YMMV / The Ladykillers (2004)

• Awesome Music: Carter Burwell and T-Bone Burnett are at it again, with an eclectic and strangely complementary mix of old-timey gospel and hip-hop.
• Broken Base: Some fans consider the build-up to the heist to be the movie's highlight and would prefer to disregard the second half when the crooks start killing each other. Other people think that the first half of the movie drags, and the darker second half is where it picks up.
• Critical Backlash: Critics savaged the movie on release, while fans of The Coen Brothers' work will grant that it's one of their weaker offerings, but a weak Coen Bros. film is still perfectly watchable and entertaining. Even Herbert Lom, who was in the original film, thought it was terrible, though he did compliment Tom Hanks' performance.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Out of the Caper Crew, Pancake, the buffoonish, amiable Demolitions Expert played by J. K. Simmons, is a frequent favorite. It helps that he's less of a caricature and better developed than most of the others.
• Ethnic Scrappy: Gawain, though it's arguably intentional on the film's part.
• Genius Bonus: The fact that the black lady regularly donates money to Bob Jones University is a splendid joke in itself - provided that you know that BJU was the last university in America to enroll black students and allow interracial dating/marriage on campus.
• Harsher in Hindsight: More widespread understanding of common negative effects from concussions in American football makes Lump's Establishing Character Moment in the story somewhat less funny.
• Jerkass Woobie: To say that Gawain doesn't really do much to establish himself as a likable chap is an understatement, but the flashback we see of his abusive childhood goes a long way toward explaining why he's such a rude and combative asshole.
• So Okay, It's Average: While not a great film by the Coen Bros. usual standards, it's still a funny and engaging movie that's loaded with their signature quirky and slightly-surreal charm.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot Point: Nobody thought to play on the idea that Professor Dorr's rather old-fashioned Southern Gentleman was all an act and he's actually from someplace like New York or Jersey (just imagine if he'd gotten so freaked out when held at gunpoint by Lump that he reverts to his "real" accent)...

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