There is no way to be nice about it Your Highness is an absolute stinker. Let’s just say that it should be guaranteed of a tonne of Golden Razzie nominations and will more than likely take a few home on the night. The film really has nothing going for it, the script is awful and drags down the actors with it, the jokes are unfunny… so it was no real surprise to see half of the audience walk out of the screening that we went to.
The film attempts to tell the story of Prince Thadeous (Danny McBride – Fight For Your Right Revisited, TV’S Eastbound & Down), a Prince who lives in the shadow of his successful brother, Prince Fabious (James Franco – The Green Hornet, 127 Hours). However Thadeous is forced to give up his lazy ways and go on a ‘quest’ when the Kingdom comes under attack by the evil, Leezar (Justin Teroux – Documental, Megmind) who kidnaps Fabious’s bride-to-be, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel – My Idiot Brother, Havin’A Summah) as part of his plan.
Danny McBride and Ben Best’s (The Foot Fist Way, TV’S Eastbound & Down) script is a real stinker. The storyline in itself works well, but it is dragged down by McBride and Best’s constant need to try and put unfunny sex jokes into the script. You can tell that they are trying to create the next Pineapple Express or Superbad but fail miserably… perhaps it may be time to check out a class in Comedy 101. The real shame in the script is that some parts do work really well. The characters are interesting, and for the most part the film is well shot… yet the audience can’t help but groan throughout the film.
The people really let down by the script are the actors, most of them can’t be faulted. Danny McBride does an okay job stepping up into the leading-man role, and portrays the bumbling hero pretty well. As you would except James Franco and Natalie Portman (Thor, No Strings Attached) do fine jobs in their roles but you do have to wonder why actors of their calibre (and add Deschanel to that list) are slumming it in a film this awful. Did anyone actually read the script before they signed the dotted line?
Your Highness is clearly one of the worst films of the year, and sadly it could have been so much better. Unfunny and crass – this is the kind of film that you need to avoid like the plague!
