I Don't Get What's So Great About It, but Whatever Floats Your Boat...

Rating: 4/10 (27 December 2011)

I've heard a lot about this movie, especially praise for it's mix of comedy, romance, and action. Well, they certainly did have all 3, but none of them came off very effectively to me. Most of the jokes didn't work with me, evident by my family laughing as I sat in silence trying to deduce what was so comical about a given line. The action was not too exciting to me, although the coordination on the sword fighting was pretty good. The romance was...arguably absent, to put it gently. I didn't feel any real connection between Westley and Buttercup since they fell in love as soon as we are introduced to them. No build up, no suspense, no nothing. I also found the idea of them being in love totally unbelievable. He did odd jobs around the home and she fell in love with him? Pretty low standards there, Buttercup.
Aside from these ineffective aspects, the story also had me emotionally slamming my head against a proverbial wall. I always thought Twilight was the worst offender in the category of having a female lead who is totally bland and male dependent, which hence causes a completely agitating love story to ensue, but Buttercup and her relationship with Westly might just take the cake....OK that's going too far. However, it's still pretty bad, and the story suffers horribly because of it. Most of the movie came off as a way to please adolescent girls who dream of their own prince charming saving them from everything and tending to their every whim and issue. Aside from Buttercup, the characters range from forgettable, to decent, to pretty good. The only character I came to actually like was Inigo, but that isn't saying much given his competition.
Overall, I really don't get why this movie is rated so highly, but if people enjoy it, good for them. I'll be avoiding it from now on, however.