Your Highness (Movie Review)

I'm going to keep this review fairly brief because frankly, I really don't want to spend any more time thinking about "Your Highness" than I have to.

What could have been a comedic love letter to fantasy movies of the 80's turned out to be a picture of the genre with poop smeared all over it.

"Your Higness" stars Danny McBride as the disgruntled, jealous brother of beloved and heroic first-born prince Fabious (James Franco). The solid cast, which also includes Zooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman, can't save this movie from continual, out of context, heavy handed and childishly crude sexual humor. The script reads like a strange blend of ancient high fantasy and modern 8th grade locker room. I'm not one for crude sexual humor to begin with, but it seems to me they could have gotten more laughs if their jokes had been more subtle, accomplished through innuendo while staying in a more consistent high fantasy tone. As it is, the jokes invade the movie over and over again like Chris Farley in a china shop. Hmm. Bad comparison. Chris Farley in a china shop would actually be funny.

McBride, who wrote the script, said jokingly in an interview recently that the humor of film might be enhanced by the use of drugs. I would imagine he's right and that a drug induced haze may be the only way to make these jokes seem the least bit clever.

There are two scenes that showcase some cool, slightly nostalgic looking spell-casting visual effects. These were a lot of fun to watch. And the creepy witch "mothers" in service to the evil wizard add some unsettling weirdness that I welcomed. But the heavy handed gags and a few minutes of brief "on and off" nudity that served no purpose except to objectify actresses ended up being just too much.

As you can imagine, I think you'd have to work insanely hard to have anything worthwhile to talk about after this movie. I'm really wishing I'd never seen it. But if I can steer anyone else from it, I guess that's something.

Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity, violence and some drug use.

Quality- 4.0/10

Relevance- 3.0/10