King's Ransom

This 95-minute sitcom wouldn’t even get the green light from UPN or the WB. Writer Wayne Conley’s apparent lack of imagination leads to an endless series of mistaken identities featuring countless middle school-level jokes about prison sex and flatulence. Anthony Anderson stars as Malcolm King, the rich and cocky creator of the next Viagra who stages his own kidnapping in order to avoid paying a divorce settlement to his greedy ex-wife. However, this ridiculous plan takes a predictable turn for the worse when the scheduled kidnapper, a dimwitted ex-con, captures a valet posing as King. Then, a local loser (Jay Mohr) kidnaps King, thinking that the pompous entrepreneur is an enemy from years ago. This enemy turns out to be the same recently released jailbird from King’s original kidnapping plan. The already-convoluted plot gets even more muddled when a ditzy mistress and a canned VP of King’s company get mixed up in the clutter. Director Jeff Byrd should be held responsible for this insult that wastes viewers’ time and money.