RE:View: Your Highness

     From the minds behind the likes of Pineapple Express and the show, Eastbound and Down, comes Your Highness. As a fantasy-comedy at heart, Your Highness tries to mix big name stars into it's crude humour formula, which doesn't always come off too well.


      But don't be fooled into thinking this is a parody movie in any way. The story is actually rather standard fantasy-fare, but with frequent bursts of the stoner kind of humour you would come to expect from leading man Danny McBride. McBride plays Thadeous, the slacker brother of hero Prince Fabious, portrayed by James Franco. When Fabious' bride to be (Zooey Deschanel) is captured by an evil warlock, Thadeous must help his brother on a quest to retrieve his stolen love. On the way there's horny Minotaurs, perverted wizards and a leather-clad Natalie Portman to provide a rather creepy love-interest situation.

This with Danny McBride is a little weird...

           I'm going to be frank; there is a lot of dick jokes. Crudeness and vulgarity reign over any humour throughout the movie, creating a hit and miss comedic scenario. To my understanding, the majority is ad-libbed which would explain why it doesn't always work well, especially among some of the cast who aren't too familiar with this kind of "scripting". That's not to say it's all bad, as there are some real gems among the gags, with a few stand-outs that had me laughing out loud (a certain minotaur "trophy" in particular) and the use of cussing in medieval speech was chuckle-some too (even if it does wear off after a while).
   
     Despite the often atrocious English accents, the acting is on par. Strangely enough, academy-award nominated James Franco was perhaps the weakest here, in my opinion. But McBride is perfectly suited to dopey-sleeze bag Thadeous and Portman does a fine job of the independent warrior woman role. While Justin Theroux plays the socially awkward, evil wizard, Leezar with just the right amount of cookiness. 

Hit and Miss

     Your Highness, with all it's ad-libbing and awkward improv is nowhere near the same standard of other films with the same style, such as Anchorman, but it is a half-decent comedy in its own right. The special effects may be crappy and the fight scenes badly shot, but that's not really what audiences are there for. Although it's about 60/40 with the joke success rate, it's still something that anyone who enjoys this crass and crude humour type should go see, despite the fact that it could've been so much more. If it's not your style, then I'd say to steer clear.


2.5/5 Stars - More "Your Jester" than Your Highness.


What HeSaidSHeSaid thought of Your Highness.