The Ladykillers---A Review

Christopher Rath

2005-07-24

The Ladykillers, starring Tom Hanks (among others), had the potential to be a great film.  All the elements of greatness were present: a stellar cast, a solid original script, a clever new setting, and a well thought out revised story line.  But despite all these good ingredients, those responsible for creating this new version of the movie have failed---for along with the good elements they chose to poison it and make it unpalatable.

The ingredients:

• Tom Hanks---well acted, as always, but he failed in his southern accent and those failures distract from his portrayal and destroy the illusion he seeks to create.  Since he couldn't get the accent down pat, he would have been better served to skip the accent; or for the accent to have been part of his ruse with the old lady, where in scenes without the old lady he didn't use the accent.
• The old lady---perfectly portrayed.
• The other bad guys---well cast, solidly acted.
• The setting---moving the story to the deep south was a stroke of genius.
• No gratuitous sex---this movie would have received a 'G' rating were it not for the poison (see below).

The poison:

• Swearing/foul language---several of the bad guys swear is almost every line they speak.  While I am personally acquainted with a individuals who talk like this, I don't see any need to listen to such language while entertaining myself, or to expose my family to such language.

This new telling of The Ladykillers had the potential to be a classic that would be watched and cherished for decades; instead, it was a bad tasting confection: pretty on the outside but rotten and nasty inside.

From my vantage point, The Ladykillers is a symptom of everything that is wrong with Hollywood and society.  It's not "hip" to make family-friendly, profitable movies, so The Ladykillers isn't either of these things.

Very sad. 

If I were Tom Hanks I would be ashamed of how this movie turned out.