CASH IN ON LAUGHS WITH HANKS & CO.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic YOU MIGHT remember ``The Ladykillers,'' the pitch-black caper comedy starring Alec Guinness that came out in 1955. Probably not. I mention it only to say that if you do, the new (but not improved - how could it be?) ``Ladykillers'' isn't that movie. It's every inch a Coen brothers production (and that's mostly a good thing), and it features a turn from the great Tom Hanks that is so thoroughly unlike anything he has ever done (again, mostly for the good) that it makes the movie required viewing. Joel and Ethan Coen have always had thing for the sound of people talking. Think of Marge Gunderson's singsong sing·song n. 1. Verse characterized by mechanical regularity of rhythm and rhyme. 2. A monotonously rising and falling inflection of the voice. adj. Monotonous in vocal inflection or rhythm. Midwestern cadences in ``Fargo'' (``Ya betcha, yah!'') or the Dude's laid-back whatnot what·not n. 1. A minor or unspecified object or article. 2. A set of light, open shelves for ornaments. pron. in ``The Big Lebowski,'' or the way George Clooney's Everett decorated every sentence with flowery verbiage verbiage - When the context involves a software or hardware system, this refers to documentation. This term borrows the connotations of mainstream "verbiage" to suggest that the documentation is of marginal utility and that the motives behind its production have little to do with in ``O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' ``The Ladykillers'' finds the Coens returning to the ``O Brother'' South (and reuniting with that picture's musical supervisor, T-Bone Burnett). Playing Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D., a genteel Southern gentleman whose white suit nicely offsets his discolored dis·col·or v. dis·col·ored, dis·col·or·ing, dis·col·ors v.tr. To alter or spoil the color of; stain. v.intr. To become altered or spoiled in color. teeth, Hanks speaks with honey tones and over-embellished sentence structures. He is a man who loves to hear the sound of his own voice, unaccustomed to anyone having the temerity te·mer·i·ty n. Foolhardy disregard of danger; recklessness. [Middle English temerite, from Old French, from Latin temerit to interrupt him. Goldthwait meets his match when he rents a room from Mrs. Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall, wonderful), a devout churchgoer who loves her cat, her late husband and Bob Jones University (``the finest Bible college in the land''). Goldthwait and his criminal colleagues plan to use the basement in the old woman's home as a starting point to tunnel their way to the vault of a nearby riverboat casino. Maybe the plan sounds a little sketchy. That's because Goldthwait isn't quite the criminal mastermind he figures himself to be. Look at his dubious choice of cohorts, whom the Coens cleverly introduce in separate, bravura bra·vu·ra n. 1. Music a. Brilliant technique or style in performance. b. A piece or passage that emphasizes a performer's virtuosity. 2. A showy manner or display. adj. 1. comic sequences: Gawain McSam (Marlon Wayans), a profane mama's boy with a hair-trigger temper; the chain-smoking Vietnamese convenience store owner known as ``The General'' (Tzi Ma); Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons), proficient in munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. and plagued by irritable bowel syndrome irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), condition characterized by frequently alternating constipation and diarrhea in the absence of any disease process. It is usually accompanied by abdominal pain, especially in the lower left quadrant, bloating, and flatulence. ; and burly jock Lump Hudson (Ryan Hurst), the man Goldthwait calls his ``hooligan, goon, ape, dumb brute.'' If the Coens love language, they also delight in giving us dim-witted adj. 1. mentally retarded; relatively slow in mental function. Adj. 1. dim-witted - lacking mental capacity and subtlety simple-minded, simple dreamers who get in over their heads (admittedly, it doesn't take much) pursuing plans best left to others. Here they have a rogue's gallery of priceless rubes Rubes is a syndicated newspaper single panel cartoon created by Leigh Rubin in 1984. Leigh Rubin began making and distributing his own greeting cards in 1979 through his company Rubes. pitted against a woman who doesn't suffer fools or people smoking in her house or any of that ``hippity-hop'' music. ``You've got to go upside the head; sometimes that's the only way,'' says Mrs. Munson's pastor. Mrs. Munson's too nice a lady to do that - unless you push her. Then watch out. The results are inspired and very, very funny. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com THE LADYKILLERS - Three stars (R: language, including sexual references) Starring: Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall. Director: Joel and Ethan Coen. Running time: 1 hr. 44 min. Playing: Wide release. In a nutshell: This Coen brothers remake features their usual penchant for language and dimwits and a performance from Tom Hanks that's not like anything you've ever seen him do. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Tom Hanks is the genteel Southern gentleman Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D., in ``The Ladykillers.'' |
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