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PAGE 8B PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. APRIL 29, 2004
Ladykillers provides devilish detour
for Hanks and Coens
TOM HANKS
“lADi'KIiLERS
r \
By Michael Andrews
Since the Billy Bob Thornton-
starring film noir mystery The Man
Who Warn’t There arrived suddenly
then vanished without a trace, it’s
become a popular notion that those
less notable films from filmmaking
brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are
still safer wagers than the best work
of many others in the movie biz. As
true as that may be a more likely
reason for this assumption is that
the Coens have yet to top the com
mercial and critical success of their
most well received film, O’ Brother
Where Art Thou.
The Coens’ most recent project,
the Ladykillers, is a modernized
update of the 1955 British heist
comedy of the same name. In that
classic bit of black-hearted slap
stick Sir Alec Guinness portrayed
Professor Marcus, a fast talking
thief posing as a scholarly music
professor. In the ’04 version Tom
Hanks tackles the lead role,
renamed Goldthwait Higginson (or
simply G.H. for short) Dorr, armed
with a buttery Mississippi drawl
rather than Guinness’ perfunctory
English bite.
Dorr shows up unexpectedly to
inquire about renting a room from
elderly churchgoing widow Marva
Munson (Irma P. Hall). Immediate
ly, we’re aware that something isn’t
quite right due to the reaction of
both Munson and her ornery cat
Pickles, who immediately detests
the Professor. Working under the
guise of musicians who are particu
larly fond of medieval and Renais
sance period music, Dorr and his
eventual partners in crime hold reg
ular meetings in Mrs. Munson’s
cellar. The catch being that the cel
lar is a half earth half concrete set
up that provides a soon to be tun
neled underground path to the hold
ing room of a nearby riverboat casi
no.
Marlon Wayans provides the
film’s foulmouthed lunatic quotient
(an honor belonging to Peter Sell
ers in the original) as Gaiwan
McSam. Gaiwan is also Dorr’s man
on the inside working as a janitor
aboard the ship. The Professor’s
remaining accomplices aren’t much
more help than the confrontational
Gaiwan as they range from quiet
and highly menacing to loud
mouthed and fully incompetent.
There’s Garth Pancake, played
by J.K. Simmons who’s better
known for his role as J. Jonah
Jameson in Spider Man. Pancake is
a professional animal handler and a
man of many trades who isn’t very
proficient at any of them. Lump
(Ryan Hurst) is a failure as a pro
athlete whose saving grace is his
overgrown stature and ability to
absorb whatever physical punish
ment might come his way.
The most hilarious and unpre
dictable scoundrel in the bunch,
though, is the General (Tzi Ma), an
oriental donut shop owner with a
Chaplin-esque mustache. To carry
the Chaplin reference further, the
General has barely 10 words of
actual dialogue in the entire movie
but with his subtle facial expres
sions and quick physical slapstick
he’s the most recognizable throw
back to the spirit of the original
film.
Though the cast is highly enter
taining, it may very well be the
cheapest one the Coens have enlist
ed since their early days. Hall who
plays Mrs. Munson for example,
has appeared in many theatrical and
TV movies but this is probably the
most time spent on screen yet for
the 67-year-old actress. However,
that’s one of the most notable reoc-
curring charms of the
producer/director team. They’re
highly effective at using working
actors but not always super well
known working actors of Hanks’ or
George Clooney’s stature. Then, in
turn, if a highly regarded actor like
Hanks is sought out for a part, the
Coens’ steady reputation precedes
them. In other words, there must be
a trade off between a famous
actors’ paycheck and the opportuni
ty to work with such a dependable
team of filmmakers.
Many familiar Coen ingredients
show up here: wordy, hilarious
monologues, choreographed physi
cal humor and something that
resembles an Aesop’s moral at the
end. However, those who are look
ing for a belly laugh in the tradition
of Raising Arizona or O’ Brother
might be a tad disappointed. That’s
not to say the film is without its
rewards, though. Whereas O’
Brother took place in the dustbowl
Mississippi Delta of the Great
Depression, Ladykillers uses the
present day Delta region to its
advantage. Old-fashioned folks like
Mrs. Munson go to church every
Sunday, crochet and aren’t afraid to
take an immediately shady drifter
like Dorr into their home. Younger
upstarts like Gaiwan are tempera
mentally flawed, fly off the handle
and often times find out their rear
ends aren’t strong enough to cash
the many checks their mouths have
written.
The film’s summertime sur
roundings also have that ordinary
but off-kilter Coen Brothers look
that they’ve previously used to
great effect in the Big Lebowski,
Barton Fink and particularly Rais
ing Arizona. Dorr and his accom
plices congregate for an especially
chaotic scene at the neighborhood
Waffle Hut instead of the Waffle
House or the Waffle King or any
thing that would immediately be
associated with a southerner’s
breakfast requirements.
This is also another of the
Coens’ continuous strong points,
creating a self-made and self-con
tained environment within the
story. The fog rises off the Missis
sippi bridge at midnight, Mrs.
Munson’s fellow church ladies drop
by to visit on the very afternoon
that the criminals plan to pull off
the long-delayed heist and when
the local police find out that Mun
son might have knowledge of who
committed the robbery, they shrug
it off due to her verbose rambling
of what would initially appear to be
age-damaged gibberish.
Hanks is devilishly amusing as
the less than criminal mastermind
Dorr though he doesn’t exactly out
shine Guinness. But when you’re
up against the likes of Obi Won
himself, those are some mighty big
sandals to fill. Dorr’s outlandish
excuses and long winded asides are
the perfect vehicle for Hanks and
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even though he’s the bad guy here
for once, he can’t help but be an
awfully likeable villain at that.
A couple of more familiar Coen
associates are also on hand for the
proceedings. Stephen Root (Jimmy
James from TV’s News Radio),
who was the cockeyed radio
announcer in O'Brother, returns as
Gaiwan’s crooked casino ship boss.
Musician/ producer T-Bone Burnett
who compiled and supervised the
recording of O ’ Brother’s multi
award winning soundtrack is also
responsible for the Ladykillers'
lively mix of gospel and hip hop
sounds, a combination that under
scores the film’s underlying genera
tion gap conflict of Old South vs.
New South.
So, the Coens have again given
us some funny characters, highly
improbable situations and a happy
medium of lowbrow and higher
echelon humor. However, this time
they’ve settled for hearty chuckles
and knee slaps instead of a rapid-
fire laugh riot. It’s true that when
put up against some of their previ
ous work, the Ladykillers is none
too momentous. But until it falls
down some stairs, mistakenly
shoots itself or receives a nasty
blow to the head, it’s still strong
enough to stand on its laurels. No
matter how beady-eyed or knock-
kneed they may be.
[Andrews, a Pickens County res
ident, is a free lance writer who
covers arts and entertainment as
well as general feature stories for
the Progress. He can be reached at
michlclay @ hotmail. com. ]
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