The Ladykillers

Tom Hanks is an excellent actor. That statement must be made, and I'm sure it's agreed upon by all. In this new movie he demonstrates that he's an excellent actor. His character is weasly, at times creepy, has a deliciously evil shuddering laugh, and has not only a manner but an entire aura about him. It's a fine character. A really different one for him to play.

Robert and I and Sarah (our 15 year old daughter) saw this today and we all had different reactions. Sarah loved it. She said it was so funny, and Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie) was great. She has repeated one line a dozen times - the "We must have waffles forthwith!" line from the trailer. That cracks her up to no end. She said it was original, full of surprises, fun and gets a rating of 4. She did, however admit to zoning out during many of Hank's speeches.

The Professor (Hanks) does give many long winded speeches. At first I thought this was part of his 'charm' but I have to admit to being utterly bored by them eventually. They could have been shorter and still made the same point.

The Coen brothers wrote/produced/directed this movie. Robert thought it 'felt' like O Brother Where Art Thou from the trailer, and when he realized it was another Coen brothers movie he understood why. It does feel like they tried to repeat history with this one. Their other hits, Raising Arizona, The Man Who Wasn't There, Blood Simple, O Brother, are such better films.

This one is fun, has many surprises, does have originality, and has fine performances. It's just not an instant classic like those already mentioned. George Clooney played a similar, long winded, educated man in O Brother as Tom Hanks does here, but he did it tongue in cheek and was much easier and more entertaining to listen to!

We loved Irma P. Hall (Soul Food) - her character is so good. There is nothing funnier than her laughing and laughing over the Professor. Our favorite other scene happens in the Waffle Hut.

George Wallace plays the cop and does a fine job, but his talent is a bit wasted. He would have done much better with more lines, but we just like him whenever we get to see him.

Early in the movie you get to see Jason Weaver (Marcus from the Smart Guy tv show). We think he's a talented actor - he does a great job in his small role.

One big gripe we all shared was that, again, the trailer of this movie shows so many key scenes and laughs. They really do spoil the movie these days with revealing way too much in the trailers! We noted that the Kill Bill trailer played and it shows NONE of the movie. Just a look at Uma Thurman and knowing this movie is coming out soon is enough to pack the theater. I'm so glad they didn't show what happens once you get there!

The Ladykillers has bad language, mixed with a LOT of church music, so it's a little uneven what audience they're trying to find. (One older couple walked out midway through in our theater) It has out loud laughs, an interesting story, interesting characters and great performances and is overall a fun movie.

Sarah's rating - 4
My rating - 3 - FUN!
Robert's rating - 2.5

We saw this at Pueblo Tinseltown and Brian, our favorite concession stand man, served us up fresh, hot popcorn. It was a fun movie day!