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.
