King's Ransom 2005

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The script, by TV writer Wayne Conley, shares some elements with the old Danny DeVito comedy Ruthless People, but humor isn't one of them. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: King's Ransom lumbers forth clumsily, choreographing its slapstick pratfalls with all the class and taste of a Courtney Love relapse. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Merely a collection of antics clothespinned to a plot. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Somewhere in a pitch meeting someone must have piped up: 'I know. We'll have a guy named 'King' and he gets kidnapped, see? So there's a 'ransom'! King's Ransom, get it? After that, I've got nothing.' Read more

Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly: Basically an improv scene sprawling to feature length. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Marital bickering, a mistaken-identity sex romp and booty shots galore follow, but few laughs. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: With the humor in this lazy farce about as subtle as a shotgun blast to the face, it's possible to see the whole movie as an accident, the cumulative result of haphazard negligence. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: King's Ransom is a wit-deficient barrage of obnoxious characters and second-hand punchlines. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: After a while, all these odious, yammering people start to sound a lot like Charlie Brown's teacher. And they somehow all end up together at a time and a place you do not want to be. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The desperately unfunny kidnapping farce King's Ransom is the cinematic equivalent of trampled chewing gum on a subway platform. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Doesn't pay off. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The Chronicle's Little Man was fighting an internal struggle to abandon his chair altogether, but was ultimately swayed to continue his nap, mostly by a few of the comics in supporting roles. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: The scenarios are halfway convincing and at times even passably clever; they are never, however, especially funny. Read more

Peter L'Official, Village Voice: Little in this film suggests 'director' Jeff Byrd and writer Wayne Conley possess any facility -- or familiarity -- with irony or any other comedic device. Read more