By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
Gawain (Marlon Wayans) attempts to sneak up on elderly church lady Mrs. Munson (Irma P. Hall).
The Ladykillers is a quirky crime caper with some hilarious moments.
Caper movies seem to be making something of a comeback with re-makes of Ocean's Eleven and The Italian Job having presented glorious celebrations of slick smooth crime, where only the bad guys get hurt. However, where these films were smooth and classy, The Ladykillers inched its way toward an irreverent mockery of the genre.
CRIME DOESN'T PAY
It never quite makes it, but only because the movie seems to get lost along the way. The Ladykillers seems to be teaching that crime doesn't pay, but its alternative is nowhere as fun. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, The Ladykillers is also a re-make of a 1955 film of the same name.
For the most part, The Ladykillers follows the standard setup of a crime caper. Two things make a crime caper successful, the criminals in the outfit, and the ingenious nature of the crime being committed.
The Ladykillers succeeds quite well at presenting some interesting characters, where it falls off is in the nature of the crime. Tom Hanks heads the group as the master planner Professor Goldthwaite Higgins Dorr. Marlon Wayans takes on a role that has dominated most of his career. He plays Gawain MacSam, the trash-talking, gun-toting loud mouth, who is the group's inside man.
J.K. Simmons adopts an exaggerated moustache to be Garth Pancake, the explosives expert. Tzi Ma plays 'The General' whose role was never clearly defined, but he was good at anything requiring stealth. Ryan Hurst rounds out the group as Lump Hudson for whom 'duh' would be an intellectual statement.
These five plan to rob a casino boat, and then vanish into thin air. The ensemble of criminals (because they are not a gang) rent a room at Marva Munson's (Irma P. Hall) home, which is used as their headquarters. Their major problem, is not guards, or security cameras (this casino apparently has one security guard and no cameras) but to carry out their crime without Miss Munson becoming wise to their plans.
Indeed, Hall's performance is one of the best aspects of the movie. Hall has unmistakable screen presence and she often dominates the scene. Her embodiment of the bow-legged, sturdy old woman is impeccable. Miss Munson, is a church-going, God-fearing woman who is willing to beat anyone upside the head with the Word of God, for their own good of course.
The Ladykillers largely deals in stereotypes, which would have been acceptable in 1955 but not so now. Hall rescue's Munson from appearing as simply a 'Mamee' figure with no children to tend to. She adds depth and humanity to the role, making Munson more than a woman willing to beat one senseless with a pillow.
WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE
Tom Hanks gives an equally wonderful performance. He can now relax on his laurels, having done it all (almost). The hallmark of his performance is Professor Dorr's laugh, which is the embodiment of a sound trapped between a sob and a pant.
Alas, the end of a movie is so critical, and Ladykillers bungles it at the end. In trying to veer away from the prescribed end of a crime caper (with the criminals happily going off with their ill-gotten gains) Ladykillers found no plausible alternative and implodes. Though there are a few laughs at the end, it is a strangled attempt at humour, sounding more like a laugh caught in the midst of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) attack, than the side-splitting joy it had promised to be. Even so, Hall and Hanks makes every minute worth watching.
