Your Highness

[Robyn]

My horny teenage heart is crying with joy. Just look at that

[squints]

^

oh my god yes.

[cronopio 2]

it's natalie portman's ass. relax.

[MacGuffin]

New Trailer here.

[modage]

from my blog:

Filmmaker David Gordon Green has one of the strangest career trajectories of anyone working in film today. After starting his career with 4 quiet dramas included the Terrence Malick influenced "George Washington" and the Terrence Malick produced "Undertow," he took a sharp left turn in 2008 with the Judd Apatow produced stoner-comedy "Pineapple Express." It seemed like a really strange decision at the time (and though the results were mixed) the change seemed to suit him and he's yet to look back. He's also been a producer on friend/star Danny McBride's HBO series "Eastbound & Down" as well as director on McBride and 'Eastbound' co-writer Ben Best's latest fantasy stoner epic "Your Highness."

It feels like I've been looking forward to it for a long time (probably because I have been) so it's a shame to admit that the film doesn't really work. McBride and James Franco star as brothers/princes on a quest to retrieve Franco's bride-to-be (Zooey Deschanel) from an evil wizard (Justin Theroux). Along the way they come across a tough archeress (Natalie Portman) on a quest of her own as well as minotaurs, temptresses and a 5 headed beast. Save McBride and Theroux the rest of the cast play their roles relatively straight so each step of the adventure begins to drag. The action scenes are shot too closely (and confusingly) and usually not played for comedy, and anything involving special effects ends up just being a bore.

The best things about "Pineapple Express" were Franco being unexpectedly cast in the stoner role (instead of the straight man) and the sparing and hilarious use of McBride. This film reverses all of that, turning Franco back into the bland (for the most part) lead and making McBride's bumbling character the center of the film. Unfortunately it just doesn't work. I thought of both "The Princess Bride" and "Ghostbusters" as examples of genre films that were also comedies that managed to bridge the gap successfully but this film doesn't come close. If the film was going to be stupid it probably should have just gone all the way.

Like Universal's last genre mashup "Paul," I love everyone involved with the film so it's disappointing when the laughs are few and far between. (Seriously, most of the good jokes are in the trailer.) I have to credit Universal for twice now rolling the dice on talented filmmakers/cast and letting them do their thing, unfortunately twice now they've been let down by the middling results. "Your Highness" admirably attempts to mash up a straight-faced (albeit cheesy) fantasy film like "Krull" with McBrides crude sense of humor. Unfortunately the result is a film that's neither as funny as you want it to be nor are you invested whatsoever in the story.

[Stefen]

So is it safe to say that DGG will never return to films like George Washington and All The Real Girls? It's a shame. Both of those are so good. I was hoping he would do a couple comedies to make some cash then get back to making smaller dramatic films again but I guess that nerd is just too addicted to money now. 

[I Love a Magician]

yeah, it's sad. i've heard him say "i like making movies that people will actually see" a few times now.

[Gold Trumpet]

He's too young to think his career is spoken for. He may be a version of Scorsese and only revisit his better version of filmmaking in watered down ways every 10 years, but I believe he's different because he's involved in so many projects that is made for no money. He doesn't require a big budget like other independent filmmakers who make the Hollywood jump. I have to believe he will challenge himself again. However, I am different since I think just after George Washington, he settled in many ways. I can't see any future film of his challenging that one.

[Ravi]

Unfortunately the result is a film that's neither as funny as you want it to be nor are you invested whatsoever in the story.

That's about right. The movie is funny intermittently but considering the talent involved I wish there was more to it than Danny McBride being a cowardly, self-centered asshole and the idea of people saying "fuck" and "shit" in medieval times being funny. I wish it was more OTT and denser with jokes.

[RegularKarate]

I still think it's completely worth seeing.
It's not amazing, but it's got some really good laughs and is entertaining in the same way those old Fantasy movies were in the 70s and 80s without being solely referential.

I think after Pineapple Express, Best and McBride felt obligated to force in the weed humor because it's completely unnecessary and I don't know that one laugh comes from it (there are a couple times where it's jarring).  Same with the cursing... there are a couple funny moments that involve modern cursing, but the majority of the humor comes from the characters and the way things look.

DGG is young.  Let him play.  I liked this.  I'll watch it again on cable some day.

[pete]

I felt the same way about pineapple express. I hadn't seen this yet, but I just remember seeing most things with Danny McBride and knowing that he's a lot funnier than the movies he's in. It's weird, it seems like there is a smugness or a defiance that is keeping him and his buddies from going all out. the movies and tv shows he's done with DGG and Jody Hill and Ben Best all share the same problems, and I'm not sure if it's something they're aware of or if they'll just say fuck it and do it for the rest of their lives like Guillermo Arriaga, who never conquered his amatuerish cliches and still rose to the top.

but the defiance I'm talking about is just the simple refusal to actually build a joke in a story, as a result, he's got a lot more one-liners, odd deliveries, and irreverence - which all stand on their own - without stories or setpieces that go with them.

Eastbound and Down season 2 is much better than season 1 for that reason.

[Alexandro]

I thought The Fist Foot Way was pretty consistent.
I don't know about this. The reference I have for a movie like this is that Mel Brooks parody of robin hood and that was pretty lame.