want dead on sight. Not only do the crooks never stand a chance, but within seconds of her first scene you have no desire to watch a minute more. When she waxes lyrical about her dead husband in a failed attempt to create some sympathy for her, Groucho's old line "He's not dead, he's hiding" springs all too readily to mind.

Things improve slightly when Tom Hanks' loquacious decayed Southern gentleman appears, but he's fighting a losing battle with her spite and vindictiveness. They then compound the error by casting Marlon Wayans, whose ability to spout obscenities is almost miraculously untouched by the ability to make any of them remotely funny. Thus the stage is set for the Coens' worst movie, and one that alternates too few genuinely funny scenes - most involving J.K. Simmons and Tic Ma's early scenes before the script run out of good ideas for them - with moments of pure torture (the less said about Ryan Hurst's painfully misfired performance as the dumb lummox of the gang the better). By the time the miscreants finally put their minds to lady killing, the Coens have long since run out of ammunition, making for a flat, unfunny and painfully unimaginative last half-hour.

This is absolutely dire! Who could ever have thought that this monstrosity of a film was going to do any justice to the original Ealing Comedy? The Cohen Brothers obviously have no understanding of what the original film portrayed. Was the swearing thrown in to try to grab a laugh when everything else failed? If so, it didn't work. The original is still available - settle down and enjoy the film as it should be, and avoid this appalling piece of rubbish like the plague.

As a stand alone film this is fine, but having grown up with the original, it's impossible not to make any comparisons with the 50's Ealing comedy classic. I won't go into the story etc as other reviews have done that, so keeping it short - if you're a fan of the original version with Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers & Herbert Lom etc then the odds of you liking this version are slim (very), however if you haven't seen the original then you'll probably enjoy this. Tom Hanks gives a pretty good performance, the general story line remains similar and the script fairly tight (though Hanks has a tendency to waffle unnecessarily). I would warn you this version has a lot of swearing (and I mean a lot), so if you're planning to buy it for your parents or grandparents for Christmas then I would seriously reconsider. I'm going to give this 2 stars as the original British classic is still in a totally different league than this modern day American remake.

This movie is absolute garbage! I heard the Ealing Comedies version was great, so i thought this should be ok, considering the cast. How wrong I was!

The story/plot is incoherent, the jokes are shockingly first thought-ish and the acting is awful!

Why does everyone have to do an inaudiable accent; Hanks/Wayans?!

2/10 at the very best.

AVOID!

This is soooo bad!
I couldnt finish it, theres so much wrong with it.
They Coen brothers have made a real stinker. The little old lady in the original was trusting, naive and very sweet. In this version the old lady is far too formidable.
I like Tom Hanks but his acting is just awful in this movie, but I dont think he's wholly to blame.
Its just sooooo dull.
Dont wast your time on this, life is too short.

As others have said, i rate Tom Hanks and the Wayan's brothers (which is why i also bought it cause if they were in it, it was sure to be good) but what on earth happened with this film? I had seen the trailer on another DVD and thought it looked quite funny. How wrong can you be. It was so boring and senseless I didn't even get to the end and it was back on here for sale within an hour!!! I would really reccommned that you save your pennies and not buy this film. What a let down!!!