Your Highness... Worth seeing?

[mattcolville]

This film is getting bad reviews. However, given the genre, I didn't expect it to play well with mainstream audiences or critics. So, I have come here to get the nerd's perspective.

Has anyone seen it, and if so is it at least worth a matinee?

It's getting bad reviews, even from people who really liked Pineapple Express, which says something.

I saw it alone, sans game group, but in a theater. No one laughed. I laughed once, when James Franco aces a dude and then shouts "FACE!" at him, which means not only are these actors playing characters from a D&D game, it's specifically a D&D game from the 1980s.

I'm certain if I saw it with my friends I would have enjoyed it more. Probably would have stayed for the end if I saw it with my friends. As it was, about an hour into it, I got the tangible feeling like this movie didn't need me, and I left.

So far, I note one thing in common from those people I know who saw it and liked it and that was; they are all 100% sincere when they say they wanted a movie of their D&D game. They're not saying, I wish someone would take our 1980s gaming sessions and make a really funny movie out of it, they're saying, I wish someone would just take all that stuff we say and put it on screen.

So, if you literally want that, this is your movie. If, on the other hand, you sorta feel like maybe all the jokes about masturbation and homosexuality at your table aren't really like... Hollywood movie-caliber of humor, like seeing all that stuff on screen would actually be pretty embarrassing, then this is not your movie.

A friend from a very different gaming tradition than mine once ran a game for us at work and when we came upon the Ogre boss, my friend graphically described the process of the Ogre being fellated by one of the human slaves.

He thought this was HYSTERICAL. Keep in mind, this is a grown man in his 30s with a wife and kids. I found it, you know not in poor taste per se, but certainly not actually funny. That's not the kind of humor at my gaming table. We laugh more at funny accents and wordplay and miming amusingly what we imagine people are doing.

But this dude, I still know him, we're FB friends, he LOVED Your Highness. So I say, A: don't see it alone, B: see it with your gaming group, and C: definitely see it if your table's sense of humor mostly revolves around masturbation and gay jokes.

 

[mattcolville]

Haven't seen it, but I was reading tweets last night from people like Greg Bilsland who said it was basically like watching a game of D&D, if all of the crude jokes and off-color humor were said by your characters instead of by you.

I think this is exactly true. When you see a really funny movie like...Tropic Thunder, do you think "Well, I guess it was funny. But not as funny as the stuff we say at Game Night" and mean it? Then this is the movie for you.

If, on the other hand, you think "I am not a writer and certainly not a comedy writer and while I love my friends and we all make each other laugh, that's not because we're, like, professionally funny" then I think you should stay away from this movie.

I think the main problem with the film was Danny McBride's influence over it. This is a Star Vehicle for him, he wrote it and produced it and picked the director and it shows. He's not bad, but it's *extremely* indulgent.

It's also...they smoke a lot of dope in this movie, but it's not really a Stoner Comedy. Stoner Comedies have fundamentally likable characters at their center. That's why they work. Because we like the guys and we root for them. They're almost always underdogs.

Here, Danny McBride is playing an *incredibly* unlikable character. Deliberately so. I think he thinks that the more unlikable he is, the more of an underdog he is, but in this I think he is mistaken.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I am going to say, you would almost think this was a Uwe Boll movie. I was very disappointed.

 

[GameDoc]

I am going to say, you would almost think this was a Uwe Boll movie. I was very disappointed.

Ouch! Wherever Danny McBride was when you wrote that, he must have felt a phantom blow to the groin. Not that the comparison seems unwarranted. I guess it just shows how bad the film is.

 

[The Human Target]

I like the people in this movie.

I liked Pineapple Express a lot (and I don't even smoke pot.)

This was super disappointing.

The funniest gags are almost all in the red band trailer.

Everything else is just kinda okay.

 

[nedjer]

The funniest gags are almost all in the red band trailer.

.

Where they meet the minotaur?

 

[jaredy]

Really? I thought this movie was great. Its raunchy and crude, but I would liken it to Happy Gilmore or the first Scary Movie. I think a lot of people that have posted went in with different expectations. The main bad guy names his dark ritual "the thingIcan'tsaybecausewe'refamily-friendlyhere"? Priceless. Natalie Portman is great, Steve was great (his acting ability is at least on par with Natalie Portman, I swear!)

I went with friends. This is a highly qoutable movie, though, so prepared to be vaguely annoyed by your friends. Wow, I still can't believe all the hate. Also, Pineapple Express was not nearly as funny as everyone is saying. A good movie, but no as funny as Team America.

 

[WingOver]

I guess we're weird. The wife and I laughed our butts off. (I was surprised she liked it given the low brow humor.) The deadpan delivery of the jokes was hilarious. We're still quoting lines to each other and laughing at the movie. Of course the beer could've made it funnier but we still enjoyed it.

 

[jaredy]

I guess we're weird. The wife and I laughed our butts off. (I was surprised she liked it given the low brow humor.) The deadpan delivery of the jokes was hilarious. We're still quoting lines to each other and laughing at the movie. Of course the beer could've made it funnier but we still enjoyed it.

"Why can't you just be gay with me and Father?"
"I don't want to be gay with you two! I just want to play with my sword by myself!"