ign logo IGN.com | AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GameSpy | FilePlanet | TeamXbox | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

RT Bug Squash
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
Register for free site & special features! | Log In | What is RT?
                       
MOVIES / ON DVD / ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING
One Night With The King

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

One Night With The King (2006)

16%
33%
44%
N/A
N/A
N/A
16 %
Reviews Counted: 25 Fresh: 4  Rotten:21 Average Rating: 4.3/10
 
Consensus: Despite its epic source matierial, One Night With the King is held back by dull storytelling and a clumsy script. Despite its epic source matierial, One Night With the King is held back by dull storytelling and a clumsy script. more
 
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Synopsis:
A visually beautiful film, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING depicts the biblical tale of a Jewish peasant, Hadassah (Tiffany Dupont), and her journey to become the legendary Queen Esther. Her parents were murdered when she was a young girl and she was taken in by her uncle, Mordecai (John Rhys-Davies);... [More]
A visually beautiful film, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING depicts the biblical tale of a Jewish peasant, Hadassah (Tiffany Dupont), and her journey to become the legendary Queen Esther. Her parents were murdered when she was a young girl and she was taken in by her uncle, Mordecai (John Rhys-Davies); he raised her in Susa, a city of the ancient empire of Persia. Hadassah--beautiful, intelligent and passionate--was summoned among many of the kingdom's virtuous young women to be groomed as a possible new queen for the powerful and handsome King Xerxes (Luke Goss). Hadassah hides her Jewish heritage under advisement from her uncle, and changes her name to Esther. She impresses the King. He falls in love with her and chooses her to be his bride, and she becomes Queen of Persia. Soon after, Hamen the Agagite (James Callis), the King's Prime Minster, proclaims his goal of wiping out all the Jews of Persia, and he convinces the King to approve the plan. It is up to Queen Esther to announce her Jewish heritage and come to the rescue of her people. Peppered with many religious references, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING conveys the message of divine destiny as it tells the story of a queen who continues to be an inspiring figure. Although the result of Queen Esther's intervention is well known, the filmmakers and actors do a superb job of building up the suspense and the desperation felt by all involved. The film includes a brief cameo by Peter O'Toole as the biblical figure Samuel, and Omar Sharif appears as Prince Memucan. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Tiffany Dupont, John Rhys-Davies, Luke Goss, Tom "Tiny" Lister, Peter O'Toole

Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Producer: Matthew Crouch, Laurie Crouch

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 1, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 1.78

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Subtitles - English - Optional

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image

Less a celebration than a lively college lecture, with CGI standing in for landscapes, panoramas and a cast of thousands.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/07 03:20 AM
Frank Lovece
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

The film is an exercise in overblown and overplayed.

Full Review | Comment
02/13/07 04:18 PM
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

a welcome and honorable telling of the Purim story.

Full Review | Comment
01/31/07 02:51 PM
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com
Ratings Image

All the production money in the world isn't going to get this magnificent looking biblical clunker past the critics.

Full Review | Comment
12/26/06 05:26 PM
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals
Ratings Image

The performances are all solid, although the screenplay frequently bogs down with the complexity of palace intrigues and plots that could have been rendered more consumer-friendly.

Full Review | Comment
10/30/06 03:16 AM
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 03:20 AM
Boston Globe
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 03:20 AM
Dallas Morning News
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 03:20 AM
Arizona Republic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 03:20 AM
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Ratings Image

While Dupont is lovely and sweet, the script leaves her motivations largely open and she's not enough of an actress to fill in the blanks.

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 03:20 AM
Dave Tianen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Ratings Image

It’s that slavish refusal to detour from the most conservative possible interpretation of such events that ultimately makes One Night With the King little more than a dolled-up, oversimplified sermon.

Full Review | Comment
10/28/06 03:20 AM
Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image

...visually lavish but dramatically clumsy.

Full Review | Comment
10/20/06 08:13 AM
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image

Don't Christians deserve quality? Of course...but they won't find it here.

Full Review | Comment
10/18/06 08:06 PM
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Ratings Image

This is one of those religious epics that looks like a religious epic, which is fine as far as it goes, but misses the mark because it doesn't manage to translate the feel of the original to the screen.

Full Review | Comment
10/16/06 07:39 AM
Eric Lurio
Entertainment Insiders
Ratings Image

Director Michael O. Sajbel can't rein in the story convolutions or the pompous dialogue of Stephan Blinn's script.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/06 09:43 PM
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
Ratings Image

Why another version of this oft-filmed tale?

Full Review | Comment
10/13/06 06:44 PM
Sam Adams
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The movie devolves into a talky, static affair featuring a cast with wildly varying accents and acting abilities.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/06 02:01 PM
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The cast is uneven but never amateurish -- Goss may not be much of an actor, but he looks terrific in various states of royal undress; much the same could be said of Yul Brynner -- and the production values are consistently high.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/06 11:18 AM
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

Esther's triumph isn't because of divine intervention. It's her humanity and bravery that make her a legend, and make that One Night worth remembering, 2,500 years later.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/06 10:49 AM
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
Ratings Image

Unfortunately [O'Toole and Sharif are] separated by five centuries, and never share a scene. For a movie with the most righteous of intentions, that's perhaps the most grievous moviemaking sins of all.

Full Review | Comment
10/13/06 10:41 AM
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Confusion?
by: Verdi 2/17/07


why a rotten?
by: safariscoops 2/10/07


Why no secular critics?
by: thehouseman 11/16/06


One night with the king
by: cmharris 10/30/06


One Night with the King - AWESOME - A MUST SEE!
by: KCombs 10/30/06
all

News

Box Office Guru Preview: Wide Open Race For #1 Spot This Weekend
posted by Gitesh Pandya October 11, 2007
Five new films push their way into nationwide release on Friday hoping to challenge two-time champ The Rock making for...


Box Office Guru Preview: "Nativity" Leads Trio of New Releases
posted by Gitesh Pandya November 30, 2006
The post-turkey blues will kick in as the North American box office should slump this weekend following a busy...


Box Office Wrapup: Grudge Sequel Attacks #1 Spot
posted by Gitesh Pandya October 15, 2006
Moviegoers were in the mood to be spooked this weekend as the horror sequel The Grudge 2 scared its way to a number one...


Critical Consensus: "Man of the Year" A Weak Candidate, But At Least It Was Screened For Critics
posted by Jen Yamato October 12, 2006
This week at the movies, we've got comedians in the White House ("Man of the Year," starring Robin...

Around the Network

• One Night With The King at Rotten Tomatoes
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive

By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.