Your Highness Review: Medieval Pineapple Express

There aren’t three words that describe Your Highness better than ‘Medieval Pineapple Express.’ You can tell from the trailer exactly what you’re getting into…. you know that you’re not going to be seeing a “great” movie. You’re going to be seeing something that is incredibly crude and occasionally funny.

With that being said, most of the truly funny moments in the film you’ve already seen in online clips or in the trailer. In fact, there’s a certain scene with a certain Natalie Portman in it, that is in the trailer, that was not in the screening I saw this last week. I’m not sure why they pulled it and then left other scenes in… For example, did we really need to see that creepy wizard who molested James Franco? Was that really that important to the plot? Really?

So the lowdown on the film is that Fabious (Franco) is the more appreciated brother. Thadeous (McBride) is a little resentful always sitting in his shadow, but remains a caring and loving brother (dripping with sarcasm though he is). When Fabious returns from a quest with his bride-to-be Belladona (Zoey Deschanel) in tow, all seems perfect… until a wizard named Leezar (Justin Theroux) shows up and takes her prisoner. Thadeous joins Fabious on a quest to rescue Belladonna, and they’re soon joined by Isabel (Natalie Portman), who thankfully has a bit more skill than both of them put together.

I really want to know how Natalie Portman got involved in this project. It had to have been a favor… You don’t go from her normal caliber of films to this. That being said, one person who did shine in this in my opinion was Danny McBride. His sometimes witty lines met with comical sarcasm made him a delight to watch. And James Franco may have done plenty of films like this before *coughs* Pineapple Express *coughs*, but we know he can do better projects, he proved it last year with 127 Hours.

The film was a collaboration between McBride and Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green. There’s no questioning that there is an amazing pool of talent there, but the results is just not worthy of their past accomplishments. Come on guys, we know you can do better.

The key with Your Highness is to go in with really low expectations, do that and you’ll get a couple really good laughs. If you enjoy crude humor, you’ll probably even get a few more laughs. But if you want to see a truly witty medieval piece, check out Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder or even the more classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail – both far outshine Your Highness which is just another typical stoner film.

Grade: C-
Official Website: http://www.yourhighnessmovie.net/

Review By: Emma Loggins