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David Gordon Green, the comedic genius behind 2008’s “Pineapple Express,” is back and directing another comedy of larger-than-life proportions. “Your Highness” is the biggest budget comedy of all time costing approximately $100 million dollars to make.
The money was put to good use financing a Hollywood A-list cast including Danny McBride (“Pineapple Express”), Academy Award Nominee James Franco (“127 Hours”), Academy Award-winner Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”) and Zooey Deschanel (“500 Days of Summer”).
Despite the big named cast, the film was a disappointment at the box office this past weekend, finishing at No. 6 with about $9.5 million for the weekend.
Although a flop at the box office, the actors and actresses succeed in bringing their vastly different comedic talents to the screen and are backed by a ridiculous adlib driven screenplay, beautiful scenery and a satire of believable special effects.
The movie is outrageous, and this outrage begins from the opening scene and never ceases.
The movie’s plot centers around conceited, insolent Prince Thadeous (McBride), who reluctantly decides to aid his pristine brother, Prince Fabious (Franco), on his quest to save his newfound virgin wife Bellandonna (Deschanel). She has fallen into the vile clutches of the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux, “American Psycho”).
Leezar’s scheme is to fulfill the ancient prophecy of unifying his body with a virgin’s during the alignment of the two moons resulting in the creation of ultimate power in the form of a dragon.
Along the way Fabious and Thadeous are double crossed, however, they are not totally alone. They still have Thadeous’s loyal servant, Courtney (Rasmus Hardiker), but without the help of a mysterious maiden named, Isabel (Portman), all would be lost.
Everything about the film was created on as large a scale as possible completely exploiting the comedy, special effects and most importantly the star power of the cast. Not many casts can stand up against the stars of this film making them more than just royalty on the screen. They prove it by giving this narrowly scoped comedy a fighting chance with outrageous humor and subtle charm. McBride sticks to his crude shameful humor, while Franco and Portman bring a crass, classy feel to this sleeseball comedy.
Director Green did not hold anything back with his medieval comedy successfully pleasing the audience he was targeting once again. In a way, it is his interpretation of a raunchy remake of “The Princess Bride” in what becomes a very epic experience.
