Movie Reviews
That return would be with the help of Tom Hanks, who I have been waiting for the Coens to pick as their leading man for quite awhile. Mostly, I just wanted to see if Hanks would be good enough for the Brothers’ offbeat humor and often strange performances. Well Hanks, as always, proves himself worthy. This is one of the weirdest performances I think I’ve ever seen him play, but he is hilarious.
This film begins, runs, and ends on a peculiar note; one that I should have seen coming because I knew who was making it. But this is a film that implies a lot before letting us know the truth. Tom Hanks seems to be a kind middle-aged gentleman that speaks too properly, and who asks an innocent old black woman if he and his friends could play music in her basement while he paid to sleep in an upstairs bedroom. She agrees, and so Hanks’ character leads his “band” to the cellar where their true ambition is revealed. They are thieves looking for good soil to tunnel through to get to a casino to steal money to make themselves rich to...well, you get the picture.
Now, this is where we subsidize into both a caper and a dark comedy. And for those of you who have never seen a Coen movie...this is usually the trend. But what this team is so good at doing is always making there material original. This film is actually a remake, but is nothing familiar. “Ladykillers” comes to terms on nothing; never establishing just exactly what it is, but instead letting us decide. All I’m sure about is that it is very funny and very well made.
What you can always expect from the Coens is a certain quirk that embellishes what seems like it could happen and they make it amusingly impossible. Such is the case here. So, if by chance, there are some of you who feel that pictures made by Joel and Ethan Coen, including this one, it’s not an illusion. Just try to think of there films as being made in Coen World – a magical land where the impossible happens, and it’s hilarious. When you think of it like that, lonely couples can steal a baby, a mistakenly dead body can be buried, a wood chipper can chip more than wood, greedy men can pee on your carpet, and wheezing hit man confuse their gun with an inhaler and shoot themselves in the head. The Coens are an institution – one that cannot be touched.
“The Ladykillers” features six main characters – Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr (Hanks), Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans), the General (Tzi Ma), Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons), Lump (Ryan Hurst), and Marva Munson. All of which have distinguished antics that play toward the outcome. Gawain is the “inside” man who works at the casino. Wayans portrayal brings me back to the “Scary Movie” days where he made a fool of himself – he’s done it again. The rest of the cast is almost always funny.
What concludes the movie is an assortment of strange angles and weird coloring that ends with a darkly hilarious twist that satisfies completely. What I expected was something silly, but I got something sophisticatedly silly. This is a film that’s exploding with atrocious dialogue and charming wit that always entertains...even if the Coens have done much better. ***