Your Highness -2011

"Your Highness" - 2011
Dir. by David Gordon Green - 1 hr. 42 min.

I don't want to overstate things, but I really enjoyed this movie.  It's a filthy, raunchy run through a medieval quest.  I can't understate that enough, I think part of the reason that critics in general squatted atop this movie is the fact that they couldn't reasonably discuss it through traditional media outlets.  When one of the main points of the movie is that James Franco and Danny McBride's characters (Thadeous and Fabious, respectively) are on a mission to stop something called "the Fuckening," how are you going to write about that in a "family newspaper?"  But there's the litmus test; if you're the sort of person who wants to see a movie where something called "the Fuckening" is a plot point (and you know who you are), you're likely not going to seek out feedback on "Your Highness" from a newspaper or TV review (where the reviewers are going to spend as much time rolling their eyes, either verbally or literally, as they will actually discussing it, in a lame attempt to cover up the fact that nobody gives a fuckening about their opinion).

Here's something that I appreciate:  James Franco and Natalie Portman will do a film like this.  It's so gleefully, insistently profane that there's literally no chance of kudos for it, there's not even a chance that it'll live on in cable TV re-runs (like "Orgazmo," there's a visual joke that runs through the last third or so of the film that simply can't be edited out, unlike language).  From where I'm sitting, it's just down and dirty funny.  For a lot of people, though, it may go to far.  Frequently.  But that's part of the appeal, knowing that while you're laughing at something, there's someone somewhere freaking out because the joke went there.

There's a number of comparisons that will help you out here.  Did you like Danny McBride in "Eastbound & Down?"  You'll enjoy this.  Did you like "Pineapple Express?"  You'll enjoy this.  Do you giggle a little bit at the idea of "the Fuckening?"  You'll enjoy it even more when a wizard with a faux-British accent says it.  If none of that rings a bell, you might want to enjoy something else.

3.5 / 5 - Theatre