a fun fairytale satire, as much as it is a successful fable for pure genre fans

Rating: 8/10 (1 July 2007)

Rob Reiner was on a streak in the mid 80s, and though it could be argued he his his peak at the start with Spinal Tap, this and Stand by Me can be considered two other important works in his decidedly since mixed career as a director. Princess Bride is as self-conscious as comedies get, but it's also a lot of fun for the whole family, and it's not just a typical aside to say so. On the contrary, as an adult now I find it funnier seeing it for the first time then I might have if I had seen it as a kid. This isn't to say that it doesn't have some special quality about it, that it's almost like a sprightly live-action cartoon. But there's a generous wink and nod behind most of the good jokes in the film, like how dialog between many of the characters point out some of the loops medieval fantasies take, in small things like climbing up a rocky cliff or in drinking a poisoned drink or going through a nasty swamp or in the convoluted mechanics of a "Machine", or even how to revive one from the dead with a, uh, whatever it is that's given to Cary Elwes.
It's the tale as simple as can be: girl and boy fall in love, girl loses boy, girl gets engaged to bad man, girl gets kidnapped by dastardly (and inept) figures, girl gets re-captured by a man in a mask that turns out to be the boy again, boy loses girl again, boy comes back from dead, boy and girl go back together again. OK, a bit complicated, but the fun in William Goldman's script is seeing how the questioning of the archetypes goes hand-in-hand with telling a conventionally satisfying story. There's not a whole lot of dimension to most of them- certainly not to the bride- but that's part of the excitement is to see how the characters meet their fates (particularly Patikin's character, who will stop at nothing to kill the six-fingered man who killed his father, as he says about ten times while in the big climactic sword-fight). And why should there be, as the story itself is being read to a precocious child (Fred Savage) by a mustached Peter Falk.
Actually, the script probably isn't even the best part, and neither is Reiner's often wonderful direction (though it helps, minus the score by Knopfler which is way too cheesy even for the material here). What makes this so watchable a comedy are the actors, who are all at the top of their games. Wallace Shawn (inconceivable!), Andre the Giant, Billy Crystal (65? can't do it for that), Patinkin, Christopher Guest in his most deadpan character yet, and Elwes and Robin Wright Penn in such straight roles, are equally enthralling and hilarious in how they dance around such good material, giving it the proper edge when needed and light touches of pure irony as well. Being more aware of what some of these character actors and stars have done now it makes for it to be hilarious, but what makes it work for kids too is that the actors never stray from being true to the goofy levels to their roles. This isn't quite Monty Python being dealt with here, but more family-friendly satire, and it's a success through and through.