10 Awful Movie Remakes With Silver Linings You Can't Ignore

7. The Ladykillers

The Movie: Ealing Studios produced some of the funniest British comedies of all time, not least of them The Ladykillers, a wonderfully quirky and eccentric film starring Alec Guiness as the leader of a gang of criminals who shack up with a sweet old dear to use her house as a staging point for a robbery. The screenplay by William Rose, which he claimed was entirely from a dream he had, justly won a raft of awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Flawless films such as The Ladykillers should never be remade, but when it emerged that the Coen brothers would be taking charge fans of the original no doubt let out a collective sigh of relief. Unfortunately the Coen brothers fumbled - if not entirely dropped - the ball, producing an incoherent update which played to the lowest common denominator replete with low-brow gags and toilet humour. The Silver Lining: While Tom Hanks in the central role fails to deliver a performance anything like as memorable as Alec Guinness, nevertheless it's notable for being a successful deviation from his usual earnest, overly serious roles and for that is worthy of the viewer's attention. Flawed, yes, but strip away the comparison between the original and it's without a doubt the funniest thing about the Coens' The Ladykillers.