Your Highness, starring Danny McBride and James Franco

Here's hoping you still have a few friends who like to partake of the wacky tabacky, because it's probably the only way you're going to get more than a few chuckles out of Your Highness. Think Harold and Kumar with suits of armor and questionable chivalry, and you've got it in a nutshell. From the very moment the film was announced, it's been painfully obvious what the film was going to be. What set it apart as an complete oddity was the cast, which features an Oscar nominee, and Oscar winner, and a director with an indie streak a mile long. What the heck are they doing here, starring in a mindless comedy blip with the guy from Eastbound and Down???

The answer is actually pretty simple: to just have a good time. That doesn't necessarily translate into a good movie, though.  Danny McBride, who is also credited as the writer of the mostly improvised script, stars as Thadeous, the lazy and egotistical prince of a medieval kingdom. James Franco is Fabious, his more knightly brother and apple of the King's eye. Thadeous is scornful of his brother, to the point of not even showing up at his wedding to the beautiful(and simple-minded) Belladonna(Zooey Deschanel). When she's kidnapped soon after by the evil wizard Leezar(Justin Thoreaux), Thadeous must gird up his loins for a dangerous quest to rescue her.

Maybe "dangerous" is too strong a word. They're more likely to be raped by a sexually deviant wizard than killed by any of the realm's many monstrous creatures. But there are plenty of chances for Thadeus to cuss, stop for a quick puff of his bong, and generally act like McBride does in every movie. Not that he's bad, but I've always found him to be best in measured doses. Here he takes center stage and his routine wears old pretty quick.

It's in the rest of the cast that the film finds what little comic strength it can muster. Natalie Portman, fresh off her Black Swan Oscar win, shows that she's not afraid to get a little dirty and nasty as a warrior princess tagging along on the quest. She's remarkably straight-laced and badass here, a total flipside to McBride's buffoonery. I like that she's able to do stuff like this and still maintain her credibility as an A-list superstar actress. She gives the film a touch of class....even when in the face of a Minotaur's penis. That's right, Minotaur penis.

Franco finds himself in much the same boat. Once perceived as little more than a pretty face, he's long since shed that label and has become something of a Hollywood renaissance man. He'll do anything that catches his eye, and re-teaming with his Pineapple Express buddies must've been high on his priority list. You can tell how much fun he's having as he tries to stifle a laugh after some off hand joke by McBride.

Just how much of the script is improvised and what isn't is unclear, but regardless it's pretty terrible. The Foot Fist Way proved that McBride is a capable screenwriter, so maybe a leash on the ad-libbing would've helped. I'm continually amazed by the transformation David Gordon Green has undergone. At one point I considered him one of the true unappreciated talents after great indie films like George Washington, All the Real Girls(also featuring McBride and Deschanel), and Snow Angels, he turned to the comedy dark side with Pineapple Express. He seems totally out of his element here. Other than a cool storybook opening sequence, everything else falls flat. The sight gags are dry, and he seems to have no clue how to shoot action. It was a complaint I had about Pineapple Express and it hasn't gotten any better.

Is Your Highness a terrible movie? No, it's just not a memorable one. Worth a few laughs at the theater with your homies over the weekend, then smoke a little herb and forget the whole darn thing.