The Ladykillers 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: When the Coens are at their most creative ... their movies skip nonchalantly over genre lines and become uniquely their own. The Ladykillers is not one of those. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Irritating when it should be amusing, dumb when it should be zany, flat when it should be snappy. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Another offbeat Coen gem, gleaming with verbal and pictorial style, exploding with wit and slapstick. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Playing is the operative word since the visual whimsy gets equal billing with a mordant wit that's too much fun to be easily summed up as mere black comedy. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Most of this stuff isn't worthy of the Farrelly brothers, let alone the Coen brothers. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Hey, guys, let's go back to independent movies. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Already as dark as London soot, the comedy hardly needed work to bring it in line with the Coen brothers' sensibility, but the remake moves to a beat of its own, one unexpectedly in sync with the gospel music dominating its soundtrack. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: If you set your expectations low enough there are real laughs to be had, but coming to the Coens with low expectations somehow just feels wrong. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: Grounded in caricature and played for loud, unmodulated laughs, the film suffers from the same problems that affected the Coens' other big dud, The Hudsucker Proxy -- namely, little fun and no heartbeat. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The remake -- which could have been shot anywhere and probably was filmed on a studio back lot -- has almost nothing coherent to say about Mississippi, though it does recycle a few cliches. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Hanks hasn't cut loose in a comedy like this in years. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Hanks appears to be having the time of his life. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [Hanks] lends the movie the full, devious force of his bristly spirit. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The film gets funny reflex laughs as well as a few of the unexpected guffaws that are the Coens' trademark. So go -- but with lowered expectations. Read more

John Powers, L.A. Weekly: Bludgeons you with cartoonish gags about stupid football players, irritable-bowel syndrome and (for the second Coen film in a row) somebody accidentally shooting himself in the head. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The movie is anything but concise, and Hanks is only fascinating because you can't quite believe he's doing what he's doing. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's both lowdown and effete, a jamboree of whoopee jokes and sick wit. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Suddenly the Coen Brothers, of all people, seem to be playing it safe. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: [The Coen brothers have] made a broad comedy out of a black comedy and completely lost its charm in the process. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Tom Hanks seizes the chance to play a comic villain with almost indecent vaudevillian glee in this uneven, prankish caper comedy by Joel and Ethan Coen. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: The Coens have taken what's timeless about the 1955 movie, rolled it around in their endlessly inventive comic minds and made it distinctly, and riotously, their own. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For those who share my taste in comedy, this is a must-not-miss. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Always wildly signaling for us to notice it. Not content to be funny, it wants to be FUNNY! Have you ever noticed that the more a comedian wears funny hats, the less funny he is? Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Structured like a Mad magazine parody where there's a promised joke in each frame. It doesn't add up to a movie. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Never settles into an assured rhythm, and instead the actors always seem to be pushing, putting the hard sell on an audience that, however distracted by the strenuousness of the sales pitch, still isn't buying. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The Ladykillers is small and compact -- it doesn't kill, it's just a doodle -- but it's a very pleasant cartoon for grown-ups. It's some sweet fodder. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hanks is, as usual, on the top of his game. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Buy the soundtrack now, rent the movie later -- this is minor Coen in a major key. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Not quite top-drawer Coen Bros., but good enough to make you wish it were, The Ladykillers is a case of being grateful for small pleasures. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: While being far from the Coens' finest hour, it remains more intelligent and ambitious than most of what currently passes for Hollywood mainstream comedy. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Those seeking a quirky and clever comedy should hightail it to The Ladykillers forthwith. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: There's the mind-numbing oompah rhythm of every gag telegraphed and every joke pounded into the ground. Read more