Your Highness

[superhero]

I often find that too, when you are in the cinema, especially with the people who made the film, the reactions do tend to be more exaggerated and appreciative

Great review, kk.

I found this surprising enjoyable. It felt like a cross between The Princess Bride and American Pie which provided a nice mixture of action and comedy. I did have a few laugh out loud moments but that was probably because I was in a cinema, I doubt I would have laughed as much if I had been watching this at home.

This had a strong cast and I enjoyed the witty banter between the characters. The evil wizard was a particular treat. I do feel that the crudeness was overdone a bit. The swearing and nudity was amusing early on, but the jokes did become slightly repetitive, and the vulgarity had worn thin by the end.

The Q&A was good. The first time I have been to a comedic Q&A! Danny McBride was good to listen to and particularly enthusiastic about this project. He was quite honest about the filming and production (he even said they made the special effects as cheap as possible). The actor who played Courtney was also there and the interaction between the two of the made it clear how much fun they had making the movie.

Overall I liked this film. A medieval romp with modern gags thrown in. I was caught up in the general mood of campness and silliness. The film does have some brilliant moments (the scene with the wise wizard is an example) but does miss the mark slightly in others and relies a bit heavily on sex references. 7/10.

[hottips]

Hi - Seems I missed everyone tonight. I got there early and bagged a good seat and then left near the end of the Q&A.

I went expecting very little but hoping to laugh & laugh I did. Definately purile humour however somehow it did seem to p*y a fitting & amusing homage to films of this genre. I think that KK's review is pretty much spot on.

6/10 from me.

(Funnily enough on my way down one of the staff was directing people to the basement. 'It's' in the basement he said and ushered on in the direction of the next set of escaltors. I didn't have the energy to argue so I just followed everyone. Ended up in a screen and sat through some trailers then Black Swans started. Oh well couldn't complain - just sat there and 'enjoyed'

[prettyxcool]

Mindless rubbish, but it was fun and tongue in cheek, and I actually enjoyed it! Better than I expected. The Q&A was short and sweet. It was obvious they had a lot of fun making the film, as they said they put in things that he as a 13 year old wanted/fantasised about. It seemed like a spoof as there was a lot similarities, and then in the Q&A, Danny McBride said it was not! It was good to meet raj101, and catch up with MrGlass, a_person, and funthing29. 7/10

[superhero]

They had a drinks reception for some guests didn't they?

[prettyxcool]

Did they? I wish I knew that. I would have tried to gatecrash!

[superhero]

I could just see you starring in The Wedding Crashers 2 pxc....haha

[prettyxcool]

[superhero]

I don't know why they just didn't invite everyone, it can't be that expensive if they did it for Insidious..

[Deni]

I couldn't wait for this to be over. Around the middle of the movie I almost told OH I will browse around Leicester Square until the movie was over. So. Painful. To.Watch. 2/10 (but I don't like the genre in general)

Deni

[soonforgotten]

That was the most half-hearted round of applause at the close of a film that I think I've ever heard, especially considering that everyone knew McBride was there. I do believe it was his wife seated behind me who began clapping when the credits started to roll and no one joined in so she quickly stopped. It then slowly began a minute or two later and sounded as if people we clapping more out of confusion that enthusiasm. I was amused by it.

As for the film, meh. It wasn't horrible, but it was completely stupid. I suppose the best news of it of is that at least Natalie Portman and Zoey Deschanel didn't do anything too degrading, outside of being in this to begin with and the former actually kissing McBride. The film suffers from the belief that curse words on their own equal funny. They don't. Random interjections of "shit" are relied upon in those aforementioned gaps between gags and do not pass for comedy. James Franco's "nice" was far more effective, in context (of course). However, despite France coming up with the whole backstory of his character and the Wise Wizard on the spot, he's not really that entertaining in this. Portman gets to play things totally straight and I really liked what they did with Deschanel's character, at first. I was disappointed they didn't do more with that. I feel the main problem is that the film is lead by a supporting player. I don't feel McBride is leading man material, regardless of the fact he co-wrote the script. It would seem that based on the US box office returns, I'm not the only one who feels that way.

On the plus side, this is a fairly easy one to watch, if you can deal with the at-times-graphic nature of things gory & sexual. It has it's amusing moments but those general do not last and there's plenty of time to think about how stupid it all is.

The Q&A was probably more amusing proportionally speaking, but there wasn't anything overly interesting or important discussed. However, this certainly isn't a film that requires any thoughtful discussion and the audience seemed to struggle to come up with many questions about this film, often times asking about other projects McBride is involved with.

All in all, it was okay but nothing special and will be easily forgotten, with the possible exception of all that Minotaur business.

6/10


Danny McBride @ Your Highness Q&A 10 April, 2011 West End Vue, London 2 by Mister J Photography, on Flickr