The Coen Brothers have
been looking backwards quite a bit in recent years. Following the originality
of Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998) they have made O
Brother, Where Are Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), and
Intolerable Cruelty (2003). While only two of those three were actually
set in the past, each was also a look back at earlier eras in filmmaking.
This
trend continues with their latest release, The Ladykillers. Not only is
this a remake of the 1955 British film of the same name, but it is a chance for
the Coen Brothers to attempt (and revel in) a style of caper-farce that proved
so profitable to Alec Guinness and England’s Ealing Studio. Together they made
at least seven films and The Ladykillers was among the best.
As
with Intolerable Cruelty, they’ve taken an old style and moved it to the
present. For the most part, the world inhabited by this new edition is timeless.
The real world as we live it doesn’t really encroach, but events have been moved
from an urban London environment on the edge of a train yard to a Deep South rural
house near a riverboat casino.
The story still centers on a gang of con
men who pretend to be a musical quintet and rent an available room from a kindly
old woman. They then use it as the base for planning and executing the theft of
a large sum of money (proof of inflation: 60,000 British pounds in the original,
$1.6 million in the remake).
©2004
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
In both, the gang is a ragtag group brought
together just for this job. Tom Hanks takes up the Alec Guinness role as the group
leader. Garrulous to the point of distraction, and of questionable sanity, Hanks’
Professor G.H. Dorr assembled his team through a want ad in the paper.
Even
if the film isn’t so great, you can always rely on the Coen Brothers to put together
at least a couple of highly entertaining sequences. In these caper films, one
of the hardest parts is introducing the team without wasting too much time on
exposition. In one of the better sequences, the Coen Brothers does just that.
Quickly and humorously introducing the trash-talking Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans,
in one of his least annoying performances), demolitions expert Garth Pancake (J.K.
Simmons), The General (the refreshingly named Tzi Ma) as a Vietnamese tunneling
expert, and finally Lump, as the gang’s muscle (Ryan Hurst). See why it is so
hard for filmmakers to pull off this necessary sequence? I’ve put myself to sleep
just writing a couple lines to introduce them.
As always, each member of
the team has his role (Wayans is the inside man with a job at the casino) and
Professor Dorr’s is that of the thinker. In both versions of the movie, this character
is simply strange. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for the strangeness, as
it doesn’t further the con. So we’re left to assume that this is the real person.
Tom Hanks gives an over-the-top performance. And it is his most sincerely
comedic performance since A League of Their Own (1992), discounting the
Toy Story movies. It is Professor Dorr who secures the apartment, by convincing
Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) that he is a professor on sabbatical, working with
a musical group on the music of the Renaissance. Dorr speaks with a mixed-up Southern/British
accent that strengthens and fades throughout the movie, and he never settles on
one word when 15 will do.
Though all the focus is on Hanks, Irma P. Hall
is really the key piece of casting. For me, the original film has two major weaknesses.
One of them was that the equivalent character, Miss Wilberforce (Katie Johnson)
was just too addlepated for my tastes.
In their revising of the character,
the Coen Brothers give Marva Munson significantly more heft. Sure, she is undereducated
and easily manipulated. But more than anything, that manipulation is not because
of vacuousness but because she lives her life according to her heartfelt Christian
principles. Because Dorr assures her that their music was inspired by the Gospels,
she is convinced to let them practice in her cellar.
Eventually, the movie
gets around to the actual caper. This is another vast improvement over the original.
Whereas there was never any obvious reason for the Alec Guinness gang to need
the room in the house of an easily duped woman, the Coen Brothers have managed
to make it central to the whole plan.
Of course, after the caper, Marva
discovers that she’s been duped, and the movie is on to the final act. The gang
decides they have to alter their plan and go about attempting to earn the film’s
title.
©2004
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
There
are several good scenes or sequences in the movie, but overall it falls a little
flat. It was a surprise to find that the movie was only 100 minutes long when
the lights came on; it felt longer, which is never a good sign. While Hanks makes
a good effort, his character is strange for no reason and it doesn’t aid the story.
Comparisons will be made to Johnny Depp’s performance in last year’s Pirates
of the Caribbean, but while that one—for some undefinable reason—worked,
it doesn’t here. Also, with the accent, loquaciousness, and soft voice of Professor
Dorr, it was frequently difficult to understand what he was saying, even if the
audience was quiet.
It was a lot of fun, though, and certainly a better
option than some of the other stuff opening this weekend (if you go see Scooby
Doo 2, I may have to bar you from reading my column). The movie is rated R
and earns it with a thoroughly modern vocabulary (mostly from Marlon Wayans and
J.K. Simmons), but if that doesn’t bother you, then kids from 12 on up have a
good chance of enjoying themselves while younger children will probably be too
bored with all the talking.
The Ladykillers
is a Touchstone Pictures release
Wide theatrical
release: Friday, March 26, 2004
Directed and written
by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.
Based on the screenplay
by William Rose.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Marlon Wayans,
J.K. Simmons, and Irma P. Hall.
Rated R for mature
language including sexual references.
Running time:
104 minutes
Alex’s Rating: 7 out of 10
