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Movies / On DVD / King's Ransom
King's Ransom

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King's Ransom (2005)

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Reviews Counted:49

Fresh:1

Rotten:48

Average Rating:2.3/10

Consensus: Filled with crass dialogue, unlikable characters, and overdone slapstick gags, King's Ransom is an utterly inept would-be comedy.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for crude and sexual humor and language

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Apr 22, 2005 Wide

Box Office: $3,998,889

Synopsis: Anthony Anderson sheds his usual sidekick status, heading up the ensemble cast as Malcolm King, a boorish, egomaniacal billionaire who owns a huge, equally tasteless marketing firm in Chicago. The... Anthony Anderson sheds his usual sidekick status, heading up the ensemble cast as Malcolm King, a boorish, egomaniacal billionaire who owns a huge, equally tasteless marketing firm in Chicago. The cocky businessman is quickly established as the kind of character audiences love to hate, insulting underlings with glee and emitting crass vulgarities whenever he opens his mouth. His lovable secretary Miss Gladys (Loretta Devine) tries to keep him in line, while his uber-ditz of an administrative assistant, Peaches (Regina King, SCARY MOVIE), keeps him satisfied. Kellita Smith (THE BERNIE MAC SHOW) plays Malcolm's gold-digging wife, who is sleeping with her hunky, though stuttering, pool boy (Roger Cross) while seeking a hefty divorce settlement. The cast is rounded out by Angela (Nicole Ari Parker, SOUL FOOD), the temporary VP who is passed up for the job in favor of the boss's mistress, and Corey (Jay Mohr, LAST COMIC STANDING), a loser who lives in his grandmother's basement; his gang banger sister intimidates him into taking part in criminal activities. Resentments toward King abound, and soon everyone gets the same idea: kidnap Malcolm, take him for all he's worth, and teach him a valuable lesson. Even the big man himself decides to orchestrate his own kidnapping, in order to throw a wrench in the plans of his wife's lawyer. A cacophony of mistaken identities, misunderstandings, and general mayhem ensues, during which time the supporting cast is given a chance to shine; in particular, Jay Mohr deftly handles a violent run-in with a fast food worker with hilarious results. Donald Faison (SCRUBS) and Charlie Murphy (CHAPPELLE'S SHOW) also turn in stellar performances, as a randy parking attendant and a growling ex-con on the down low. [More]

Starring: Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine

Starring: Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, Kellita Smith, Nicole Parker, Donald Faison, Leila Arcieri, Brooke D'Orsay, Charlie Murphy

Director: Jeff Byrd

Director: Jeff Byrd
Screenwriter: Wayne Conley
Producer: Darryl Taja
Composer: Marcus Miller
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Release:

Jul 26, 2005

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Anthony Anderson plays millionare Malcolm King who gets wrapped up in a true mess when he plans his own kidnapping to avoid paying a divorce settlement. Unfortunately for Malcolm, everything falls apart when he's not the only one in on the plot! Watch and see who finally gets away with King's Ransom!
  • Source: Warner Home Video
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    Reviews for King's Ransom

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    1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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    A mirthless comedy about venal people doing stupid things.

    Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment 2 Comments
    05/01/05
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Austin Chronicle

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
    04/23/05
    Hollywood.com

    You'll feel like the one who's being held hostage.

    Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
    04/23/05
    E! Online

    I couldn't pay anyone to see this movie. Literally.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
    05/21/05
    Boxoffice Magazine

    Watching Anderson try to be funny is like getting a tooth pulled, or sitting through a Tim Burton DVD audio commentary.

    Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
    04/22/05
    Brian Orndorf
    Brian Orndorf
    FilmJerk.com

    The film's tag line - 'Big Man. Big Plan. Big Mistake.' sums up the decision to make the movie... big mistake.

    Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
    04/23/05
    Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
    Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
    TheMovieChicks.com

    Marital bickering, a mistaken-identity sex romp and booty shots galore follow, but few laughs.

    Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
    04/28/05
    Chuck Wilson
    Chuck Wilson
    L.A. Weekly

    This slapdash comedy barely coughs up more than a couple of funny scenes as the story moves in predictable fits and starts before sputtering out of fuel half way through.

    Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
    06/19/09
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

    All these plots converge in a decidedly unfunny cacophony.

    Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
    04/29/05
    Cynthia Fuchs
    Cynthia Fuchs
    PopMatters

    It is, quite plainly, like watching a movie that’s trying to go out of its way to be horrible.

    Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
    07/23/05
    David Cornelius
    David Cornelius
    eFilmCritic.com

    Unobtrusive and virtually painless as an occasionally witty laugher, but lacks the courage of its convictions to follow through with its less commercial ambitions.

    Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
    04/23/05
    Dustin Putman
    Dustin Putman
    DustinPutman.com

    After a while, all these odious, yammering people start to sound a lot like Charlie Brown's teacher. And they somehow all end up together at a time and a place you do not want to be.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    04/26/05
    Elizabeth Weitzman
    Elizabeth Weitzman
    New York Daily News

    Mean-spirited, unpleasant comedy about characters who are both nasty and stupid and who deserve every bad thing that happens to them. In fact, they deserve more.

    Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
    04/30/05
    Eric D. Snider
    Eric D. Snider
    EricDSnider.com

    Byrd haphazardly assembles a bunch of overly exaggerated caricatures and parades them around in a dissolving farce that has all the wayward charm of a botched lobotomy

    Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
    04/23/05
    Frank Ochieng
    Frank Ochieng
    Movie Eye

    Devoid of anything resembling wit or even guiltily amusing tasteless gags, the film lurches from one haplessly staged sequence to another, with the performers vainly struggling to infuse humor into the proceedings.

    Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
    04/26/05
    Frank Scheck
    Frank Scheck
    Hollywood Reporter

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
    10/30/06
    Garth Franklin
    Garth Franklin
    Dark Horizons

    With the humor in this lazy farce about as subtle as a shotgun blast to the face, it's possible to see the whole movie as an accident, the cumulative result of haphazard negligence.

    Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
    04/26/05
    Gene Seymour
    Gene Seymour
    Newsday
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The script, by TV writer Wayne Conley, shares some elements with the old Danny DeVito comedy Ruthless People, but humor isn't one of them.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    01/05/07
    J. R. Jones
    J. R. Jones
    Chicago Reader

    If Anderson can land the role of a corporate shark who's surrounded by hot babes, it's conceivable we could soon see Jennifer Lopez as the lead in 'Memoirs of a Geisha'...

    Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
    04/25/05
    James Sanford
    James Sanford
    Kalamazoo Gazette

    One of those barbarically unfunny romps that would be over in less than 10 minutes if just one character had an IQ higher than a cherry Pop-Tart.

    Full Review Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) | comment Comment
    04/26/05
    Jonathan R. Perry
    Jonathan R. Perry
    Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
     
     
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