This is a remake of the classical movie (1955) by Alexander Mackendrick of the same title. There it was a bank robbery which is planned and executed while here it's the planning an execution of a floating casino one. The British atmosphere is here replaced (let's say in passing with some success) by the Mississippi southern one with its typical people and the old Victorian landlady by an old typical black lady. This is not the weakest part of the movie and we must also stress the excellent performances of Tom Hanks and Irma P. Hall as the "professor" who leads the gang of robbers and the landlady who lodges him and his disguised "quintet" of musicians who are "rehearsing" Renaissance compositions. Nevertheless the succession of less convincing and somewhat artificial scenes withdraws most of the movie's possible funny side mainly if we compare it with the corresponding scenes of the classical movie of which this one is a remake. The final succession of gags by which the problem of the robbed money is solved is too hasty and a bit forced even if we must take for granted that a comedy is not to respect fully the logics of reality. Summing it up, it's a movie that amuses you a bit but has some flaws in its "mise en scène" that compromise its possible success and its classification as a good movie.
Review of The Ladykillers
