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DVD King's Ransom
Anthony Anderson has built a career by creating likable supporting performances in mediocre movies from Urban Legends: Final Cut to Kangaroo Jack to Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London. So he probably leapt on King's Ransom as an opportunity to show his star potential, surrounded by a good cast, including Jay Mohr (Jerry Maguire), Nicole Parker (Soul Food), Loretta Devine (Woman Thou Art Loosed), and Regina Hall (Scary Movie). Regrettably, all King's Ransom shows is why Anderson ended up in so many mediocre movies in the first place: Poor judgment. This contrived comedy about a business mogul who has himself kidnapped to wriggle out of a divorce settlement--only, what a surprise, his plans go awry and hijinks ensue--is one long series of clumsy, unoriginal, and just unfunny scenes that barely connect into a plot. It's a movie that seems to have been made as a tax write-off. Also featuring Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show) and Donald Faison (Scrubs). --Bret Fetzer
While this movie could not be considered wildly funny it did have funny moments.
Unfortunately the funny moments could not be strung together well enough to make for a funny movie.
The plot, a man arranging his own kidnapping, that goes awry is a good starting point.
However from there the execution goes downhill.
There is nobody to root for in this lame kidnapping comedy
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.
Good sweet lord.
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.
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Let's face it, sometimes you just want to watch some fluff. The ever-expanding subgenre of cheerleader cinema offers dependable fluff, of which Man of the House is a shiny, frivolous example. After a multiethnic cheerleading squad witnesses a mob execution, Texas Ranger Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive, Men in Black) is assigned to protect them. That's all you need to know--a formulaic plot follows, but the filmmakers recognizes that the formula is known by all so they doesn't waste time with unnecessary exposition. Instead, we go straight to amusing scenes of Sharp teaching the unruly (and scantily clad) girls some discipline and the girls teaching Sharp to loosen up and forge a better relationship with his estranged daughter. It's a one-joke movie, but... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tommy Lee Jones - Christina Milian - Kelli Garner Director(s): Stephen Herek DVD Release Date: Released the 19 July 2005 Usually ships in 6 to 8 days
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