Cinema Review: The Ladykillers (From Barry And District News)

Cinema Review: The Ladykillers

AS an avid fan of Ealing Studio comedies like Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lavender Hill Mob, this remake of William Rose's classic 1955 farce of the same name was always going to be a bit of an ordeal for me.

Though a great admirer of this film's directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, their wacky attention-seeking drollery would make them my last choice to remould a film whose original humour was so deliciously self-effacing. And how on earth could one replace the unique talents of Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers? Even the mega talented double Oscar-winning Tom Hanks in Guinness's role didn't soothe my worried brow.

God-fearing African-American Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) suffers from arthritis, loves her marmalade and her cat Pickles and talks to her deceased husband Othar through his dour portrait hanging on her sitting room wall. While having one of these little chats, Goldthwait H. Dorr II (Tom Hanks) arrives and inquires about renting one of her rooms. He is a Professor of Latin and Greek with an over enthusiastic interest in Edgar Allan Poe. Marva has already complained to the local sheriff (George Wallace) about the neighbours and their "hippety-hop" music, so when Dorr asks her if he and his associates can also use her basement for rehearsing their early Renaissance music group, she readily agrees. Though she thinks Dorr is pretty sinister, what she doesn't know is he is the mastermind behind an intended $1.6 million robbery. His plan is to tunnel from her house to the offshore underground accounting offices of the Bandit Queen riverboat casino. Needless to say he and his motley gang aren't remotely musical so they use recorded music to cover the noise of their digging. The gang consists of Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans) - the inside guy, Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons) - the explosives expert, Lump Hudson (Ryan Hurst) - the dumb thug, and The General (Tzi Ma) - a chain-smoking former Viet Cong officer, the tunnelling expert. All goes according to plan until a piece of faulty equipment alerts Marva and she discovers the gang with the money, which she insists on them giving back. This unfortunate incident leaves them with little alternative but to become The Ladykillers.

There is no doubt this is an imaginative, clever and interesting production, which is as different as chalk and cheese to the original. Just as long as you are a Coen brothers' fan, it is also very funny. The change from foggy London to gospel-swinging saucier Mississippi makes for a great soundtrack, cheerily lifting the weirdness of the story. It has a tangible southern feel to it. As usual Hanks's professionalism is unquestionable and his delivery never falters; he epitomises 'creep'. But Hall is the real star of the show: with her memorable bow-legged walk she really fits into the stereotype skin of suspicious Marva. Everyone else is not even a caricature - they are just plain odd. Hurst's dumb thug was a total non-event.

The film lacks the simplicity of the original but somehow manages to make its own mark.