A mirthless comedy about venal people doing stupid things.
2 Comments
05/01/05
Rate this Movie 
King's Ransom (2005)
2
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine
Director: Jeff Byrd
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Reviews for King's Ransom
Needless to say, as a cringe-worthy and excruciatingly awful comedy, you shouldn't pay a dime of King's Ransom.
04/29/05
Basically an improv scene sprawling to feature length.
05/04/05
Top CriticPopulated solely with hateful characters...strictly for connoisseurs of crass.
04/21/05
If Hell does exist, I’m sure the only movie theatre in town will be playing nothing but Anthony Anderson movies.
04/22/05
The scenarios are halfway convincing and at times even passably clever; they are never, however, especially funny.
04/26/05
Top CriticIf you shelve out even $1 for this movie, you'll feel as though you've paid a "King's Ransom."
04/26/05
It is, quite plainly, like watching a movie that’s trying to go out of its way to be horrible.
07/23/05
Somewhere in a pitch meeting someone must have piped up: 'I know. We'll have a guy named 'King' and he gets kidnapped, see? So there's a 'ransom'! King's Ransom, get it? After that, I've got nothing.'
04/26/05
Top CriticThe film's tag line - 'Big Man. Big Plan. Big Mistake.' sums up the decision to make the movie... big mistake.
04/23/05
Byrd’s romp through the most contemptible stereotypes of women, gays, and ethnic minorities makes his film unfit for just about anyone, never mind royalty.
04/30/05
All these plots converge in a decidedly unfunny cacophony.
04/29/05
The wordplay of the title here is the only slightly clever element of this extremely lame comedy.
08/07/08
Spurn King's Ransom as you would spurn a rabid weasel.
04/27/05
The Chronicle's Little Man was fighting an internal struggle to abandon his chair altogether, but was ultimately swayed to continue his nap, mostly by a few of the comics in supporting roles.
04/26/05
Top CriticThe desperately unfunny kidnapping farce King's Ransom is the cinematic equivalent of trampled chewing gum on a subway platform.
04/25/05
Top CriticThe script, by TV writer Wayne Conley, shares some elements with the old Danny DeVito comedy Ruthless People, but humor isn't one of them.
01/05/07
Top Critic'Screenwriter' Wayne Conley's idea of side-splitting dialogue is to have characters repeatedly tell King to "kiss their black ass." Or announce that they just "pooted."
04/29/05
Little in this film suggests 'director' Jeff Byrd and writer Wayne Conley possess any facility -- or familiarity -- with irony or any other comedic device.
04/26/05
Top CriticNone of this is remotely funny, despite screenwriter Wayne Conley's resorting to virtually every known stereotype about African-Americans and more crass references to menstruation and prison sex than have ever appeared in a movie rated PG-13.
04/26/05
Top CriticLatest News for King's Ransom
August 14, 2006:
"Zoom" Tomatometer: Zero
"Zoom" is soaring, flying high into the rarified territory where only seven films before it have ventured. The film, which stars Tim Allen and Courteney Cox, is... More...
December 01, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Aeon Flux" Not Screened. Draw Your Own Conclusions
A cast that includes two Oscar winners (Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand) and some top-flight supporting players (Pete Postlethwaite and Jonny Lee Miller). A big-budget... More...
August 18, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Red Eye," "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" Soar
This week at the movies brings four studies in aviation. What happens when you're trapped on a plane with a creepy seatmate? (See "Red Eye.") Is it ever too late for... More...
April 25, 2005:
Penn & Kidman "Interpret" an Impressive Box Office Weekend
Not surprisingly, Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter," starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, took the #1 box office spot in its opening weekend. But while analysts... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
40 Best Films of the 2000s
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
10 Questions For Zac Efron
The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds