THE LADYKILLERS is one hell of a lot funnier than I expected it to be. You never really know what you’re gonna get with the Coen brothers — sometimes you expect it to be funny as hell, and you maybe laugh, but it turns out not to be a comedy. Sometimes you think it’s gonna be serious, and then you find yourself laughing your head off unexpectedly. THE LADYKILLERS is more of the latter than the former. I expected to be amused; I didn’t expect to be chortling over J.K. Simmons’ Michael Jeterish pornstar mustache. Also, Mountain Girl. Anyway — knowing that this was a remake but never having seen it, my brain kept inserting a young Alec Guiness in Tom Hanks’ place, which made for an interesting mental conglomeration.

Bottom line: it’s funny as hell. Worth your dough, in my opinion. But then, I’ve been wrong before…