High fantasy and bionic ganja reads like the ideal twosome, but Danny McBride's medieval weed comedy suffers from the chief symptom of everything that's ever been dreamed up while extremely stoned: Sure it's laugh-inducing, but it's not nearly as uproarious as it seemed when you were baked out of your damn gourd. That's not to say that McBride's surly, retort-based brand of humor is ineffectual — it actually pops off the screen in vulgar, uproarious globs here, thanks in part to James Franco's equally aloof burnout-isms — but Your Highness lacks the metronomic silliness that solidified Pineapple Express as a true magnum dope-us. Thaedeous (McBride), a bratty, self-centered pipe-puffing prince, reluctantly embarks on a quest with his gallant brother Fabious (Franco) to rescue the virgin Belladona (Zooey Deschanel, rightfully underused) from the clutches of evil wizard Leezar (an insane Justin Theroux). An assist from tomboy warrior Isabel (Natalie Portman) complicates the situation, as only a 10 in skin-tight leather vestments can. Cue the McBride Hit Parade: angry little people, child molestation cracks, topless mud-smeared tribeswomen, minotaur rape. It's fine and fleetingly funny. Perhaps the weirdest casting job of them all, though, is Damian Lewis — whom we'll always picture as Bands of Brothers' unforgettable Major Winters — playing a sniffly, debatably heterosexual knight with only one hand.
Your Highness
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Your Highness
City Paper Grade: B-
- Most Viewed
- Commented
- Emailed




