It’s a real testament to how great the Coen Brothers are when their lowest-scoring movie on Rotten Tomatoes is a movie like The Ladykillers. I get it, it’s maybe not as strong as their other comedies like Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, or Fargo, and I certainly don’t think that, but it’s not a bad movie at all. In fact, there are some really funny moments, and after rewatching it lately, I needed to talk about how it's really underrated.
First Of All, The Cast Is Wonderful
The cast, led by Tom Hanks, is fantastic. J.K. Simmons is hilarious as the IBS-afflicted explosives expert. Marlon Wayans is perfectly cast. Tzi Ma, of The Man in the High Castle fame, is amazing as the chainsmoking “general,” and Irma P. Hall steals every scene she is in as the church-going widow of the house the “ladykillers” use to break into the casino and pull off their heist. Or try to, anyway. There are also great side characters played by the likes of Coen Brothers vet Stephen Root and the great Bruce Campbell.
Hanks can be one of the funniest actors in Hollywood when he wants to be. While he doesn’t play as many funny characters as he did early in his career in movies like Splash, Bachelor Party, and Big, when he does, as here in The Ladykillers, he’s still amazing. The same can be said for Simmons. His deadpan delivery of all his lines in this movie is, honestly, perfect. By far the most surprising for me, though, was Ryan Hurst. I had completely forgotten that the same guy who played Opie in Sons of Anarchy played the dim-witted football player Lump here. He’s great.
The Movie Is Uneven, But When It’s Great, It’s Great
I will grant you that The Ladykillers isn’t the most consistent movie that Joel and Ethan Coen have ever written and directed. However, the funniest scenes are pure Coen Brothers. Take, for example, the opening scene in the movie when Marva (Hall) goes to the police station to “swear out her complaint” to Sheriff Wyner (George Wallace) about her neighbor playing “that hippity hop” music. I could watch that scene over and over.
The other scene that I simply love is when the whole crew goes to the Waffle Hut. Garth (Simmons) brings his girlfriend, Mountain Girl (Diane Delano). Gawain (Wayans) takes strong exception to the guest and goes off on Garth (whose last name is Pancake), and it’s simply hilarious. I also love that it follows a great tradition of scenes about waffles or pancakes in Coen Brothers movies, as seen in Fargo and The Big Lebowski.
As I said, I’m not putting this up on the Mount Rushmore of Coen Brothers films. In fact, I probably agree that it's the weakest of their output, and at 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, most people believe it to be. That said, it still has some wonderful performances and great moments, and it makes me hungry for another movie from Joel and Ethan together.
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