ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 6.3
Date Released: 7/28/93 Running Length: 1:44 Rated: PG-13 (Sexual humor)
Starring: Cary Elwes, Roger Rees, Amy Yasbeck, Richard Lewis,
Tracey Ullman
Director: Mel Brooks
Producer: Mel Brooks
Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Evan Chandler, and J. David Shapiro
Music: Hummie Mann
Released by Twentieth Century Fox
Anyone remotely familiar with the Robin Hood legend knows the basic story behind this parody. Robin (Cary Elwes) is the dashing hero who, along with his band of Merry Men (which includes members Will Scarlet O'Hara and Achoo the Moor), roams Sherwood Forest as the champion of the common people. His sworn enemy is the evil Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees), and his One True Love is Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck), she of the Everlast chastity belt. To win the heart and hand of Marian, Robin must defeat the Sheriff and his master, Prince John (Richard Lewis).
Imagine an amalgamation of THE NAKED GUN, ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, and you have a pretty good idea what to expect from MEN IN TIGHTS. This is a film packed start-to-finish with satire, puns, one-liners, and other assorted visual and audile jokes. Nothing is too high-brow or low-brow for Mel Brooks, although you can bet there are more occurrences of earthy humor than that of the intellectual variety. Every opportunity for humor, no matter how feeble or juvenile, is seized upon.
There have been several parodies already this year (LOADED WEAPON ONE, HOT SHOTS: PART DEUX!, and LAST ACTION HERO come to mind), none of which have attained the level of MEN IN TIGHTS. That's not to say that this is a masterpiece of any sort, but its jokes are more clever, more original, and more consistently funny than those in the other movies. In a HOT SHOTS-type film, the humor gets stale by the end of the first half-hour, and most of the laughs have dried up long before the final credits roll. Mel Brooks, on the other hand, has enough experience (not to mention flair) with this kind of motion picture, that he knows to vary the humor so that the gags don't wear thin before the running time has expired.
That's not to say that everything Brooks does works. There are a fair share of clunkers in MEN IN TIGHTS. But with such a non-stop barrage of jokes, regardless of what percentage work, there's not much time in between laughs. And whether your kind of humor is along the lines of Shakespeare or Cheech and Chong, there's something in this movie sure to provoke laughter.
In many ways, this is the Mel Brooks of old, the same master of humor that brought us classics like YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and BLAZING SADDLES. MEN IN TIGHTS is not as original, inventive, or hilarious as those offerings, but it's a reasonable offering and certainly not in the same dubious category as such Brooks duds like LIFE STINKS. In terms of scope, potential, and execution, this Robin Hood parody is along the lines of SPACEBALLS, the Brooks take-off on STAR WARS.
There's a fairly strong element of MONTY PYTHON in this movie. While no one in their right mind would dare put this film on the same level as THE HOLY GRAIL, there are moments in MEN IN TIGHTS that the British comedy troupe would be proud of. Most notably, perhaps, is the rendition of the musical number, "Men in Tights," which bears a passing resemblance to the Pythons' "Lumberjack Song."
In a story that closely parallels the Kevin Costner account, Cary Elwes does his best Errol Flynn imitation--a fine job acting serious and swashbuckling amidst all the silliness around him. The other major players do reasonable jobs, from Roger Rees giving an over-the-top performance that couldn't quite match that of Alan Rickman (from PRINCE OF THIEVES) to a too-subdued Amy Yasbeck.
As is frequently the case, those with cameos steal the show. Dom DeLuise shows up for one scene doing a superlative lampoon of Marlon Brando from THE GODFATHER. Patrick Stewart is on hand to imitate Sean Connery's King Richard from PRINCE OF THIEVES. Not only does he strike as regal a figure as Connery, but he does an excellent job of mimicking the accent.
There are so many jokes in this movie that it's difficult to pick out a memorable one or two. Among the more subtle ones, I was partial to the "moving mole" on Richard Lewis' face. Nearly every time we see Prince John, his rather sizeable mole has moved somewhere else. At one point, the Sheriff even feels compelled to mention this. Then there's Mel Brooks as Rabbi Tuckman (instead of Friar Tuck), who gives "half off" circumcisions. Most of the overblown musical numbers are also fun, with obviously-dubbed singing voices and rappers fulfilling the function of a Greek Chorus.
Parodies are hard films to do, as the mediocre success of so many recent ones has shown. No matter how ripe a film or genre might be for mocking, unless you know how to do it, there are no guarantees. Fortunately for MEN IN TIGHTS, Mel Brooks has been doing this kind of thing for decades. As the ads say, "The legend had it coming", and this film certainly dishes out all that the Merry Men can handle--and more.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews