UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Benedito Dias Rodrigues Excellent black comedy from the eighties with DeVito and Bete Midler as always are funny,the plot is perfect,the supporting casting is quite good in special way the stupid Bill Pullman and the hampered Judge Reinhold, therefore the main character is heart of the picture Devito as disguised and Midler angry screaming....all the situation is funny especially when the tape is sent to chief of police who is actually the guy with prostitute in the car...all kind of misunderstanding build this movie,the soundtrack fit at the eighties all them made by computer and finally Zucker brothers and Abrahams have a great job really!!

popcorninhell What ever happened to the farce? As time has progressed, pure movie comedies seem to be less about goofy, over-the-top characters and contrived situations and more about the characters themselves growing in unexpected ways and mining as much gold out of a singularly enjoyable premise. Think The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) or more recently, The Big Short (2015) to see what I mean. The competing thought in American comedy is that of the vehicle; a movie specifically designed for one actor or actress in mind. It's sad to think that in the last few years (heck arguably within the last two decades) we have not seen a good 'ol fashion farce come out of Hollywood. Honestly I think the only movie that ever came close to the delirious heights of One, Two, Three (1961) over the last decade was Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011).Ruthless People is a relic; a true, blue unadulterated farce made by the same loons that made Airplane! (1980). Danny DeVito stars as businessman Sam Stone, the repugnant spandex mini-skirt king. In a bid to rid himself of his irritating wife, gain her $15 million fortune and rid himself of her un-house trained poodle, Sam has a surefire plan to murder her without implicating himself. He comes home to do the deed; Barbara (Midler) is nowhere to be found. The phone rings; Sam picks it up and a man on the other line informs him his wife has been kidnapped and they expect a ransom. "If you notify the police, your wife will be killed. If you notify the media, your wife will be killed." Naturally Sam is tickled pink. Thus a dozen or so fateful events and circumstances tie the lives of Sam, Barbara, the kidnappers (Reinhold and Slater), Sam's mistress (Dodsworth), her doltish Don Juan (Pullman) and a particularly nasty serial killer with mommy issues (Freeman).The screenplay is written by the underrated Dale Launer based on an O. Henry short story. Launer's other credits include other well constructed and executed farces including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and My Cousin Vinny (1992). Ruthless People however is his first screenplay thus the story occasionally suffers from a narrative lull as well as some conspicuously dropped exposition. The characters are perilously stock, forged from the collective works of Shakespeare and Moliere and diluted to pander to 80's sensibilities. Yet despite all this, the story is reliably funny, seething with venomous cynicism and stitched together by the fun performances of Danny DeVito and Bette Midler.The direction however leaves much to be desired. A hit during its time, Ruthless People has aged about as well as Weekend at Bernie's (1989) and Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988). Part of it has to do with directors David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams (known collectively as ZAZ) whom temper their knack for slapstick and anarchistic flights of fancy. Perhaps it's their desire to try something different, or perhaps it's their inability to visually translate something they didn't write themselves, but what results is so-so physical comedy; largely and disappointingly provided by Judge Reinhold's milquetoast face.Then there's the unmistakably 80's feel of the art direction. I realize the film is supposed to take place in glitzy Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and I realize a lot of the characters are somehow involved in high fashion but for the love of God my eyes are bleeding! The angular decor, nasty amalgamation of pastels and paisleys mixed with harsh primary colors makes it seem as if a bullet train ran into John Waters's walk-in closet. Those who lived through the eighties and decide to watch this movie 30 years later, please enjoy yourselves then go home and burn the rest of your spandex.Making a movie like Ruthless People today would be nearly impossible. Developing a screenplay basing its humor on goofy characters and miscommunication would seem out of place in an era of near constant communication. We deal with our own miniature farces everyday to be sure; especially every time we talk past each other on social media. Yet those are not the type of misunderstanding that farce feeds on to create scenes of discomfort, double meanings and giddy hilarity. In other words your Facebook feed has nothing on Ruthless People.

moonspinner55 Danny DeVito in the kind of role he does best: a lying, cheating, stealing scoundrel trying to bump off his shrewish wife...and devilishly delighted when a naive couple whom he's victimized kidnap her for ransom he never intends to pay. Loose rendering of O. Henry's story "The Ransom of Red Chief" by screenwriter Dale Launer is all set-up, no pay-off. The talented trio of directors (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker) give Bette Midler a great deal of elbow-room to comically cuss and fuss, but no one behind the scenes was apparently able to come up with a satisfactory conclusion. "Ruthless People" is all over the place: screwball nonsense, black comedy, slapstick, warmhearted sentiment. It treats the audience like juveniles who need to be buzzed every few minutes to keep their attention. The cast is bright, and a few of the one-liners are memorable, yet overall the film is pretty thin. ** from ****

pc95 Ruthless People is one of my more likable 80s comedies. Like some 80s movies it's age shows, particularly with technology scenes. But the humor is well intact thankfully. It's slapstick and sometimes vulgar, but with a decent frame-worked story to go along with it. It has some good chuckles and a couple laugher scenes. The 4 leads are very well cast and especially Midler and Reinhold are good. (spoiler) In before becoming more mainstream is Bill Pullman playing male bimbo/boyfriend in probably the best scene in the movie - the swat team/ransom scene. Other great scenes involve Midler and her captors earlier on and the antics her character pulls. You can generally tell all involved are enjoying themselves and it shows. If you like slapstick with a bit of vulgar (not nearly to today's standards of vulgar btw), you should at least be entertained by this comedy.