King's Ransom (2005)

Director:

Jeffrey W. Byrd

Writer (WGA):

Wayne Conley (written by)

Release Date:

22 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Big Man. Big Plan. Big Mistake.

Plot:

Hoping to foil his own gold-digging wife's plan, a loathsome businessman arranges his own kidnapping, only to realize that there are plenty of other people interested in his wealth as well.

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapping | Hit In Crotch | Release From Prison | Police | Marriage

Cast

Anthony Anderson	...	Malcolm King
Jay Mohr	...	Corey
Kellita Smith	...	Renee King
Nicole Ari Parker	...	Angela Drake (as Nicole Parker)
Regina Hall	...	Peaches Clarke
Loretta Devine	...	Miss Gladys
Donald Faison	...	Andre
Leila Arcieri	...	Kim Baker
Charles Q. Murphy	...	Herb Clarke (as Charlie Murphy)
Brooke D'Orsay	...	Brooke Mayo
Jackie Burroughs	...	Grandma
Lisa Marcos	...	Raven
Roger R. Cross	...	Byron (as Roger Cross)
Millie Tresierra	...	Woman
Rob Smith	...	David

Also Known As:

Untitled Anthony Anderson Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41556) | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:6 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Goofs:

Continuity: When Malcolm finally learns that Corey has really kidnapped him, he tries to escape. Corey shoots a few nails at him and hits the wall. In the next shot, there are no nails in the wall.

Quotes:

Miss Gladys: Did you guys follow up with the leads I gave you?
Officer Holland: Yes, we did.
Miss Gladys: And?
Officer Holland: Look, laddy we just about had it with you. Go home and if something comes up we will let you know. This case is all about official police business we don't need you...
Miss Gladys: [interrupts] I don't give a damn about official police business! Malcolm King is my business. I'm going to leave now, not because you told me to because if I don't leave now I'll never get my numbers in. But I'll be back and until you find him I'm gonna stay on you all! Like white girls on NBA players.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Crossover (2006)

Soundtrack:

Da Butt

Needs work

I had heard some pretty horrible things about this movie but i love Anthony Anderson so i decided to give it a shot. Kings Rasom is a comedy about a rich man named Malcom King (Anthony Anderson) who decides to get a divorce to avoid giving his wife a divorce settlement. I never knew how being kidnapped would help achieve this but were just led to believe that somehow this will work. He enlists his girlfriends (Regina Hall) aid to help him who has the IQ of a raising and calls her creepy convict of a brother to help her (played by the brilliant Charlie Murphy).

Unfortunately 2 more sets of people get the same idea of kidnapping him, at the same time what are the odds on that? You have the disgruntled employee who was passed up for a vice president position and you have a lovable looser who is stepped on by Malcolm king.

Kings Ransom does have some funny moments and interesting turns. But allot of things fall flat. Were supposed to believe that a man who built a company would make his bimbo girlfriend vice president? So many coincidences? The feds don't get involved when a millionaire gets kidnapped? My experience with the film was bipolar. At the begging i was hating it, then i started liking it, hated it, loved it, and in the end disappointed. Its as if the script self destructed being pulled in so many directions at once it just gave out. The ending was tagged on, character disappeared, had no purpose or just got lost in the shuffle.

Quite frankly if this was rewritten I think it actually could have been up there with kidnapping classics like "Ruthless People" but instead its just one more movie for the bargain bin.