Ruthless People

1986 Directed by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams …

Sam Stone's wife has just been kidnapped... And he doesn't want her back!

A couple, cheated by a vile businessman, kidnap his wife in retaliation—without knowing that their enemy is delighted they did.

Danny DeVito Bette Midler Judge Reinhold Helen Slater Anita Morris Bill Pullman William G. Schilling Art Evans Clarence Felder Gary Riley J.E. Freeman Frank Sivero

Alternative Titles

Y a t il quelqu'un pour tuer ma femme, Por Favor Matem Minha Mulher, Per favore, ammazzatemi mia moglie

comedy

93 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Darren ★★★★

"Did you just shoot at me?"
"No, you moron! There's police all over the place! Hundreds of them!"
"Do I look that stupid?"
"Yes, you do!"
An even more gripping martial kidnapping thriller than Gone Girl.
Review by Carlo Carlo

Judge Reinhold & Helen Slater make a really cute couple.
Review by Daryl ★★★★

As creators of Airplane, The Naked Gun, and Top Secret, Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker are formidable characters in the world of comedy.
Ruthless People is their third best feature film.
Which is no shame in such company.
It is a wonderfully convoluted kidnap caper comedy. A film packed with some of the most horrible characters imaginable. Horrible yet hilarious. Every actor has their brilliant moments to get their acting teeth stuck right into.
Bette Midler is a fucking powerhouse. Over the top and insane. Her characters introduction is one the great cinematic entrances. She stands out, and would normally have delivered that one performance that would have stuck in the viewers memory long after the film has finished. Normally. But Ruthless…
Review by No-Personality ★★★½

Black comedy done the McDonalds' way: every scene could be darker (or dark at all, this reads as more of an empowerment fantasy for the downtrodden; forget Midler's character though- her family is filthy rich) but it's extremely fast and appropriately loud.
Since this is a Touchstone film, Danny DeVito sings "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in the right key with the right notes/lyrics, etc.
The TV aerobics instructor's dialogue is strangely funny, though it should be offensive.
Review by Matt Curione ★★★★ 1

"I've been kidnapped by K-Mart!"
A constantly evolving crime comedy with an aces cast and hilarious one-liners. Bill Pullman is intensely stupid and might just be the Secret MVP here.
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★½

The 80s Christmas 2: The Sequel
The first five minutes of Ruthless People are the 80siest thing ever.
Starting with the garish opening titles and then opening up to the interior of Danny DeVito and Bette Midler's house, it's some start. The rest of the film isn't far off the mark in that regard either (as you can see from what Midler is wearing in the poster), and the soundtrack only backs that up.
Ruthless People isn't as dark a black comedy as The War Of The Roses, it's more of a crime comedy than anything. There was the feeling throughout that Abrahams-Zucker-Zucker were trying a bit too much with the plot and were trying to be a bit too…
Review by george ★★★★★ 2

The epitome of the 80s classic.
Review by lucy ★★★½

bette milder saying i want to castrate him is a mood
Review by Rose ★★★★

when Barbara ran off with Ken and Sandy i cried and laughed. i also clapped. this was great.
Review by sandrocorvetto ★★★

Despite not having that many interesting characters, the jokes being kind of predictable, and setting up the main relationship and motivation of DeVito's character by telling us everything instead of showings us. Ruthless People is quite fun and enjoyable, mainly because it manages to hit the right tone, and that along with Danny DeVito's performance make the movie.
Review by Sharon Kelly ★★★★★

I love this movie. The insane 80’s wealthy/tacky interior of the mansion, the dresses, and this story of inept criminals, it’s perfect,
The cast is incredible and frankly have never been better. I don’t know why it isn’t mentioned along with the best 1980s comedies and the best of the Zucker brothers.
Review by Brahski ★½

Comedy Tonight Challenge Film 35: Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker
i was hoping this would be a Divorce, Italian Style surprise where the concept sounded pretty fraught but the execution was good. Like obviously everyone in the movie is a Funny Dude and I appreciate that, but it was not Funny4Me. Like I didn't even really enjoy Danny DeVito or Bette Midler doing their thing because I just wasn't interested at all in what was happening. Also really brings home how funny people thought prison rape was for a while.

Recent reviews

Review by Nathan Wisnicki ★★

The spreading of the web is mildly interesting, from a Screenplay Construction point of view. But...it just isn't that funny. I'm aware it's a different type of comedy, but still: knowing that this followed Top Secret! (a near-masterpiece, secretly better than Airplane!), I came ready to laugh!
Another reviewer here said this movie was 'Dark humor for people who are not fond of dark humor'. That's dead-on, but the reviewer apparently meant it as a compliment.
Review by Jeroen Van Zwol ★★½

Eh. De cast en de 80s vibe maakt dit ok.
Review by Sharon Kelly ★★★★★

I love this movie. The insane 80’s wealthy/tacky interior of the mansion, the dresses, and this story of inept criminals, it’s perfect,
The cast is incredible and frankly have never been better. I don’t know why it isn’t mentioned along with the best 1980s comedies and the best of the Zucker brothers.
Review by alex ★★★★½

why is this not considered a classic
Review by JBirdJace ★★★★

Dark humor for people who are not fond of dark humor
Review by ggershon ★★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Growing up in the '80's, I had a pretty unique relationship to Disney as THEY were the studio that mostly introduced me to R-rated movies as a pre-teen - sure you had your R-rated Lethal Weapons and Beverly Hills Cops but it was the newly established (in '85) Touchstone Pictures label that I associated with a lot of the best movies with the most bad words. ;) No shingle was putting out better profane comedies on a consistent basis during the second half of this decade than Touchstone...Good Morning Vietnam, Outrageous Fortune, Tin Men, Down & Out in Beverly Hills, Stakeout, Adventures in Babysitting (not R-rated but still featured one of the best uses of the F-word ever!), and probably my…
Review by fagiolo ★★½

kind of tiring but good ending and cool houses
Review by FeinDream ★★★½

One of my grandmother’s favorite films because it’s just a glorified weight loss fantasy.
Midler and Devito are great but frosty-haired Bill Pullman might be the MVP.
Review by mrdrenzaria ★★★½

"I hate the way she licks stamps!"
Review by chadman80 ★★★★★

One of my childhood favorites(yes I had mature taste for an 8 year old!!). This is extremely re-watchable!!
Review by Disneybat21 ★★★★★

This is absolutely one of my favorite comedies it is so well done and extremely well casted. The first person that comes to mind is Bill Pullman who is absolutely different than in anything else I have ever seen him in and I love just how moronic he is in this film. It’s a really interesting foil in comparison to how smart everyone else in the film thinks they are.
Favorite Line:
"It could mean the difference between life -- and the chair. Or the gas chamber. Sometimes it's the firing squad. They miss all the major arteries -- BANG. And you don't die right away, you just lie there bleeding -- and bleeding -- and bleeding”
Review by Terry Serres ★★★½

I love 1980s comedies: Soap Dish, A Fish Called Wanda, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, All of Me, and of course Ruthless People. I'd give this something like 3.75 stars. Entropic plot, over-the-top performances, great shtick, humor that's by turns droll and knockabout, outlandish production design, dated soundtrack.