Rating: R and Unrated
Starring:
Danny McBride as Thadeous
James Franco as Fabious
Rasmus Hardiker as Courtney
Natalie Portman as Isabel
Toby Jones as Julie
Justin Theroux as Leezar
Zooey Deschanel as Belladonna
Charles Dance as King Tallious
Damian Lewis as Boremont
Simon Farnaby as Manious the Bold
Deobia Oparei as Thundarian
Directed by David Gordon Green
Special Features:
15 Minutes of Extended Scenes
Line-O-Rama
Perverted Visions
A Vision of Leezar
Alternate and Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
Damn You Gods: The Making of Your Highness
Feature Commentary with Video Intro
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.40:1)
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Sound
French and Spanish Languages
French and Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 1 Hour 43 Minutes Rated), 1 Hour 46 Minutes (Unrated)
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“Get high and mighty with Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman in ‘Your Highness’ the epic and hilarious action-comedy from the director of Pineapple Express. Two royal princesslacker Thadeous (McBride) and the noble Fabious (Franco)join with an elusive warrior (Portman) on a quest to free a princess from an evil wizard. Along the way they’ll have to vanquish horrific creatures and traitorous knights in this raunchy trip loaded with footage too outrageous for theaters.”
“Your Highness” is rated R for strong crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity, violence and some drug use.
Mini-Review:
I certainly get what Danny McBride and David Gordon Green were trying to do with “Your Highness.” They were making a raunchy comedy based on all of the fantasy films the children of the ’80s used to watch on cable TV. From “Conan the Barbarian” to “Beastmaster” to “Krull,” they were doing a parody of all those films that featured swords, sorcery, and sex. But they were also making fun of “Clash of the Titans,” “Prince Valiant” and every film based on Arthurian legend. It was a big task to try and accomplish and as far as I can remember, there haven’t been many films in the fantasy-parody-sex comedy genre. So I have to give them credit for trying something different.
That being said, “Your Highness” is really a one note film. It’s simply one sex joke after another. While it’s funny taken in small doses, it tends to get old very quickly. There are only so many gay jokes, sodomy jokes, bestiality jokes, molestation jokes, and incest jokes you can endure before you have to say, “What else ya got?” This movie has little to offer beyond that.
Your enjoyment of “Your Highness” will not only depend on how much you like sex jokes, but how much you like Danny McBride. He’s pretty much the same character he is in every movie, just this time with a British/Southern accent and chain mail. If you didn’t like him before, you’re not going to like him any better here, but he and Green have the good sense to surround him with a good supporting cast. I have to give Natalie Portman credit for making a bold choice to join this comedy. It at least shows she’s not content to be typecast in dramatic roles. And while James Franco has been doing comedies for a long time, he still brings a lot of energy playing the straight man to McBride’s Thadeous. Also noteworthy are Justin Theroux as Leezar and Zooey Deschanel as Belladonna.
I’d really only recommend “Your Highness” to big fans of Danny McBride and anyone keen on seeing a fantasy comedy. Everyone else should pass on this.
The Blu-ray for “Your Highness” has a lot of bonus features. There are a lot of deleted and extended scenes including one that features another R-rated musical number between Franco and Deschanel. A ‘making-of’ featurette includes interviews with the cast and crew as well as discussion about the minotaur costume, shooting in Ireland, and McBride and Green’s longtime friendship. Rounding out the bonus features are some amusing gag reels and lots of footage of improvised yet unused dialogue.
