Your Highness

If you’re a fan of Beavis and Butthead and the Jackass movies, then chances are you might be able to appreciate the wealth of weirdness and crude humor that is Your Highness. But for me… well… I just don’t get it.

The film is touted as an epic comedy adventure set in a fantastical world. But sadly, it aint no Princess Bride. Rather, it is really stupid farce purposely overplayed by that dynamic duo of cinematic risk-takers, James Franco and Natalie Portman, and by Danny McBride, who also wrote the screenplay. They are obviously having fun poking fun at the medieval adventure genre – and there are some funny moments- but overall, it’s just plain odd. So enter at your own risk!

McBride plays Thadeous, a weed-smoking wimp of a prince who is begrudgingly content to live life in the shadow of his much-adored, better-looking, adventure-seeking older brother, Fabious (Franco). But when Fabious’ bride-to-be, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), gets kidnapped by an evil wizard (Justin Theroux), the King orders Thadeous to help his brother get her back.

Their attempts at a daring rescue involve a lot of sword fighting, sexual innuendo, gross encounters of The Brothers Grimm kind, and a chance meeting with a mysterious warrior (Portman) who has her own agenda where the wizard is concerned. The twisted trio (along with a trusted servant boy) must find a way to work together to vanquish the bad guy before he can carry out his diabolical plan to use Fabious’ fiancee’ to sire a dragon that will rule the world. Or something like that.

Ultimately, it falls to the slacker Thadeous to find his inner hero, or at least fake it well enough to save his brother, the kingdom, the damsels, etc. so they can all live happily ever after in their perverted little (R-rated) world. The end.