There are a few weird James Franco movies out there, but this one might be the weirdest.
Posted by Rick Gonzales | Published
For most of her career, Zooey Deschanel has made a name for herself with an unconventional, effortless beauty, not anything remotely offensive. That’s exactly why Your majesty you stand out. It’s not an indie thriller or a rom-com detour; is a deliberately crude, R-rated stoner fantasy full of crude humor, leather, and low-key humor. In the midst of all that, Deschanel ends up in the most terrifying role of his career, not because the movie is subtle about it, but because it isn’t.
Two Brothers Try to Stop the Birth of a Dragon
Your majesty follows two royal siblings who couldn’t be more different. Fabious (James Franco) is a classic warrior prince, brave, noble, and next in line to the throne. Thadeous (Danny McBride) is the opposite: lazy, stoned, and totally unconcerned with responsibility, content to drift through life with his equally useless friend Courtney.
After defeating Leezar (Justin Theroux), Fabious returns home with Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), the rescued girl he plans to marry. Marriage does not last long. Leezar smashes it, kidnaps him again, and comes up with a ridiculous plan that fits the movie perfectly: use him to create a dragon that will help him conquer the kingdom.
Forced into action, Thadeous is ordered by his father to join Fabious on a rescue mission or face exile. Along the way, the brothers discover betrayal among their ranks, survive a series of ridiculous threats, and are saved by Isabel (Natalie Portman), a warrior hunting Leezar for revenge.
When Fabious is captured, Thadeous is finally pushed to do something amazing. The mission turns into a final assault on Leezar’s stronghold, with the fate of the empire dependent on the one person best suited to save it.
Your Highness Failed to Execute on Release
Your majesty it was one of the last vestiges of the stoner comedy era, and in a sense, perhaps its failure ended it. Released by Universal Pictures in April 2011, the R-rated comedy opened slightly and never recovered, finishing with around $21.6 million domestically and around $28 million worldwide against a reported budget of $49 million. It was a clear financial failure, with limited audience arrivals and poor word of mouth preventing any chance of a repeat.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago-Sun Times summed up the film’s problems as “juvenile filth that sounds like the work of 11-year-old boys who love dungeons, dragons, warrior women, pot, boogers, and four-letter words.”
James Franco, before his cancellation, joked, via Entertainment Weekly, about the movie during the show Comedy Central James Franco Roast. “I agreed to do this roast because I want to do something that I’ve never done before, something that has no artistic merit, something that no one will remember three months from now, something that’s offensive, homophobic and stars horribly untalented people that’s a big deal for the young stoners on Twitter. You might say, ‘I didn’t know James. I didn’t know?’ Your majesty.”
