Opening

76% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
29% The Hangover Part III May 23
83% Epic May 24
97% Before Midnight May 24
70% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
88% Fill the Void May 24
—— A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24
More...

Top Box Office

86% Star Trek Into Darkness $70.2M
78% Iron Man 3 $35.8M
50% The Great Gatsby $23.9M
46% Pain & Gain $3.2M
69% The Croods $3.0M
77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
98% Mud $2.2M
36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M
More...

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31
More...
Ruthless People

Ruthless People (1986)

tomatometer

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0

audience

63

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 20,473

My Rating

Movie Info

The last film to be co-directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, Ruthless People stars Bette Midler (capitalizing on her comeback performance in Down and Out in Beverly Hills) as Barbara, a spoiled rich woman who is kidnapped by the kindly Ken and Sandy Kessler (Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater). Barbara's forceful husband Sam (Danny DeVito) has ripped off the Kesslers and they decide to hold Barbara for ransom. Sam, who hates his wife, refuses to pay. Eventually Barbara befriends

R,

Comedy

,

O. Henry, Dale Launer

Apr 2, 2002

Buena Vista Pictures

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

Critic Reviews for Ruthless People

All Critics (24) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (2) | DVD (7)

Ruthless People is a hilariously venal comedy about a kidnapped harridan whose rich husband won't pay for her return.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A pity that the directors prove less ruthless than their own creations, but there is more than enough here for people who enjoy murder attempts on cute pet poodles.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Though ''Ruthless People'' has few moments to equal the inspired lunacies of ''Airplane!'' it's a true farce -- uniformly, cheerily nasty...

May 21, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
Thomas O'Connor
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

DeVito is the mainspring of "Ruthless People," the engine of murderous intensity right at the center. His passion is so palpable that it adds weight to all the other performances in the movie.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

DeVito at his best.

December 4, 2006
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

One of the best comedy capers of the 80's

March 11, 2006
Clint Morris
Moviehole

Funny and fearless

September 9, 2004
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times

Funny, nasty 80s update of "The Ransom of Red Chief." The Ref found similar dark laughs a decade later.

May 22, 2004
Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium

A wonderful cynical comedy filled with mean-spirited, but humorous, zest. Loads of fun!

October 9, 2003
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

...a large number of Ruthless People's jokes work and work well.

November 9, 2002 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
View all critic reviews (24)

Audience Reviews for Ruthless People

View All
Ruthless People is a fun, entertaining comedy film that has good gags going for it. I enjoyed the film, but it did lack in some areas, and it could have been a bit better. However this is a good little comedy that was directed by the guys who made Airplane! However this isn't their best work. Bette Midler is very good here, and she makes the film worth seeing. I, on the other hand, never did enjoy Devitto's work, but I like him here, and he is pretty funny in his part. The film manages to be good enough to be a worthwhile comedy to watch, and if you're looking for a pleasant time waster, then give this one a shot. Although not the greatest comedy, there are enough effective elements to make this one a memorable flick to watch. I even if at times the film's material lacks, the cast do affine job to elevate this film into very humorous moments that works throughout. Everything you'd expect from the directors is present and there's enough zany humor to make this one worth seeing despite its flaws. I liked the film, and it's smartly constructed and it manages to rely more on its great cast, which are just funny on-screen to really make it standout above its flaws. Enjoy this crazy ride. Middler is great here, and she is one of the film's biggest strengths with a well written script that has more good things going for it than bad, directors, Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker craft a fine little comedy that is sure to please comedy lovers.
December 10, 2012
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

Without all the madness of Airplane, The Naked Gun or Top Secret, the trio: Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker made a terrific intelligent comedy, with the misunderstandings between the characters, the complex plot, a funny cast (with the best of Danny DeVito) make Ruthless People one of the greatest comedy film of the 80's and of the Touchstone Pictures. Fresh.
July 6, 2012
Lucas Martins
Lucas Martins

Super Reviewer

Ruthless People Quotes

View All
    1. Lt. Bender: That might be the stupidest man on the face of the planet.
    2. Lt. Walters: Maybe we should shoot him.
    – Submitted by Conner F (20 months ago)

Discussion Forum

View All

There are no discussion threads for Ruthless People yet.

Latest News on Ruthless People

February 1, 2006:
Trailer Bulletin: Scary Movie 4
Think there's still some juice to be squeezed out of the "Scary Movie" concept? Those...

View all news

What's Hot On RT

Total Recall
Total Recall

Bradley Cooper's Best Movies

Inside Llewyn Davis
Inside Llewyn Davis

Trailer for new Coen Bros movie

24 Frames
24 Frames

Fast & Furious cars gallery

Summer Movie Scorecard
Summer Movie Scorecard

Blockbusters ranked!

Movie News

View All

Featured on RT

Comments

Top Headlines

Fresh Links

<em>Star Trek</em> Movies Ranked
Star Trek Movies Ranked External Link
 HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 <em>Star Trek</em> Villains
Top 10 Star Trek Villains External Link
 Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback External Link
 We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
50 Most Classic Movie Moms External Link
 In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
Weirdest Movie Siblings External Link
 From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Follow RT on Twitter!
Follow RT on Twitter! External Link
 Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile
Copyright © Flixster, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Ad Choices