A Film everyone should see

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2000)

I have yet to meet a person who watched this move and didn't find it evnjoyable. It's a simple, yet innovative idea: they made a classic, archetypical Dark Ages hero/romance flick, but set it right on the edge between satire and earnestness. The whole story is, supposedly, a book a grandfather (Peter Falk) reads to his sick grandkid (Fred Savage). It should tell you all you need to know about this film when, the first time the two estranged lovers find each other and embrace, you all of the sudden hear, "Wait, I don't wanna hear about kissing."
The principle actors here are all very good. Cary Elwes is fine as our dashing hero. Mandy Patinkin is his foil/friend, with his own subplot. Robin Wright is fine as the damsel in love and distress, and Chris Sarandon makes a good evil, scheming villain, and he's a highly underrated character actor (see "Dog Day Afternoon" if you don't believe me).
The real beauty of this film, however, is the performances turned in by such actors as Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Carol, Kane, and that noted thespian, Andre the Giant. Shawn, for instance, is the con man with a list who is the early (not final) villain. His character is short, has a lisp, and uses the same word (he prounounces it "inconthievable") to address every situation (which leads to the best quote of the film, Patinkin's response "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.") It's this kind of dialogue that seems out of place in such an action/romance film. "The African Queen" or something or the like, while being fine movies, would never have a character like Billy Crystal's "Miracle Max", who plays a sort of caricature of a Jewish parent (to me, anyway).
The beauty of this film is that you aren't quite sure if you should be laughing, or should be caught up in the story, and the beauty is that you can do both.