A band of botcher thieves (Marlon Wayans , Tzi Ma , Ryan Hurst) led by a cunning man (Tom Hanks) attempt a great robbing , but their scheme is foiled by an allegedly innocent old lady (Irma P. Hall) . They devise a perfect plan which is continuously spoiled by the inopportune intervention of the sweet little landlady .

The picture is a bemusing and droll comedy especially in the parts happen the antics and flops of the heist . The laughters and chuckles are varied and giggles are based on diverse personalities and differences among protagonists . It's an agreeable movie for the youth who will enjoy enormously and with lots of fun . Tom Hanks (in similar role to Alec Guinnes) is terrific as the leader , if you like Hanks manic performance , you'll enjoy this one . However , the profanities and bad taste language are in charge of Marlon Wayans (Scary movie) and other secondaries such as J.K.Simmons (Spiderman) , the Oriental Tzi Ma and the hunk Ryan Hurst are pretty well . Colorful and glamorous cinematography by Roger Deakins and enjoyable music by Carter Burwell (usual musician of Cohen brothers) . The picture is a good adaptation of the classic British film of the golden decade of Ealing studio , a droll black comedy with the same title and featured by Alec Guinnes , Herbert Lom and Peter Sellers and written by Willian Rose . The motion picture was rightly directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen . The flick will appeal to Tom Hanks fans and black comedy buffs . Rating : Better than average , worthwhile seeing.

As a remake this movie falls flat, as a stand alone movie its not too bad and will appeal more to a younger audience and probably mostly American one at that.

Here is the problem with remakes - If you make it exactly like the original then there is little point in remaking it, if you just change the country what is the point when the dialogue and the setting is the exact same almost, with a few words changed here and there... Coupling UK and Coupling USA is a good example... and also maybe Life on Mars. Of course these are TV shows but the comparison stands.

They made this movie very different to the original and shouldn't have called it a remake, or even The Ladykillers. In no way does this resemble the original, which is a classic and is still watchable today but set far in the past when TVs were black and white... is it better than this movie if you are comparing them as the same movie... the original blows this away without a doubt.

So bare that in mind when watching this movie. I wouldn't compare these movies at all, to be honest they are far too different to compare, the only comparison i can come up with is that they have the same name and some of the characters are similar... the scenario is quite different except that they are both about stealing money.

Not a bad or great movie by any means, and i think Hanks character tried to be like the Alec Guinness one, a little strange, and it didn't quite work, for me anyway...

Of course, this is the remake of the 1955 Alexander Mackendrick classic starring Alec Guinness, in what is perhaps my favorite role of his. This Coen Brothers update is one of their weakest films, my second least favorite after the execrable O Brother. That doesn't mean it's terrible. It's actually quite decent. The direction and look are fine, the use of music is wonderful, and Tom Hanks gives a delightful performance. It would have been easier to simply copy Guinness' perfection, but Hanks creates something new. Irma P. Hall is good as the landlady (now a religious black woman from the South), and J.K. Simmons is funny as a demolitions expert, but the rest of the cast just stinks. Marlon Wayans is particularly annoying as one of the most stereotypical black characters I've seen in movies lately. Of course, the Wayans Brothers have been degrading their own race for more than a dozen years now, so what's new in that? The Coens make huge mistakes in their script. The original film has the heist finish up within its first 20 minutes or so, a fact which I highly praised back when I saw it. The Coens stretch it out to 1 hour 20 minutes, and then the last 20 minutes has the criminals trying to take care of the old lady. What a p*ss-poor choice, so bad that I can't believe the Coens, usually among the best screenwriters of their time, wrote it. 6/10.