Your Highness
David Gordon Green and Danny McBride attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts together, where they would get high, come up with funny titles to would-be movies, then write treatments for such movies based on the title. Such is the genesis story of Your Highness - the tale of a stoner prince who reluctantly goes on a typical medieval adventure. It’s a fun, silly, rather clever film that indulges in its fantasy world more than it mocks it.
Despite starting his film career as an auteur prone to subtle, poetic dramas (George Washington, All The Real Girls), Green now seems committed to frat-boy comedy, a la his previous effort, Pineapple Express. And he has a knack for it. Armed with a decent budget and encouragement from the big-money studio (Universal actually pushed for some of the most extreme content), Green has made what can most accurately be called a passion project with his friends. Danny McBride is very funny, but is outshined - if barely - by James Franco, who simply owns his lead role as older-brother/kingdom-hero. Their dynamic is very strong, as it’s clear both actors are having a blast making this movie.
The plot of Your Highness is unimportant. It feels like every single fantasy-adventure film ever, which is the point. Knowledge of such films isn’t required though - this isn’t a spoof in the typical sense. Rather, the ridiculousness of, say, Lord of the Rings, is played for laughs instead of straight. Green (in a Q&A at the BAM theater in Brooklyn) called it Barry Lyndon meets Krull. It’s very funny, and very well done. The only problem I have with it is that it’s perhaps too indulgent for its own good. Instead of remaining tongue-in-cheek, it gives in completely to its silly premise as the heros commit to their journey, and becomes a slogging quest picture complete with all clichés it aspires to jab. The jokes continue to come, but they serve a traditional film structure rather than upend it. The filmmakers care more for sincerity than absurdity: it’s more Machete than Holy Grail.
Sure, it’s amusing to throw in a Labrynth thing, but that adds 20 minutes of screen time. As does an all-out gladitorial showdown. And Franco’s pet companion, while totally hilarious conceptually, suffers from overexposure. The film could be sparer, more economical and equally riotous. But Universal, who missed the boat with Pineapple Express, wants to go for broke as much as Green does, so here were are: a napkin-scribbled idea, blown way up into a ten-years-in-the-making epic of a film, complete with every joke these guys can tell. It suffers a bit from stilted pacing; could have used just a bit of editing.
That being said, the movie is stuffed with fun, even for someone who isn’t a fan of the fantasy genre. It has a style of humor akin to the brilliant “Eastbound & Down”, as its writers are the same McBride and fellow art school bud Ben Best. They know how to infuse their comedy with a sort of existential pathos. And their cast is amazing. Zooey Deschenel is given little to do as the fair maden, but is totally charming and cute as always. As the outlandish villain wizard, Justin Theroux has some great moments, which won’t surprise anyone who has seen him in comedic roles before. And then there’s Natalie Portman, who continues to make interesting career choices.
I’m not going to hide it: I have a huge crush on Natalie, and have for a long time. It’s a bit weird to see her take on all of these campy roles following her triumph in Black Swan, but I’ll take it. She looks great, especially doing a gratuitous bathing scene (featured in the trailer, with a digitally-added bikini to censor the less modest g-string version of the film). I wonder how that came to be… Is she looking to show off her body to this degree? Her featured sexuality made sense in Black Swan, where it furthered the narrative, and felt artistically done… less ostentatious. Maybe I’m just being silly, but this scene seems like the sort of thing a less accomplished actress would resort to - here it feels, like everything else about the film, purely indulgent. But why am I complaining about a practically nude Natalie Portman?!
