Reviews should always be glowing when Tom Hanks and the Coen brothers are involved in a motion picture. Nevertheless, critics have provided mixed comments on The Ladykillers, and I concur. I neither loved it nor hated it, but would at least rate it positively for humor and style.

Negatively, there isn’t much heart, and the plot comes to a head only to spin off into farce rather than smart and quirky. I also grew tired of who might be labeled the main character, Marva Munson (played by Irma P. Hall).

Hall’s Munson is the sassy old black woman standing between Hanks and his dough, who both steals the show and makes it tiresome. You might not recognize Hall, but you’ve seen her in many small parts on the big and small screens in the same role, only in a smaller capacity, such as last year on the “Bernie Mac Show.”

	Madam, I would need ice, forthwith.

Munson pines for her dead husband and pesters the local police with regularity, which are so unneeded in the town that there are cobwebs on the key to the jail. You’d expect Aunt Bee to bring in cookies any minute. Marva Munson, though, just jabbers about how disrespectful today’s kids are, and attends her lively church habitually.

Hanks looks like Mark Twain, talks like some cartoon character from an 1861 plantation and has the ingenious criminal intentions of Gene Hackman in Heist, although with all the bad luck of Nic Cage in Raising Arizona. He clearly had a very good time making this, and must have spent a lot of time perfecting that manner of speech, a slow drawl with perfectly formed fancy words, although if disrespected you'd expect him to announce a duel at dawn.

Hanks’ gang of criminal helpers aren’t exactly the suave professionals of Ocean’s Eleven:

Marlon Wayans is the Inside Man of the casino, chasing after women with big butts and using the F word every sentence; J.K. Simmons (Law & Order) is Demolition Man, but not exactly the smartest man to be in charge of explosives; Tzi Ma is The General, a former South Vietnamese leader who doesn't do much more than smoke in Marva Munson's home when she's asks him not to; Ryan Hurst provides the Thug, the big dumb dude supposedly in charge of protecting the others, but he's such an innocent moron you wonder how he puts on his clothes in the morning.

Between The Ladykillers and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (my favorite movie of 2000), it’s clear the Coens have a taste for the deep South. They enjoy the colorful characters and religion palpable especially in the Mississippi River delta region, respecting and showcasing the oddities.

Language is a big part of any Coen brothers movie, and The Ladykillers is awash in witty repartee and contrast in style, from the vulgar “hippety-hop” to proper, old-fashioned speaking. Problem is, the bad language was too off-putting for my tastes, since I would rather think of this as a film that most audiences should see, not just a niche audience just as comfortable in front of naughty foreign films.

In the end, it'll kill you with laughter many times, but in the end leaves an awkward taste. I would still recommend the movie for many of you who enjoy Tom Hanks, the Coens and eccentric films.