King's Ransom (film)
King's Ransom is a 2005 American black comedy film directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd and written by Wayne Conley, who was a writer for the Nickelodeon TV series, Kenan & Kel. The film stars Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Regina Hall, Donald Faison, Nicole Ari Parker, Charlie Murphy, Loretta Devine, Brooke D'Orsay, and Leila Arcieri. King's Ransom was released in the United States on April 22, 2005, and, on a production budget of $15 million, brought in $4,143,652 worldwide.
| King's Ransom | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Jeffrey W. Byrd |
| Produced by | Darryl Taja David Brewington Jeremy Barber Luke Ryan Matt Moore Mike Drake Toby Emmerich |
| Written by | Wayne Conley |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Marcus Miller |
| Cinematography | Robert McLachlan |
| Edited by | Jeffrey Cooper |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $4,143,652[1] |
Plot
Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson) is a wealthy, selfish, obnoxious businessman who is about to divorce his wife Renee (Kellita Smith). She plans to ruin him financially during the court proceedings, and King is willing to do anything to protect his fortune.
He enlists his mistress, Peaches (Regina Hall), and her brother, Herb (Charlie Murphy), to stage a mock kidnapping. They are to make and receive a huge ransom demand, which would keep the money safe from his wife.
Unfortunately for him, two other people have similar plans to kidnap him; Angela (Nicole Ari Parker), an aggrieved employee and Corey (Jay Mohr), a good-natured yet hapless nobody who lives in his grandmother's basement and needs $10,000 after being threatened by his adopted sister.
Cast
- Anthony Anderson as Malcolm King
- Jay Mohr as Corey
- Kellita Smith as Renee King
- Donald Faison as Andre
- Regina Hall as Peaches Clarke
- Nicole Ari Parker as Angela Drake
- Loretta Devine as Miss Gladys
- Charlie Murphy as Herb Clarke
- Leila Arcieri as Kim Baker
- Brooke D'Orsay as Brooke Mayo
- Roger Cross as Byron
- Jackie Burroughs as Granny
- Christian Potenza as Officer Holland
- Lawrence Dane as Detective Conley
- Lisa Marcos as Raven
- Robert Norman Smith as David
Reception
Box office
King's Ransom was produced on a $15 million budget, but only grossed $2,137,685 on its opening weekend and ranked at #10 at the box office. It was released in 1,508 theaters and had $1,417 average. The film eventually closed on June 2, 2005 upon grossing $4,008,527 in the domestic market, and $135,125 in the foreign market for a worldwide total of $4,143,652. Altogether, the film ended up a huge disappointment, commercially.[1]
Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 2% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 2.4/10. The site's consensus states: "Filled with crass dialogue, unlikable characters, and overdone slapstick gags, King's Ransom is an utterly inept would-be comedy."[2] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, the film has a score of 11 out of 100 based on 13 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[3]