Your Highness

McBride plays Thadeous, a lazy stoner medieval prince envious of his valiant brother Fabious (James Franco). They live in some kind of alternative vesion of Earth, with two moons that meet every 100 years; this astrological event gives an evil wizard (James Theroux) the chance to fulfil an ancient prophecy by committing ‘the f**kening`. Yes, you`re reading right; that`s what it`s called.

The chosen victim is Fabious` bride-to-be (Zooey Deschanel), so they embark on a quest to save her, and are eventually joined by a mysterious warrior (Natalie Portman).

There`s very little creative writing involved; instead McBride (also serving as writer alongside Ben Best) believes that coarse language is, in itself, comedy, so he drops all kinds of profanity hoping it will be enough to make people laugh. McBride spends the almost 120 minutes of this overlong film trying to sell himself as an A-list comedy star that the audience is supposed to find endearing in a juvenile man-child kind of way, and to whom women are apparently irresistibly attracted. That`s how we know this movie is a fantasy!

The ones that do shine in this movie are the clearly versatile Franco, and Theroux as the sexually incompetent villain. There`s not much to say about Deschanel, whose brief participation is infused with her usual ‘I`m so pretty and quirky` style that has made her semi-famous.

The only one seems to be completely out of her element is Natalie Portman. That`s not to say that she shouldn`t do light comedy after her recent Oscar win, but in this particular project it feels as if she had just arrived on set for what feels like an extended cameo, and immediately thought to herself, “What the &*^% am I doing here!?” She`s in the movie, but in many ways, she is not in it.

Being a fantasy comedy, the extensive use of CGI and its unexpectedly large budget seem to be an excess; fart and sex jokes have never been surrounded by such expensive props and don`t require such a big production.

Summary: If you ever wondered what a Minotaur`s erect penis would look like, think that paedophilia and rape can be hilarious when set in medieval times, and believe that adding the F word to every second line is the key to great comedy, Your Highness is the movie for you.

 Miguel Gonzalez