From my article in The Breeze..
http://www.breezejmu.org/life/article_d44bda42-63d2-11e0-a951-001a4bcf6878.html
With the star-studded cast that is packed into Your Highness, one would expect some sort of worthwhile entertainment.
Instead, what results is a culmination of half-assed stoner jokes and tired clichés.
Funnyman Danny McBride, known for hilarious role in the HBO series, "Eastbound and Down," returns to the big screen but falls very short.
Set in a fantasy world where knights, princes and evil dragons reign supreme; "Your Highness" tells the story of two prince brothers, Thadeous (McBride) and Fabious (James Franco), on an epic mission to save Fabious' fiancée (Zooey Deschanel) from the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux).
On the trip, they face perils and befriend a beautiful warrior (Natalie Portman), who is also on a quest to seek revenge against Leezar.
Directed by David Gordon Green "Your Highness" lacks compared with the director's work on "Pineapple Express." It has a story that a teenager could have easily written. While I appreciate comedies that make fun of stupidity, such as the very similar but successfully done, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I can't respect a movie that falls back on jokes that require zero brain activity.
The dialogue lacks any original jokes, which leads to the actors throwing the F-bomb at the end of a sentence just to get a courtesy chuckle out of anyone actually still paying attention.
Instead of utilizing a distinctive and talented cast, including Oscar-nominated Franco, "Your Highness" takes no risks and seems fine with being a muddled let-down. Surprisingly, I expected Franco to be in a movie like this, his casting worked wonderfully in "Pineapple Express." But I wonder what he was thinking when he read the script.
In fact, I wonder what all the actors were thinking when they read the script. Maybe Franco felt obliged to work with McBride and Green again after "Express," but I can't fathom why the lustrous Natalie Portman or the extremely underrated Theroux would take part.
One thing everyone can take away from the movie is a glaring example of precisely what not to do in a movie. With the R-rating, "Your Highness" could have taken a much more adult-oriented route with the jokes, but instead decided to revert to high-school locker room jokes.
D-
