Actors: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright
Director: Rob Reiner
I know it seems very hard to believe, perhaps even inconceivable, but I've never actually seen The Princess Bride until today. Its catchphrases are of course ubiquitous - 'I am Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, etc.', 'Never start a land war in Asia', etc. Unfortunately, this ubiquity does ruin some of the film - 'I do not think that word means what you think it means' is an excellent joke. Nonetheless, I found it quite enjoyable, and it's easy to see why a certain set of people simply love this film.
One thing I didn't know is that the movie is a story within a story, which disappointed me. To me it signals the filmmakers felt the audience can't be trusted to 'get' this movie. By using a frame story and constantly cutting back and forth between the 'real' world and the story, we're made to understand that the elements of the story are farcical and untrustworthy. I feel this movie could've been played straight - what Reiner ends up doing is telling a story about the power of stories, which struck me as alternately heartfelt and masturbatory. (That's not to mention the Billy Crystal cameo, which was easily the worst part of the film).
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Yeah, it would have been better without the external story, but it's still one of my favorites. I think nearly everything about the actual story is perfect. What could be better than Andre the Giant? Nothing, that's what.
ReplyDeleteIt probably helps that I first saw it as a kid before I knew anything about it.
haha. funny thing about andre the giant was that i couldn't understand half of what he said. other than that, he was awesome.
ReplyDeletei feel like this and monty python and the holy grail are kinda similar - if i saw that for the first time now i'd certainly like it, but i wouldn't go nuts over it and watch it 100 times like some people seem to.
Watch it another 99 times and you'll understand Andre just fine.
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