''King's Ransom'' is a 2005 American
black comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...
directed by
Jeffrey W. Byrd and written by Wayne Conley, who was a writer for the Nickelodeon TV series, ''
Kenan & Kel
''Kenan & Kel'' is an American Buddy film, buddy comedy sitcom created by Kim Bass. The show originally aired on the Nickelodeon network for four seasons, from July 15, 1996, to July 15, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, the series follows mischiev ...
''. The film stars
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in drama series such as Marlin Boulet on '' K-Ville'', and as NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama ' ...
,
Jay Mohr
Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series ''Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' (2 ...
,
Kellita Smith
Kellita Smith (born January 15, 1969) is an American actress, model and comedian. She is best known for her role as Wanda McCullough, Bernie Mac's wife on the FOX sitcom ''The Bernie Mac Show''.
Life and career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, She ...
,
Regina Hall
Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal' ...
,
Donald Faison
Donald Adeosun Faison (; born June 22, 1974) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his leading role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC/ NBC comedy-drama '' Scrubs'' (2001–2010), and a supporting role as Murray in both the film '' Cluele ...
,
Nicole Ari Parker
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film ''The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went on ...
,
Charlie Murphy,
Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress, singer and voice actor. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of ''Dreamgir ...
,
Brooke D'Orsay
Brooke D'Orsay (born February 17, 1982) is a Canadian actress, best known for voicing the character of Caitlin Cooke on the Teletoon animated series ''6teen'' (2004–2010) and Brooke Mayo in the 2005 movie '' King's Ransom''.
For American audien ...
, and
Leila Arcieri. ''King's Ransom'' was released in the United States on April 22, 2005, and was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $4,143,652 against a budget of $15 million.
Plot
Malcolm King (
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in drama series such as Marlin Boulet on '' K-Ville'', and as NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama ' ...
) is a wealthy, selfish, obnoxious businessman who is about to divorce his wife Renee (
Kellita Smith
Kellita Smith (born January 15, 1969) is an American actress, model and comedian. She is best known for her role as Wanda McCullough, Bernie Mac's wife on the FOX sitcom ''The Bernie Mac Show''.
Life and career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, She ...
). 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
Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal' ...
), 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
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film ''The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went on ...
), an aggrieved employee and Corey (
Jay Mohr
Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series ''Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' (2 ...
), 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
Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in drama series such as Marlin Boulet on '' K-Ville'', and as NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama ' ...
as Malcolm King
*
Jay Mohr
Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series ''Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' (2 ...
as Corey
*
Kellita Smith
Kellita Smith (born January 15, 1969) is an American actress, model and comedian. She is best known for her role as Wanda McCullough, Bernie Mac's wife on the FOX sitcom ''The Bernie Mac Show''.
Life and career
Born in Chicago, Illinois, She ...
as Renee King
*
Donald Faison
Donald Adeosun Faison (; born June 22, 1974) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his leading role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC/ NBC comedy-drama '' Scrubs'' (2001–2010), and a supporting role as Murray in both the film '' Cluele ...
as Andre
*
Regina Hall
Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal' ...
as Peaches Clarke
*
Nicole Ari Parker
Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film ''The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went on ...
as Angela Drake
*
Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress, singer and voice actor. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of ''Dreamgir ...
as Miss Gladys
*
Charlie Murphy as Herb Clarke
*
Leila Arcieri as Kim Baker
*
Brooke D'Orsay
Brooke D'Orsay (born February 17, 1982) is a Canadian actress, best known for voicing the character of Caitlin Cooke on the Teletoon animated series ''6teen'' (2004–2010) and Brooke Mayo in the 2005 movie '' King's Ransom''.
For American audien ...
as Brooke Mayo
*
Roger Cross
Roger Cross (born October 19, 1969) is a Jamaican-born Canadian actor who has made numerous appearances in several films and television series, mostly on productions shot in Canada. He is known for his work as CTU Agent Curtis Manning in the ...
as Byron
*
Jackie Burroughs
Jacqueline "Jackie" Burroughs (2 February 1939 – 22 September 2010) was a British-born Canadian actress.
Early life
Born in Southport, Lancashire (now Merseyside), England, she emigrated to Canada on 26 August 1948 with her mother Edna, her ...
as Granny
*
Christian Potenza
Christian Potenza (born December 23, 1972) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for voicing Jude Lizowski on ''6teen'' and Chris McLean in the ''Total Drama'' franchise.
Career
He has been on television since 1997, when he first ...
as Officer Holland
*
Lawrence Dane
Lawrence Joseph Zahab (April 3, 1937 – March 21, 2022), known professionally as Lawrence Dane, was a Canadian actor and film producer, best known for his role as Lt. Preston in ''Bride of Chucky''.
Life and career
Born in Masson, Quebec, Dane ...
as Detective Conley
*
Lisa Marcos
Lisa Marcos is a Canadian actress and former model.
Career
She began her career as a model at the age of 14 years but after eight years, decided to pursue her passion for acting and approached a talent agency. Soon after her acting career began ...
as Raven
*
Robert Norman Smith
Robert Norman Smith ( 1965 – July 22, 2020) was a Canadian actor who was known as Rob Smith in his earlier works.
Criminal charges
In 2008, Smith pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing and one charge of distributing child sexual abu ...
as David
* Brenda Chrichlow as Anita
* Carrie Colak as Lori
*
Kwasi Songui
Kwasi Songui is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing the role of Jon Jon Hendricks in '' Blue Mountain State''.
Filmography Film
Television
Video games
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Songui, Kwasi
Year of birth ...
as Ronald
* Ingrid Hart as Sheila
* Luis Oliva as Pablo
* Ilona Elkin as Rachel
*
as Timmy
* Lila Yee as Miss Ho
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.
Critical response
On review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
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." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a weighted average score, the film has a score of 11 out of 100 based on 13 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title, 0388183
2005 films
African-American films
American buddy films
2000s crime comedy films
2005 directorial debut films
American crime comedy films
New Line Cinema films
2005 comedy films
Films directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd
2000s English-language films
2000s American films