Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993) Dir: Mel Brooks
- Ridley Coote
- Mar 31, 2024
- 2 min read
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Mel Brooks' 90s adventure comedy and parody of the classic fairy tale is one that I have heard plenty of people talk about over the years, and I had a vague memory of some of it from my childhood. I mainly wanted to watch it because I really enjoy 'Spaceballs'; also directed by Brooks.
Being a comedic parody, the jokes were, naturally, the most important feature of the film. However, I found them to be a rather mixed bag. As was common with comedy of the time, a lot of the humour relied on stereotypes, which lead to some pretty dated comedy. Other, less offensive, jokes didn't really hit that well either way, but there were, at least, a few here and there which did produce a chuckle.
The story was not particularly well-formed, but then, it's a parody, so I didn't really expect it to be. The main bullet points of the Robin Hood tale were pretty much all there, with a shed-load of extra fluff thrown in for good measure. I could've done without most of the random fluff, such as the film's opening, which was just bizarre.
Cary Elwes certainly looked and played the leading part well, and made for a pretty memorable Robin Hood. I will admit, I definitely found him entertaining, especially in regards to his facial expressions, which were often well timed with the punchline of jokes.
Roger Rees was easily the next best thing about the film, with his over-the-top, flamboyant Sheriff character giving me a decent number of laughs. However, I can't say I found anyone else all that amusing, be it any of the remaining cast, including Dave Chappelle, Richard Lewis, Amy Yasbeck, Isaac Hayes or Mark Blankfield, who all had ample opportunity to deliver solid laughs, but failed. The brief cameo of Patrick Stewart was at least a plus.
Overall, I have to say, I found this one pretty disappointing, in truth. Sure, it was mildly funny, and there were a few moments which made me laugh out loud, but the combination of the jokes being dated and, quite frankly, not that good to begin with, made this one a pretty boring watch.
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