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King's Ransom

Play trailer Poster for King's Ransom PG-13 Released Apr 22, 2005 1h 37m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
2% Tomatometer 46 Reviews 32% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
When the rich and arrogant Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson) informs his wife, Renee (Kellita Smith), that he plans to divorce her, she becomes intent on taking as much of his money as possible in the settlement. Malcolm devises a way to keep his fortune, but it involves staging his own kidnapping. Unfortunately for Malcolm, numerous people, including the scheming Corey (Jay Mohr), are already planning on abducting him, and there are various inept attempts to procure the wealthy man's money.

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King's Ransom

King's Ransom

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Critics Consensus

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

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Critics Reviews

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J. R. Jones Chicago Reader 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. Jan 5, 2007 Full Review Nathan Rabin AV Club King's Ransom lumbers forth clumsily, choreographing its slapstick pratfalls with all the class and taste of a Courtney Love relapse. Sep 26, 2005 Full Review Scott Brown Entertainment Weekly Basically an improv scene sprawling to feature length. Rated: D+ May 4, 2005 Full Review Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com 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. Rated: C- Jun 19, 2009 Full Review Mark Halverson Sacramento News & Review The wordplay of the title here is the only slightly clever element of this extremely lame comedy. Rated: 1/5 Aug 7, 2008 Full Review Garth Franklin Dark Horizons Rated: 0.5/4 Oct 30, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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melissa l I think it's funny, and don't know why there are so many bad reviews. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member An okay comedy film that has some funny moments but can also be forgettable after you watch you it. The late Charlie Murphy was easily the best character in the movie and made me laugh the most of all the actors including Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, and Regina Hall. If you're a Charlie Murphy fan and want to watch something to remember him by I would recommend watching this along side Norbit and every episode of Chappelle's Show. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie never made a lot noise but was good...would of been a B movie if the cast didn't pull it off!! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Anthony Anderson is a wealthy businessman and wants to divorce his wife, but she will get a large settlement as a result, so he intends to set up so he gets kidnapped and demand a ransom in order to keep his money safe. However, he's not the only one who plans to kidnap him for money. The plan fails and he ends up getting kidnapped by a guy who just needs some money instead of the brother of his mistress who kidnaps someone else instead. This had a lot of things going for it, but it isn't as funny as it should be. This could have been great given the cast, but instead it was mostly boring with some exceptions which were really good and funny. Too bad they couldn't fill more of the movie with that caliber of entertainment. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie had me laughing so hard!! I go into comedies looking for laughs not a story but everyone now a days think they are hard ass critics judging movies like they can do any better! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member funny it's a classic Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
King's Ransom

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Cast & Crew

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Jeff Byrd

Director

Anthony Anderson

Malcolm King

Jay Mohr

Corey

Kellita Smith

Renee

Nicole Ari Parker

Angela

Regina Hall

Peaches

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King's Ransom

Regina Hall as "Peaches" in New Line Cinema's upcoming film, King's Ransom. (left to right) Brooke D'Orsay as "Brooke", Leila Arcieri as "Kim" and Nicole Parker as "Angela" in New Line Cinema's upcoming film, King's Ransom. (left to right) Regina Hall as "Peaches" and Anthony Anderson as "Malcolm" in New Line Cinema's upcoming film, King's Ransom Anthony Anderson as "Malcolm King" in New Line Cinema's upcoming film, King's Ransom. (left to right) Anthony Anderson as "Malcolm" and Regina Hall as "Peaches" in New Line Cinema's upcoming film, King's Ransom View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis When the rich and arrogant Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson) informs his wife, Renee (Kellita Smith), that he plans to divorce her, she becomes intent on taking as much of his money as possible in the settlement. Malcolm devises a way to keep his fortune, but it involves staging his own kidnapping. Unfortunately for Malcolm, numerous people, including the scheming Corey (Jay Mohr), are already planning on abducting him, and there are various inept attempts to procure the wealthy man's money.
Director
Jeff Byrd
Producer
Jeff Byrd, Darryl Taja
Screenwriter
Wayne Conley, Kevin Bisch
Distributor
New Line Cinema
Production Co
Alter Ego
Rating
PG-13 (Sexual Humor|Language|Crude Humor)
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 22, 2005, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 11, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$4.0M
Runtime
1h 37m
Sound Mix
SDDS, Dolby SRD, DTS, Surround
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.37:1)
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