The Ladykillers (15)

Direction and Screenplay by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
On general release from 25th June 2004

Reviewed by Adam Ford

When they chose to rework this 1950s British classic, the Coen brothers put themselves in a no-win situation where critics are concerned. If they had borrowed heavily from the original, they would have been accused of lacking imagination. So they put their own spin on it and it suddenly becomes an 'insult' to the William Rose/Alec Guinness version. This is an excellent film in its own right, and deserves to be seen without prejudice.

As in the original, an eccentric professor (this time played by Tom Hanks) assembles a crack team of all the talents in an old lady’s basement, so that they can break a nearby safe. And as in the original, the old lady (this time played by Irma P. Hall) eventually sees through the professor’s silver-tongued devilry, leaving the team with no option but to bump her off. And as in the original, this proves to be far from easy. However, the remake exists in a very different time (fifty years later) and a very different place (the American South), so events play out in a very different way. Amidst a dazzling array of well-drawn characters, Hanks and Hall stand out in the lead roles, pulling-off some great verbal duels with facial expressions to match. The only real negative is some truly atrocious editing, which occasionally makes the script seem disjointed.

With humour at turns slapstick and intelligent, this is a worthy adaptation of a venerable old movie. But regardless of whether you have seen the 1955 version, go and see this if you’re after a good laugh.