The Ladykillers (2004 film)

The Ladykillers
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen
Produced by	Ethan Coen Joel Coen Tom Jacobson Barry Sonnenfeld Barry Josephson
Screenplay by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen
Based on	The Ladykillers by William Rose
Starring	Tom Hanks Irma P. Hall Marlon Wayans J. K. Simmons Tzi Ma Ryan Hurst
Music by	Carter Burwell
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Edited by	Roderick Jaynes
Production company	Tom Jacobson Productions
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date	March 26, 2004 (2004-03-26)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$76.7 million

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
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The Ladykillers is a 2004 American black comedy thriller film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The Coens' screenplay was based on the 1955 British Ealing comedy film of the same name, written by William Rose. The Coens produced the remake (their first), together with Tom Jacobson, Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson. It stars Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, J. K. Simmons, Tzi Ma and Ryan Hurst, and marks the first time that the Coens have worked with Tom Hanks. This was the first film in which Joel and Ethan Coen share both producing and directing credits; previously Joel had always been credited as director and Ethan as producer.

The Ladykillers received average reviews upon release, with several critics considering it one of the Coen brothers' weaker efforts.

Mrs. Marva Munson, a strict, religious and elderly widow, meets "Professor" Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr, a southern classicist and Edgar Allan Poe enthusiast who expresses interest in the room she has for rent and asks to use her root cellar for rehearsals of an early music ensemble he directs, to which she agrees. The fellow musicians in the pretend ensemble are actually a gang of criminals. The band are composed of a dim football player named Lump as the "muscle", the overconfident movie effects technician Garth Pancake as the "jack of all trades" (who suffers from IBS), the crass and sloppy Gawain McSam as their "inside man", and the Vietnamese, tough-as-nails General as their "tunneling expert" (who hides his chain smoking from the disapproving Mrs. Munson by concealing his cigarette in his mouth). The group of criminals plan to dig a tunnel through the exposed wall in the cellar in order to break into the underground vault for a nearby riverboat casino. The dirt they remove is taken out at night and tossed off a bridge onto a garbage barge as it passes below.