It really is a shame that more mainstream audiences don’t appreciate the talent of Danny McBride, who is responsible for some of my favorite comedic characters, such as the stunt engineer/looter Rico from Hot Rod; the pyromaniac Cody from Tropic Thunder; and the seemingly immortal drug dealer Red from Pineapple Express. After hearing that he was going to be taking the lead as the bumbling warrior Thadeous, I was completely sold on Your Highness, and the fact that he would be joined by both Natalie Portman and James Franco only sweetened the deal. Given the recent critical accolades received by Portman and Franco for Black Swan and 127 Hours respectively, their inclusion in this fantasy comedy was a little strange, but trailers played to this disconnect and still promised some serious laughs. Director David Gordon Green had previously paired McBride and Franco together with surprisingly successful results in 2008’s Pineapple Express, blending legitimate action with gratuitous stoner humor…who’s to say he couldn’t do the same using medieval mythology? It was obvious early on that Your Highness wasn’t going to deliver breathtaking storytelling or award-winning acting, but I was fairly certain that I would still walk away quoting the film for months.
Well, as expected, the story behind Your Highness was absolutely terrible, abandoning any form of narrative flow or basic logic in favor of simplistic references to medieval culture, many of which were embarrassingly bad. But for as weak as this usually necessary component of filmmaking really was, it was hard to care when faced with the unbelievably hysterical quotes and scenarios that were presented to the audience. Danny McBride and James Franco demonstrate considerable comedic talent and timing playing off each other with a strong amount of obvious ad-libbing, but the real surprises came from the female cast members. Zooey Deschanel was pleasantly funny, if slightly underused, but Natalie Portman stole the screen with a combination of sex appeal, kick-ass attitude, and an unexpectedly edgy sense of humor. The raunchy jokes and weak story of Your Highness limits the film’s appeal to male audiences between the ages of 18 and 35, but in being part of that demographic, I have no problem in saying that I enjoyed this newest comedy.
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Overall Recommendation: Medium
