The Ladykillers

I always expect high quality from movies starring Tom Hanks, but this comedy didn't really hit the mark. The landlady is exactly the seemingly inconspicuous "danger" I was expecting from her and the attempts to destroy her did amuse me, but the humour didn't really suit me otherwise. The script does contain a point about a spectacular heist, but it’s completely lacking in ideas and originality, and the spectacularity is totally out of place. But not to only criticize, The Ladykillers is an ideal film for relaxing and unwinding with a few good jokes, where you don't have to think too much. Also, Tom Hanks is great as always and brings the level of the whole thing a bit higher. (05/08/2011)

I like Coen brothers, they are among my favorite directors, but this somehow didn't work for them and the result was, from my perspective, the weakest film in their filmography. Clearly weaker than the original version. Their characters this time are just superficial figures and not even Tom Hanks in the main role will save it. The biggest weakness is generally the screenplay, the quality of the dialogues is unsatisfactory and the comedy simply lacks humor. Overall impression: 45%. (06/16/2006)

Coen brothers let Hanks and Co. scream, run around, act weird, and perform various antics for so long that the viewer doesn't care anymore whether their plan succeeds in the end. Moreover, the ending is so desperately predictable that not even several malicious screenwriting ideas can help it. Placing this particular film between Intolerable Cruelty and No Country for Old Men in their biography is literally a sin. (07/09/2005)

The plot of the weak script (I don't care that it's a remake), drowned in poor directorial execution, is not yet a clear example of the Coen brothers' softening; rather, it is a prime example of them confidently "missing the mark." Everything that happened in the film could be told in a few minutes, but fortunately, these two gentlemen tell it differently, and thus the sequence of darkly humorous situations, mixed with an abundance of absurdities as if taken from Murphy's Law, should theoretically not keep you waiting for long. However, the only genuine joke that could be labeled as typically "Coen-esque" seems to be thrown into the film almost casually and has nothing to do with the plot – I'm referring to the filming of a commercial for dog food. In a plot that resembles Ocean's Eleven too much, we also encounter characters who lack any sort of energy, and we don't get any good jokes from them, making the film unwatchable, prolonged, and incredibly boring. When it ended (just as I expected) I somehow couldn't help my inner disillusionment and the question crept in subtly: "Have the Coen brothers really gone soft?" (08/20/2005)

The Ladykillers starts out quite promisingly, but the Coens gradually run out of steam. The jokes aren’t as effective as they would have liked, and since practically all of the key twists, including the final one, are based on them, the film jumps around on one foot until the closing credits. Only Tom Hanks and the old lady, who was excellent, deserve extra praise. (07/16/2004)