People complain that writers don’t get enough respect in Hollywood. But after watching “Your Highness,” I’m tempted to say it’s directors who don’t get enough credit. Actor-writers Danny McBride and Ben Best created one of the most darkly funny scripts of recent years with 2006’s “The Foot Fist Way.” The low-budget comedy about an obnoxious tae kwon do instructor, played by McBride, took “Office”-style uncomfortable laughs to a new level. McBride and Best have teamed up again, with McBride playing another man who’s self-involved but not self-aware. This time, though, the laughs are fewer and far between. Is it that Jody Hill has been replaced in the director’s chair by David Gordon Green? Or was it the big budget that did Best and McBride in?
| Onscreen |
| ‘Your Highness’ |
| HHHHH |
| » Stars: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman |
| » Director: David Gordon Green |
| » Rated: R for strong crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity, violence and some drug use |
| » Running time: 102 minutes |
Perhaps it’s both — as well as the fact that this latest film was mostly improvised. Some directors — Mike Leigh is a prime example — can make masterpieces this way. But most good ones realize chaos needs to be controlled, even in the most creative undertaking.
McBride is Thadeous, a medieval king’s second son and prodigal son. Always in the shadow of his braver, better-looking brother Fabious (James Franco), Thadeous doesn’t see the point of doing anything but drinking mead and chasing maidens. When the heir’s virginal fiancee Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) is kidnapped on their wedding day by the warlock Leezar (Justin Theroux), Thadeous is forced to go on his first quest. He must help Fabious get her back before Leezar impregnates her with a dragon baby. Along the way, they meet a woman with a quest of her own. But can the charms of the stunning Isabel (Natalie Portman) persuade Thadeous that it’s time to become a man?
“Your Highness” isn’t a total dud. There are some clever one-liners here, mostly from McBride. Repeated jokes about genitals do not a movie make. Franco can’t hold an English accent for more than a few words, and the swordfighting isn’t interesting enough to distract us. Portman, who just won an Oscar, might be slumming it here, but she’s one of the movie’s few saving graces. Must Deschanel, who moonlights as a musician, sing in every movie she’s in?
