David Gordon Green cut his teeth on the independent film circuit with stunning tales of small town life. He won critical acclaim for his first two features, George Washington and All the Real Girls. It was with great surprise that Green stepped into the mainstream with Pineapple Express, a hilarious fusion of stoner comedy and action movie. For his follow-up, Green once again returns to the world of lowbrow stoner humor and combines it with the medieval fantasy. Co-written by Eastbound & Down collaborators Danny McBride and Ben Best, Your Highness is like watching drunken fratboys play Dungeons & Dragons. Imagine The Princess Bride or Willow filled with jokes about naked forest nymphs, Minotaur cocks, and pedophiliac wizards.
McBride is Prince Thadeous, a variation of the usual shiftless jerks he usually plays. Thadeous is an irresponsible jackass living in the shadow of his brave and handsome brother Fabious (James Franco). When Fabious’s virginal bride, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), is kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Leezar (Justin Theroux), Thadeous is forced to embark on a quest to rescue her and maybe finally grow up for a change. They are eventually joined by Isabel (Natalie Portman), a huntress also on a quest for vengeance against Leezar.
The cast also includes: Charles Dance as King Tallious, Rasmus Hardiker as Thadeous’s valet Courtney, Damian Lewis as Fabious’s right-hand knight Boremont, and Toby Jones as Fabious’s smarmy valet Julie.
McBride plays his role with aplomb while Franco sends up his pretty boy image. The real surprise has to be Justin Theroux, who is scene-stealingly funny as the villainous Leezar. Theroux portrays him less as a megalomaniacal necromancer and more of a LARP geek lashing out at the jocks who always gave him wedgies. Theroux also gets some of the movie’s best lines, ”If your vagina is anything like my hand…there’ll be no problem.” Natalie Portman may not have the fire to play a convincing warrior woman, but she looks absolutely phenomenal in a leather thong. Her well-toned buttocks so glorious that censors will forced to digitally cover it up lest unsuspecting audiences be overwhelmed by the pure beauty.
Unfortunately, a great deal of the humor in Your Highness falls flat. The film never takes the opportunity to lambaste the conventions of the fantasy genre. Fabious possesses a mechanical bluebird ala Clash of the Titans, but the joke never goes anywhere. Instead, McBride chooses the easy route by relying on all the requisite dick and fart jokes of an R-rated comedy while characters hurl anachronistic insults like ‘motherfucker.’ I haven’t even begun to get into the homophobic humor that borders on the repugnant. One of the movie’s most bizarre moments comes when the brothers seek advice from a hookah smoking muppet, who looks like he was thrown off the set of The Dark Crystal. Fabious has a bad trip and reveals he may have participated in Michael Jackson-esque slumber parties with the old wizard. The scene goes on way too long and strains the already thin joke. That pretty much sums up the whole picture.
Rating: ** (*****)
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