About decade ago, Tom Hanks took a sharp turn in his filmography, which, up until that point, was dominated by comedies. Lighter, humorous movies such as "Big" and romantic comedies like "Sleepless in Seattle" gave way to a more dramatic selection. His turn as a gay man dying of AIDS in "Philadelphia" won him an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993, and he won again the following year for playing the title role in "Forrest Gump." Hanks increased his dramatic depth in following years, and his role as Michael Sullivan, the doomed father and hitman from Sam Mendes' "Road to Perdition," impressed theatergoers.
In recent years, Hanks has turned back to comedy, and he again showed audiences his flair as a flustered agent in "Catch Me If You Can." Hanks' role in the Coen Brothers' "The Ladykillers" is an extension of this new comedic direction, and the talented cast that surrounds him highlights the idiosyncrasies of his character.
Although all of the Coen Brothers' films are divergently different from one another in terms of plot and location, one thing has always been at the forefront to save even their weakest efforts: the characterization. The Coens have always been fascinated with the finer points of a character's psyche, and they turn stock characters into intriguing, often hysterical satires as a result of their attention to detail. "The Ladykillers," which is actually a remake of a 1950s film of the same name, follows in this tradition, albeit not as expertly.
For the most part, the film focuses around the life of Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall), a God-fearing widow and lover of gospel who is aggravated by all of the "hippity-hop" that she hears on a consistent basis. Her humdrum life is disrupted by the presence of Professor D.H. Dorr (Hanks) who wishes to use her root cellar to practice gospel music with his colleagues. This music, however, is a front for their real purpose, which is to break into the vault of a casino by tunneling underneath Munson's house.
The balancing act of duping Munson while continuing their criminal activities puts Hanks and his heist crew into a variety of awkward, yet funny, positions. One of the best, recurring sight gags during these sequences are the antics of The General, one of Hanks' cronies, who uses a desperate method to hide his smoking habit from Munson.
The movie continues in this manner at a sometimes breezy, sometimes grueling pace until Munson realizes what her tenants are actually doing in her root cellar. It is at this point that "The Ladykillers" becomes a fast-paced dark comedy, and the viewer feels vindicated to laugh at the gallows of humor and justice that are meted out on the screen.
Clearly, the strength of the film lies in the acting of the two leads. Hanks chews into the scenery with his upholstered, overly referential dialogue -- watching his character portray stereotypically Southern mannerisms while not making a lick of sense is a hoot in itself. Hall adds an emotional, genuine foil to Hanks' eccentricities, and her mistakes inspire sad endearment from the viewer -- in a misstep of kindness, she donates large amounts of money to Bob Jones University, apparently unaware of their former ban on interracial dating.
Two things hurt this film and relegate it to being good rather than great. The first problem is that the supporting cast is not very well fleshed out, and although the Coens probably intended for them to be one-dimensional, that dimension isn't interesting enough to hold the audiences' attention.
The second problem with the film is its pacing. Although the clever dialogue compensates for it, the pacing feels like deadweight on the movie's spirit. The back stories feel like vignettes rather than part of a cohesive movie, and some of the sequences between Hanks and Hall are excruciating in their tedium. Once the viewer appreciates the irony of an educated man who spouts nonsense, there is little left to be gotten from these scenes of exposition. It is only in the last half hour that the "The Ladykillers" bristles to a fitting, humorous conclusion, and the Coen Brothers, while not making another modern classic in the vein of "Fargo," succeed in entertaining an audience.
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