Pluskylang Great Film overall

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

chimera3 Not everyone will like this movie but there are many who do. My mom and I absolutely fell out of our seats laughing when we watched this; my brother, on the other hand, barely cracked a grin. Anyway, with an ensemble made up of people like Bette Midler, Danny DeVito, and Judge Reinhold, what more could you possibly ask for? The way I see it, this is a take-off of any kidnapping story that you will see in the news or on true crime TV shows...only there's nonstop comedy at every turn. As my mom and I have said, this is one movie that is not meant to be taken seriously.Mr. DeVito plays a husband who desperately wants to get rid of his wife, who is played by Miss Midler herself. Then you have Judge Reinhold, who plays one of the bumbling kidnappers. DeVito and Reinhold concoct a plan that is surely foolproof, right? Not so much, apparently. From the moment that she is kidnapped, Bette tries everything in her power to buy her captors' trust and get out. Probably one of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when she is on the phone and letting off a string of obscenities that you have to hear to believe. My personal favorite line: "I've been kidnapped by K- Mart!" Every time I hear that line, I can just picture her saying it and then I roll over laughing. In the very end, Bette gets revenge on her husband and her primary kidnapper and walks off into the sunset. Can't go wrong with that, if you ask me.From start to finish, this is a comedy that you have to see to believe. Granted it may not be for everyone, you may like what you see. Enjoy.

BlackJack_B Jerry Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams are known for their spoof movies such as Airplane!, Hot Shots and The Naked Gun trilogy but they did direct some straight comedies and Ruthless People remains uproariously funny in 2014. In fact, it seems more realistic nowadays.Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) is a slimy little man who is married to Barbara Stone (Bette Midler), a frumpy and gaudy woman who he detests. He has plans to kill her for her 15 million dollar fortune and run off with his long time mistress Carol (Anita Morris). The day he plans to do the dirty deed he finds out that she's been kidnapped by Ken (Judge Reinhold) and Sandy Kessler (Helen Slater) and they demand a huge ransom or else they will off her. Sam, of course, refuses to pay since now they will do the dirty work for him. Meanwhile, Carol is planning to double- cross Sam by filming the murder and she has her punk boyfriend Earl (Bill Pullman) do it. He ends up filming the guy who played the Principal on Head Of The Class having sex with a hooker instead but Carol never bothers to watch the film because of the screams of joy the hooker makes and just assumes it's Sam murdering Barbara.It turns out the Kesslers aren't "ruthless people" and seemingly won't carry out the murder despite Sam making a decent fortune himself from stealing Sandy's ideas years ago and leaving the Kesslers living in squalor. Barbara teaches them how...Ruthless People is a sassy R-rated comedy with attitude and the dialog and situation comedy is zesty, rich and bursting with constant laugh-out loud moments. Everybody in film is appealing despite being evil, weak- minded, dumb or a monster and that's why it has aged extremely well. It feels more like a 2014 film than a 1986 film because our society seemingly is like the one featured in Ruthless Peopl.DeVito, Slater and Reinhold deliver terrific performances but the film is owned by Midler. The Divine Miss M dominates the film playing a profanity-spewing, gaudy, frumpy and angry shrew who changes into a sassy, beautiful and fit woman in captivity but still hasn't lost her talent for down and dirty ruthlessness.Still a wonderful film 28 years later. I wish the Zuckers and Abrahams made more R-rated fare; this is one of the best comedies of the MPAA era. See it!

cteavin-1 It's a tight script for Touchstone, a comedy of errors where three plots and serial killer meet in a happy end. I saw this during its original release and loved it. I still love it. It's nice to see a movie without a lot of toilet humour and f-bombs. The dialog is filled with memorable lines but the humour is in knowing what the characters don't and the on screen charisma of Di Vito and Middler.Pay attention and you'll see the L.A. cityscape during the 80's along with all that was bad in 80's design along with Santa Monica Pier before the redesign in the 90's. Great film for a rain day or a bad mood.

blanche-2 I confess to loving comedies of the '80s, preferring them to what now passes for comedy. Ruthless People is a classic example of the genre, an extremely clever and funny film with a wonderful cast: Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Anita Morris, and Bill Pullman.The story concerns a wealthy clothing manufacturer Sam Stone (DeVito) who wants to see his wife Barbara (Midler) dead and informs his mistress Carol (Morris) that he's going to kill her. The mistress sends her boyfriend (Pullman) to get the murder on tape so they can blackmail him. He gets something on tape, but it's not Stone killing Barbara. Carol doesn't look at the tape, and her boyfriend has never seen Stone, so they don't know what they have. Sam isn't able to murder Barbara because she's been kidnapped by two nice people who just want some money (Reinhold and Slater). Sam is thrilled - all he has to do is disobey all their orders, not pay up, and someone else will kill his wife.This is a very engaging comedy about blackmail, attempted murder, mistaken identity, infidelity, stealing ideas -- none of which is a great premise for a comedy but all of which work beautifully here. Danny DeVito is hilarious, and Bette Midler gives probably her best performance as his wife, who just wants to lose a few pounds. Reinhold and Slater are as adorable as they are guileless.Highly recommended.