Your Highness

David Gordon Green, director of the hilarious Pineapple Express, delivers this medieval comedy dud destined to be one of the year’s greater disappointments. Danny McBride, who wrote the abysmal screenplay, stars as the naughty son of a king (Charles Dance) who lives in the shadow of his heroic older brother (James Franco). When the older brother’s bride-to-be is kidnapped by an evil wizard (Justin Theroux), the two must go on a quest to rescue her. The film wants to evoke Monty Python, but instead reminds me of the very worst of Mel Brooks. Only Theroux manages to get consistent laughs, although Franco does well as the straight man. While some jokes get a few giggles, many of them fall flat or feel ripped off. (You know you’re in trouble when you’re ripping off a joke from Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.) Natalie Portman shows up but is given little to do. It’s a dud—a dud that breaks my heart.