PR in the Philippines

(SeaPRwire) –   Fifteen years ago, a fantasy epic debuted that went on to dominate pop culture; a powerhouse that redefined the genre and changed fandom forever. Just nine days prior, Your Highness was released.

Unlike Game of Thrones, which launched on HBO a little over a week after Your Highness arrived in theaters on April 8, 2011, this crude stoner comedy failed to make a splash and remains largely forgotten 15 years later. It would be inaccurate to claim Your Highness is a hidden masterpiece deserving of a spot among the fantasy or comedy legends. However, considering what followed, the Danny McBride film is an interesting relic; despite the mix of hilarious and regrettable jokes, it offers a unique blend of genres.

Director David Gordon Green described Your Highness as a “self-indulgent dream project for the 11-year-old in me,” truly putting the “high” in “high fantasy.” Following Green’s 2008 stoner action-comedy Pineapple Express, which also put a stoner twist on a genre, Your Highness features McBride as Thadeous, the lazy, immature second son of the King of Mourne. His older brother, James Franco’s Fabious, is the ideal prince: noble, chivalrous, and brave. When Fabious returns from a quest with a new wife, Princess Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), Thadeous resents their happiness—until an evil wizard named Leezar (a bizarrely intense Justin Theroux) crashes the wedding and kidnaps Belladonna. The brothers must embark on a quest to save her, teaming up with a warrior named Isabel (Natalie Portman). The ensuing adventure features armored slapstick, betrayals, magic swords, CGI, crude humor, and a severed minotaur penis.

Despite the silly and juvenile tone, Your Highness has the look of a genuine fantasy adventure. A $50 million budget is modest for fantasy but substantial for a comedy, doubling the cost of Pineapple Express. The costumes and sets are intricate, the makeup is excellent, practical effects are abundant, and the CGI is decent for a film from that period. It is certainly more polished (and better filmed) than many modern genre movies that go straight to streaming. However, although Green clearly loves the genre, the craftsmanship serves a world that feels unfocused and generic. This is understandable—deep lore would hinder the movie’s main goal: silliness. Perhaps there was a feeling in 2011 that audiences didn’t want another serious fantasy world. The Lord of the Rings was nearly a decade old, and the final Harry Potter was arriving that summer. Other ’00s fantasy films like Narnia, Eragon, and The Golden Compass were successful but lacked the same enthusiasm. If audiences were tired of fantasy, an irreverent parody seemed like the answer.

Game of Thrones proved that audiences weren’t tired of fantasy; they just needed a great, sincere, and serious version. Instead, Your Highness offered passable action—lowered in stakes by the comedy—and jokes. Some jokes land well, like McBride’s banter with his servant Courtney (Rasmus Hardiker) or the raunchy lines that capture the vulgar, childish humor found in The Righteous Gemstones. Justin Theroux is fully committed as the evil wizard Leezar.

The most significant—and potentially deal-breaking—issue with Your Highness is the prevalence of rape humor. The plot is even driven by the threat of rape, as Leezar must violate Belladonna to impregnate her with a dragon. The sheer number of rape jokes shifts quickly from “unfortunately, pop culture was more casual back then” to “genuinely uncomfortable to watch.” The jokes aren’t malicious; they are sex gags in a comedy that play on the dark aspects of medieval stories. One could argue that the film’s crude handling of the topic is better than Game of Thrones‘ frequent use of rape for drama. That doesn’t make Your Highness easier to watch, and it’s hard to be overlooked, even when trying to reappraise it as a cult classic.

The most interesting comparison for Your Highness isn’t Game of Thrones, despite the similar release dates and controversial themes. It is actually the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The best jokes in Your Highness rely on the contrast between the fantasy setting and the film’s R-rating. The vulgarity clashes intentionally with the world of swords and sorcery. The D&D movie, however, is a sincere fantasy world that finds humor organically within its tropes rather than subverting them.

Dungeons & Dragons was released into a pop culture environment more welcoming to fantasy than Your Highness faced, partly because Game of Thrones had revitalized the genre and because it utilized a popular IP, whereas Your Highness was an original story. To use a phrase that sounds like a joke from the movie, Your Highness arrived too early. It is difficult to parody something that isn’t yet established in pop culture, especially when the parody is this lewd. And yet… what fantasy fan doesn’t love a bold, foolish quest? Your Highness gave it a shot—and the minotaur penis gag is, admittedly, pretty funny.

Your Highness is streaming on Starz.