1½ Knights - In Search of the Ravishing Princess Herzelinde (2008)

This film here is Til Schweiger's approach to a Middle Ages comedy. It is one of these rare cases where he did only direct the film without writing it. He got help from two co-directors, including Torsten Künstler with whom he already worked on several movies. And, of course, Schweiger also stars in it. It all comes down to rescuing princess Herzelinde and the ending is of course Schweiger's character and Herzelinde being a couple. The only thing I found kind of amusing is Thomas Gottschalk as the King. Everything else is really not funny, although down to the smallest roles this cast features very well known actors from Germany, as it's usually the case with Schweiger movies. And even the New Kids on the Block give a performance.The humor on this film is mostly based on mixing Middle Ages logic with references to today's modern world. One early example would be a knight tournament with a modern sports broadcast commentator. However, it gets repetitive pretty quickly and quickly isn't funny anymore if it ever has been. Also there is some suggestive humor included here and there with not so great wordplay gently-put. The antagonists are played by Udo Kier and Mark Keller, as we find out later in the film. All in all, it's a disappointing effort, possibly the biggest failure in Schweiger's career. But you can only partially blame him for that. The script was just a huge mess and maybe this movie is one of the main reasons why he has written his own movies afterward again. Also with a running time of almost two hours, it did drag at times. Not recommended.

Thanks to Rick Cavanian, Didi Hallervorden and Roberto Blanco 4-5 scenes are remotely funny, the rest of the movie had me cringing with pain due to unfunny jokes and horrific acting. Furthermore the plot has no continuity and failed to generate any suspense. Most chapters are introduced by showing the scenery or close-ups of some plants which isn't a bad thing per se, but these sequences are rather longer than needed. The soundtrack, while good (despite obvious Gladiator and The Dark Knight influences), doesn't seem to be aware of what's going on in the movie, the protagonists are accompanied by happy-go-lucky tunes almost all the time, in peril or not. Don't waste your time with this.

Til Schweiger's performance was an absolute tragedy. Whereas Thomas Gottschalk was surprisingly good (for those who remember him in the "Supernasen"-moviews), Rick Kavanian as Erdal was very funny and Udo Kier creepy as always. On the pro side are the sets, costumes and the score. Those have international standard. The story is incredibly boring and many (no, almost all) jokes drain. What I personally found absolutely disgusting, was the fact that father and (15 year old) son were cast as homosexual lovers...just ugh! Overall, the movie was very disappointing. Especially after Til Schweiger's hilarious "Keinohrhasen".

In Vienna I watched this film in December 2008 in a 300 seated cinema with 10 people - one fast asleep.And I must admit my neighbor and me had troubles to stay awake. 1st comment after the end: langweiligggggg --> boring. He admitted I must have slept through the only joke in this film. And he was right. No one was laughing. Bohnensuppe must have been in a different film but not in 1 1/2 Ritter. Ritter Til Schweiger shows his saure Gurken face all the time while Herzelinde has to smile all the time. Best actor according to my neighbor : Rick Kavanian whose DANEBEN is the best joke of the film . That's why they showed him in the trailer. Looking at IMDb voting for 1 1/2 Ritter : the 1s have it. Go and see another Til Schweiger film because this one is certainly his most boring.