King's Ransom (film)

King's Ransom is a 2005 American black comedy film directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd and written by Wayne Conley. It stars Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr, Kellita Smith, Regina Hall, Donald Faison, Nicole Ari Parker, Charlie Murphy, Loretta Devine, Brooke D'Orsay, and Leila Arcieri. The film was released in the United States on April 22, 2005, and was a critical and commercial bomb.

King's Ransom
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Jeffrey W. Byrd
Written by	Wayne Conley
Produced by	Darryl Taja
Starring	Anthony Anderson Jay Mohr Kellita Smith Nicole Parker Regina Hall Loretta Devine Donald Faison Charlie Murphy Brooke D'Orsay Leila Arcieri
Cinematography	Robert McLachlan
Edited by	Jeffrey Cooper
Music by	Marcus Miller
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	April 22, 2005 (2005-04-22)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$4,143,652[1]

Plot

Malcolm King is a wealthy, selfish, obnoxious businessman who is about to divorce his wife Renee. 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, and her brother, Herb, 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, an aggrieved employee and Corey, 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
• Brenda Chrichlow as Anita
• Carrie Colak as Lori
• Kwasi Songui as Ronald
• Ingrid Hart as Sheila
• Luis Oliva as Pablo
• Ilona Elkin as Rachel
• Nicolas Wright as Timmy
• Lila Yee as Miss Ho

Production

Writing

The screenplay was written by Wayne Conley — who was a writer for the Nickelodeon series Kenan & Kel, a live-action series that aired Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000.

Filming

Filming took place around 2004. The film was produced on a $15 million budget.

Release

King's Ransom was released in 1,508 theaters on April 22, 2005.

Reception

Box office

King's Ransom was a huge box office disappointment, having $1,417 average. In its opening weekend, the film ranked 10th at the box office and grossed only $2,137,685. By the end of its run on June 2, 2005, it had grossed $4,008,527 in the domestic market, and $135,125 in the foreign market for a worldwide total of $4,143,652.^[1]

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 2% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 2.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Filled with crass dialogue, unlikable characters, and overdone slapstick gags, King's Ransom is an utterly inept would-be comedy."^[2] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 11 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".^[3]