Recensioni de* critic*

The Ladykillers is a Coen film par excellence. Yes, it's a goofy, even frothy black comedy, a five-finger exercise from filmmakers who specialize in baroque contraptionist concertos. But it's still a masterfully assembled picture on serious themes. More significantly, it contrasts good guys who believe in social order, a higher power and an eternal reward against fringe-dwelling bad guys who care for little besides money.

One reason it's hard to believe in the Coens' characters or their surroundings is that just about everything that isn't borrowed from the original Ladykillers comes from an earlier Coen movie... This greatest-Coen-hits approach gives the film some unity; without it the setting, characters, and plot would never be more than a collection of disconnected pieces.