The Good

The Bad

Malcolm King (Anthony Anderson) is being gouged by his wife in a divorce. As he is a rich tycoon, his goal is to keep his money so he plans to have himself kidnapped. Strangely enough, other people want to kidnap him for various reasons and all their plans become entwined in a comedic mess. Now, when I first saw the trailer and the ads for this movie, I had no desire to see it so I didn’t. It just didn’t seem funny even though I have always liked Anderson and thought he was a very good actor.

So imagine my surprise when Movieweb gave me this film to review and I find myself laughing out loud all the way through it. This is a genuinely smart and funny movie. It has nothing to do with race, or ethnicity or anything. If you like to laugh, if you like good “capers gone awry” movies then King’s Ransom is for you.

In fact, I am so impressed with this film that I can honestly say I am proud to have it in my DVD collection and I will be showing it to others.

Features

21 Hilarious Deleted Scenes & Gag Reel

They have packed this DVD to the gills with these extras. There is so much here that it’s almost like having another movie. For just a pure laughs and a good time, before you screen this movie, put in the disk and watch this extra offering. It will be a great primer for what is about to come.

Down and Dirty Behind the Scenes Featurette

This is a pretty in-depth look at what went into getting King’s Ransom made. It goes from rehearsals to seeing everything come together. It’s funny because Anthony Anderson is just a naturally funny person, but you can tell that he takes comedy very seriously. He really works with the material and makes it his own.

Commentary with Anthony Anderson, Jay Mohr and Director Jeff Byrd

This is hilarious. Add this to the other bevy of extras and you end up having hours of really funny material. In fact, this stuff is all done in such a way that you could get a group of people together to watch the commentary and I am sure a great time would be had by all.

Video

Presented in a format preserving the 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio of it’s theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for Widescreen TVs. This movie comes off like it was just a bunch of happy accidents. It really recalls for me those movies from the 1980’s that took place in one night like Midnight Madness. There is nothing too special about the way this film looks, other then the fact that it’s shot pretty typically and lets the comedic antics of it’s cast carry the day.

Audio

English: 5.1 Surround Sound - English: Stereo Surround Sound. Subtitled in English and Spanish. This movie is a comedy in every sense of the word. The sound design is such that it goes out of it’s way to accentuate the comedic moments in the film. Music is also used to underscore the funny moments but I never felt that any of it’s use was out of place.

Package

The front cover features Anderson with a bunch of the other cast members from the film. At first glance it might be hard to tell what this movie is about, but the back cover continues the kidnapping motif and has a decent description of the film’s story. There is a special features listing, a cast list and some technical specs so you can arrange the DVD however you want in your player. While not amazing, the packaging for King’s Ransom more then does the job.

Final Word

A film like King’s Ransom makes me wonder how many other movies I have missed because I have judged them before I have seen them. I will say however that I am not sure I would have enjoyed this movie as much in the theater, and that watching it in the comfort of my own home (without having to shell out $10) probably made me more open to the experience of screening this movie. That said... it was pretty darn good!

King's Ransom was released April 22, 2005.