What the hell happened to Rob Reiner? How can you go from having one of the best streaks of classic films to making the kind of shit he made in the latter half of his career? And trust me i'm not kidding, just look at his list for directing credits; This is Spinal Tap (1984), Stand By Me (1986), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992). All brilliantly crafted and classic films. Now look at what he has made since A Few Good Men; North (1994), The Story of Us (1999), Alex and Emma (2003), Rumour Has It (2005) and The Bucket List (2007). Pure shit. Fortunately, I thought it wise not to subject myself to utter crap so instead I chose to watch one of his classics and a film I hadn't seen in over a decade, The Princess Bride (1987). The film opens with a young boy in sick in bed complaining to his mother about the idea of his grandfather reading a book to him. It is this book that forms the basic narrative of the story, that being your classic fairy tale style narrative. Buttercup (Robin Wright) is a farm girl who has been chosen to be the bride of Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) although she does not love him and pines for her lost love Westley (Cary Elwes) who she believes to have been killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. Buttercup is then kidnapped by three bandits, Fezzik (Andre The Giant), Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) who are then pursued and stopped by an unknown masked assailant, whilst Prince Humperdinck also is hot in pursuit. From here adventure, treachery, comedy and romance are all par for the course, if I continue I would be saying too much.
Having not seen this film in more than ten years I was surprised how much of it I remembered, with there only being a couple of scenes I did not remember. I was even more surprised to find that I remembered specific bits of dialogue pretty much down to the word, and I think this says one of the most important things about the film that make it a classic, it is just so damn quotable. Almost every scene has its place in the pop culture landscape, with "inconceivable" and "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die" being to quotes that are you in pop culture frequently. The film is also just endlessly charming. It is a film where you sit there with a smile on your face the entire time and you can't help yourself. The script is superb. Its greatest strength is in its wit. The interactions between the characters are brilliantly written to be both hilarious and give plot details and character development without ever falling into become just spouting exposition. Two scenes that show this perfectly are the fight scene between the masked man and Inigo Montoya and the game of wits between the masked man and Vizzini. The first scene in particular is brilliant as it is both a masterpiece in script writing with the witty banter between both characters punctuating the battle. It is also boosted massivley by the superb choreography for the sword fight which is a genuinely brilliant (and in a way pretty beautiful) action set piece. The way the script works to give the feel of a parody of these fantasy tales whilst being able to not go into straight spoof and also loving play up the themes of fantasy films gives the film personality and it is a joy to watch.
All the performances in the film range from great to brilliant. No one puts in a weak performance and I believe this is down to the near perfect casting. One character who I was concerned with before I saw the film was Fezzick, only because he is played by Andre the Giant who was not an actor. However, they write the character to be a huge simpleton, and so the kind of blank performance is not a problem because it is what you'd expect from this kind of character. Cary Elwes steals the show in this film. His performance is pretty perfect. He is able to balance being the romantic lead, a witty vigilante, an action hero and also a slapstick comedy tool brilliantly and his performance is probably the best of his career. The one thing that steals the show more than Elwes is the set design which is exquisite, and I think I love it so much because it is real. It is there. There is no green screen or cgi in this film and it gives the film a feeling of grandeur, something I feel many modern films are missing.
However, despite all the praise i've hauled on the film it is not perfect. The problems I have with it are very small, but they are problems none the less. The main problem is in that the film is too short. No this may seem like it is praise at first as when this is said often times it means that the audience wanted more. Leave the audience wanting and all that. However, I actually mean that the film needed to be longer to fix a couple of plot points which I felt weren't the strongest. One of these was the character of Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) and his relationship to Inigo Montoya. There is a whole subplot involving these two but the count is not given enough screen time for us to build up a real animosity to him. He is a slimy characters yes, but that is all we really see. the rest of his character is told to us. Show don't tell film, show don't tell. The only other problems I have are also very small. One being that the Prince is planning to murder Princess Buttercup and frame the neighbouring kingdom in order to start a war, but, why? We are never told. It feels like it is just to make this character more dislikable. The other problem is that when Fezzick and Inigo are reunited somehow Fezzick knows everything that has happened to Buttercup and Westley despite never witnessing any of it, or at least us an audience don't see him witness it. Again, show don't tell. However, these are very small problems and they take nothing away from the film. But hey, i'm a film student, I got to get picky with this shit.
The Princess Bride is a superb film and I don't know why I left it a decade to re-watch it. It is possibly Rob Reiner's second best film (Spinal Tap is best. Fight me.) and with a filmography like his that is some feat. It is charming and witty. Funny and action packed. It is a downright classic. I can't recommend it enough despite the small problems I have with it. If you have an hour and a half to spare and just feel like watching something fun, throw this on. It may just become one of your new favourites.