Review of The Ladykillers (2004) by Amheretojudge — 29 Aug 2019

It is sad to see Tom Hanks do that and that and also that, everything in fact.

The Ladykillers Coen Brothers love comedy. They have easily made almost the same amount of comedy as they have printed dark gritty action drama. And here comesIt is sad to see Tom Hanks do that and that and also that, everything in fact.

The Ladykillers.

Coen Brothers love comedy. They have easily made almost the same amount of comedy as they have printed dark gritty action drama. And here comes the sad confession. I have never understood their joke. Ergo I could never respond to their comedy drama in their entire filmography. Adapted from William Rose's novel of the same name, the writer and director Joel and Ethan Coen are barely able to draw a nod from us. In fact, I am going to say that they never do. Not for a frame, not for a joke, not for an element and not for a character.

The film is a compilation of dull scenes stitched together and dressed for representing the cartoonish element in their behavior. Oh, the film is also flat emotionally. So there's that to mourn too. I don't even know where to start from. The structure of the script is textbook. In addition to that it is brimming with overstuffed and overstretched cliches. It breathes, nay.. it screams every bit of heist genre as there ever was or is.

Different characters from different ethnicities representing or holding onto a specific set of skills or more precisely filling up the necessary details of the plot. And then comes the plan. The planning of the plan, the execution of the plan and all the things that are obviously to go wrong in that flawed plan. Another disadvantage is empathy in characters. Each character has the tendency to bring humor on the table by praising himself or herself. Now there is nothing wrong with that. It's just that there isn't enough room for the other side of the argument to fill in on the joke, i.e. the characters are left one dimensional and hence impossible to connect with, not to forget the title of this team too, The Ladykillers.