King's Ransom | | Cast : | Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Donald Faison | | Director : | Jeff Byrd | | Studio : | New Line Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | April 22, 2005 | | DVD Released Date : | July 26, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | There is nobody to root for in this lame kidnapping comedy | Content
 | Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson) has made millions despite the fact that he treats everybody at King Enterprises like dirt and thinks hiring a bimbo to run a key part of his company instead of someone pretends to have a whole bunch of college degrees is a good thing. His dumb as a post girlfriend, Peaches Clarke (Regina Hall) apparently looks good next to his shrewish wife, Renee (Kellita Smith), and apparently he got his big mouth from his secretary, Miss Gladys (Loretta Devine), who is the only person on Earth who apparently can stand him. Malcolm is in the middle of an ugly divorce and he is afraid Renee is going to get his fortune, so he decides to fake being kidnapped so he can keep the ransom money. But then Renee decides she should kidnap Malcolm to make sure she gets his money, as does Angela Drake (Nicole Ari Parker), who lost out on the promotion to the aforementioned Peaches, and Corey (Jay Mohr) who is down on his luck and had his shoes insulted by Malcolm.
Of course, in Wayne Conley's script all four of the kidnapping attempts happen at the same time. Malcolm thinks he has been kidnapped by the people he wants to kidnap him, but that would make sense and that is not the direction this film wants to go. Confusion certainly reigns, but really not as much comedy as you would like to see, most of which seems to be pretty heavy handed. Besides, it is not like any of these characters are worth rooting for, which I find to be the fatal flaw of the film, so there is a basic apathy towards the entire plot. I knew it was a bad sign when Malcolm's lunch order was pointed out because this was obviously going to be a clue that would come into play later in the film (yep, it sure did). But then this is a movie that treats foot massage as a sublime sexual experience of the first order.
Not only is "King's Ransom" a bad movie, there is so much of it. The film runs two hours and then there are well over a half-hour of deleted scenes. I suppose there are plenty of laughs, as long as you enjoy laughing at the characters rather than with them, but the more I watched this film the more I was impressed with "Ruthless Person," a movie that I have not thought about in years but which is clearly a much better example of a kidnapping gone awry comedy. You will also be thinking of movies like "Kangaroo Jack," "Barbershop," and "Urban Legends," all of which made much better use of Anthony Anderson's talents in decidedly different ways. Donald Faison and Charlie Murphy are also wasted in this lame 2005 comedy as well, which underscores the great chasm between the talent of the cast and the value of the script. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 31, 2005 | | Summary | Good sweet lord. | Content
| Not since the birth of Paris Hilton has such an unholy atrocity as this movie been unleashed on the world. Seeing as I don't have enough PTO to list what's wrong with this movie I'll list what's right: absolutely nothing. If someone you know puts this on, gouge your eyes out and smear the blood on the tv screen to prevent others from being subjected to it. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 30, 2005 | | Summary | Excuse me, but did a 14 year old write this screenplay? | Content
| This plot? I mean, come on. You didn't expect me to believe this DID you? The Wayans Brothers would have done better. Sadly to say the only thing good about this movie is actress REGINA HALL--(Scary Movie). She is very talented and always cracks it up on screen. Too bad she wasn't the star. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 27, 2005 | | Summary | who pays to see this one joke scrub?!?!?!?!? | Content
| id like to know becuase i have bridges for sale.i can picture in my mind those who find this and similar garbage humorous(they wear clothes 10 sizes too big,baseball caps on a slant,giant obnoxious earrings,crazy nail designs......the typical target audience hollywood drools over!).then they go to their jr highschool and repeat the corny jokes ad nauseam.''yo,that was off hizzook,yo''....................so sad |
| Rating | | | Date | July 27, 2005 | | Summary | You'll be held for ransom | Content
| if you wactch this annoying mess of a movie. Not even an ok cast can save this movie from its lack of humor. 90 minutes of cliche dumbness. |
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