THIS is not a re-make of the 1955 Ealing comedy, just like another American update, last year's The Italian Job, had little more than a title and Minis in common with the British original.

No, The Ladykillers is a re-telling, if you will, as re-told by the one-time darlings of independent cinema, the Coen Brothers, who have allegedly sold their soul to the devil otherwise known as Hollywood.

Some would have it that Joel and Ethan Coen have run out of ideas and steam. That is to deny them the right to experiment in different ways, and in this case that means revisiting one of those supposedly untouchable British classics and working with Tom Hanks, an A-list name always happy to extend his repertoire.

Think of the Coens' imprint as being a remix rather than a cover version. The location has moved to the Deep South and the slow-moving sludge of the Mississippi river, and the characters have turned American too.

The plot has not changed a jot: phoney Southern professor Goldthwait Higginsor Door (Hanks) is seeking to pull off the heist of the century: a smoke-and-mirrors scam in which he and his gang will hire a basement room from God-fearing Marva Munson (Irma P Hall) on the pretence of using it for band practice. In reality, the guesthouse room will afford them the chance to drill a tunnel to break into a casino vault.

Hanks is accompanied by the requisite collection of oddballs (you know the score from Kelly's Heroes, The Italian Job, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels etc) and together they must not only outwit the casino but the redoubtable Mrs Munson.

In the tradition of Home Alone and Lassie, the robbers are biting off more than they can chew in the face of seemingly simple opponents. Mrs Munson may look a little old widow but she packs one hell of a punch.

The interplay between Hall's straight-talking, Bible-bashing old mama and Hanks's unctuous, slippery, dictionary-devouring faux gent is a delight, with Hanks's facial expressions almost on a par with Bill Murray's turn in Lost In Translation.

As ever, the Coen Brothers' visual detail is lavish and immaculate, and this time the humour is as broad and as wide as the Mississippi. Indeed it often veers into dumb-movie terrain, the comedy of embarrassment that America has made its own.

The Ladykillers 2004 is not a vintage Coen Brothers' movie but it is better than the advance notices suggested. The ending, in particular, will leave you feline groovy.

Updated: 16:17 Thursday, June 24, 2004