MovieChat Forums > The Ladykillers (2004) Discussion > Plot Hole?

Plot Hole?

posted 15 years ago by nobody_nameless
4 replies | jump to latest

Rare for a Coen bros. movie, usually I don't see something that brings me out of the picture like this.

The group all comes upstairs when Irma P. Hall (Marva Munson) has the ladies over for tea. Tom Hanks (Professor G.H. Dorr) says they won't be able to perform since they are missing Marlon Wayans (Gawain MacSam). Tom Hanks proceeds to recite poetry instead.

Only a few minutes later Marlon Wayans arrives and no one mentions them now being able to play. Marlon makes some kind of audible reaction to seeing all of them in the living room, no dialog occurs, then it just cuts to the ladies all leaving.

I have seen the movie a few times and this irks me to no end.

I know we are supposed to believe the ladies are satisfied with just the poetry recital; even if they thought it was great I still doubt it, it's just not in their character.

I assume the Coens needed Marlon to be at the house for the next scene, but it could easily have been written around...

[–] geoh777 15 years ago

Perhaps in editing the film they decided to use certain sequences they had and not to film the additional sequences that would have been necessary to do away with Marlon Wayans' return. It would seem that neither a financial shortage nor a time constraint prevented straightening out that part of the story (http://www.youknow-forkids.com/ladykillers.htm, where it says, "The movie came in $5m under budget and seven days early."), so one can only speculate what caused the Coens to leave that glitch in their film.

[–] tebor79 15 years ago

I think the old lady had figured them out but didn't want to be confrontational in front of her friends.
as soon as her freinds were out of the door, she said something like 'now whats going on?'

[–] Warhol_Superstar_no_5 15 years ago

Hardly a plot hole, and obviously the scene where he walks in is added for humorous purposes, to add to the tension. The coens storyboard their films anally and considering how easy it is just to leave Marlon Wayans out of the scene... it's a non-issue, really.

[–] Odilwerk 15 years ago

5 Million under budget and 7 days early? That is gutting because I liked this film, but it did fall short of what I thought it could have been like, and did seem rushed towards the end.

I think that extra 5 mill and 7 days coulda really made this into a really popular film with abit of extra writing, filming and slight editing changes.