Quick Comments on The Ladykillers

-I saw The Ladykillers on Saturday (first show, no less!). It’s a very funny movie.

-The performances were good all around. Tom Hanks always does a great job in his roles, and this one is no exception. However, two people stole the show. The first is Irma P. Hall. She had the “old black church woman” routine down, but she managed to humanize the role instead of letting it become a stereotype. The other is Marlon Wayans. I heard that he improvised a lot of his dialogue, and it shows. There are a few lines that I can’t imagine the Coen brothers actually writing. He also made lines funnier than they should have just with sheer delivery (the scene in the Waffle Hut). The other performances were good as well. I especially enjoyed The General (played by Tzi Ma), a Vietnamese man who rarely talked but was incredibly serious when he did.

-One thing I noticed about this movie is that the little things are what made it funny. Some of the scenes I laughed the hardest at had little small things. Also, the Coens put in some references that will give people who know about them enjoyment. I won’t reveal any, but they fit the tone of this movie.

-The previews and commercials do not do this movie justice. They focus on Tom Hanks’ bizarre character. Although he is funny, most of the laughs don’t actually come from him. The laughs mainly come from the combined work of the ensemble cast of the movie. Also, a good portion of the funny lines in the film come courtesy of Marlon Wayans’ character who cusses up a storm.

-If you see the movie, stay through the credits and enjoy the gospel music performance.

-As for previews I saw before the movie...they were okay. I’d seen the Kill Bill Volume 2 trailer before (and would it be so hard to include a cool scene from the movie?). Anchorman with Will Ferrell looks like it could be a funny movie. I’m also interested in The Stepford Wives remake with Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, and Faith Hill. This remake looks to not take the concept too seriously and plays it like a dark comedy. Frank Oz (of What About Bob, In and Out, and The Score) directed, so it could be pretty good. Also, I saw the preview for M. Night Shymalan’s The Village. As my sister pointed out, there seems to be a theme with his films. They are all spooky but little is actually shown to spook you. The Village has people (in what looks like olden times) living in a village that is near an area populated by creatures (we don’t see them, obviously). The creatures have ended their truce with the humans, so we’ll get to see the aftermath. My friend complained that you didn’t see enough of the aliens in Signs. Maybe this film will actually feature bloody violent scenes with the creatures...it probably won’t, though. We also saw a preview for Raising Helen with Kate Hudson as a model/free spirit who becomes the legal guardian of her sister’s kids. It looks like a cute fluff movie. Garry Marshall is directing it, so I hope it’s 10 times better than the overrated (and too long) The Princess Diaries.