We Was Robbed
I recently watched The Princess Bride (1987) at a friend's house. (We were supposed to watch something else but it wasn't available.)
I remember seeing it in the theatre, and being disappointed. Seeing it again confirmed my memories. In the previous three years Rob Reiner had directed three home runs--This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing and Stand By Me. Three different comedies, each well done in its own way. The reviews for Bride were great, so perhaps my expectations were too high.
Reiner doesn't have the chops for this sort of film. He's fine with contemporary characters, but not, apparently, mock costume romance. The action has to work for the comedy to play off it, but the awkward staging and poor pacing make the film only intermittently entertaining. The low-key performances by most of the cast don't help. (Compare this to a similar film like The Court Jester (1955). I wouldn't exactly call it a classic, but the actors play in a heightened comic manner, which gives the film the proper verve.)
If the IMDb is any indication, the film is still beloved, though I'm not sure why. It's not a disaster--and Reiner's done a lot worse since--but it should have soared, while it only sputters.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:10 AM
1 Comments:
The Court Jester also features the best comic sword fight ever filmed (between Basil Rathbone and Danny Kaye). I say best because it was exciting and realistic, at the same time as it parodied the classic dueling styles of Erol Flynn and the like. They did this, of course, by having Danny Kaye switch back and forth between the greatest swordsman on earth and of course, a court jester (thanks to a hypnotism quirk).
I like Princess Bride a lot (we own the DVD - it's a great film to watch with the family). But you are right that Reiner is not able to maintain the comic feel throughout, especially in the action scenes. The six fingered man stabbing our hero Montoya several times is not funny - it's sort of horrifying (as is the torture of Wesley). In Action Comedies, the comic hero should face harowing danger, but come away with nary a scratch, usually through dumb luck.
A side point - I havn't read it, but my wife tells me the script almost word for word follows the text of William Goldman's book - even Peter Falk's mumbly grandfather segments). But this isn't necessarily a flaw, I guess.
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