the Coen Bros Ladykillers
Jun. 9th, 2005 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ffloWell I know it didn't get the best reviews, but it's a thumbs-up from LisaLou for Joel & Ethan's remake of The Ladykillers. I saw the original last year, and the Coens' version wins marks for re-do ingenuity, up & setting the story in the American south, with some great ideas about how to adapt the details. I do like a caper movie, and a good farcical comedy, and this one is both.
Yeah, yeah---it has Tom Hanks, and Tom Hanks sucks, but the super-stuttery bit you may've seen in the trailer is not nearly so recurring a phenom as you might expect; for the most part Tom is just fine. And the writing rocks. Tom gets to say some goofy-ass language-love-y stuff, in which we can love it and laugh at it at the same time. In fact, in general they had a fine time with the dialogue. Sure, the characters are cartoonish, and far from fully fleshed, but it's farce, after all. In farce we aren't to think of these representations as method-actor "accurate" depictions of vérité rounded personalities. And this time around our little gang has some types we Americans know from our own cultural history.
So: if you've been avoiding it, and you don't have some attachment to the idea that the Bros have sold out, consider giving it a try. And maybe check out Alec first, if you haven't seen that one. Seeing the original first arguably helped me appreciate this one, as observing the parallels and the departures provides another level of entertainment. Plus it finally got me to start checking out the famous Ealing Studio comedies---and now I have more for my Netflix queue.
(Have I mentioned how much having a Netflix queue to play with brings me delight? It does so about THIS much!)
Yeah, yeah---it has Tom Hanks, and Tom Hanks sucks, but the super-stuttery bit you may've seen in the trailer is not nearly so recurring a phenom as you might expect; for the most part Tom is just fine. And the writing rocks. Tom gets to say some goofy-ass language-love-y stuff, in which we can love it and laugh at it at the same time. In fact, in general they had a fine time with the dialogue. Sure, the characters are cartoonish, and far from fully fleshed, but it's farce, after all. In farce we aren't to think of these representations as method-actor "accurate" depictions of vérité rounded personalities. And this time around our little gang has some types we Americans know from our own cultural history.
So: if you've been avoiding it, and you don't have some attachment to the idea that the Bros have sold out, consider giving it a try. And maybe check out Alec first, if you haven't seen that one. Seeing the original first arguably helped me appreciate this one, as observing the parallels and the departures provides another level of entertainment. Plus it finally got me to start checking out the famous Ealing Studio comedies---and now I have more for my Netflix queue.
(Have I mentioned how much having a Netflix queue to play with brings me delight? It does so about THIS much!)
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Date: Jun. 9th, 2005 10:30 pm (UTC)I figured you'd be harder to get with while the sigoth's on the scene. Maybe I will get to meet her this time, though? I've not been there any of the times you've brought her by the office. But yes. Post-Bev bevs, fer sure.