All's Faire in Love (2009)

This film tells the story of an arrogant jock in college, who has to work at a medieval fair for three weeks in order to stay in college the following year."All's Faire in Love" is an interesting mix of anachronistic medieval background with plenty of toilet humour and raunchy jokes. It is a different spin on a romantic comedy, but the ingredients are so diverse to the point that they don't really mix together. The end result is a collection of ridiculous scenes that make me laugh because they are so bad. Christina Ricci is a good actress as always, and it makes me a little sad that she has to appear in a project that is not so great on the resume."All's Faire in Love" is bad, but it's not almost good.

Kate (Christina Ricci) is interviewing for a business job when she suddenly informs the three male questioners that she is feeling too warm. To their astonishment, Kate bolts behind a blackboard and changes from a tight business suit into a lovely flowering dress. You see, this young lady wants to be an actress, not a workaholic businesswoman. Defying her parents wishes, she abandons THEIR aspirations and signs on to perform at a Renaissance fair for the summer. Once there, she learns she is to be a "peasant" in the underling group; another circle of performers plays the ruling class, including the queen (Ann Margret). Naturally, although they all want to play their parts well, those actors in the upper class roles sometimes make trouble for the peasants. Meanwhile, also joining the peasant troupe is Will (Owen Benjamin). He is a football player at a major college and, when he failed to attend enough classes, has been given the chance to earn sufficient credits to stay on the team. His prof (Cedric the Entertainer) demands that he work at the fair. Having no other choice, he does so. Almost immediately, he becomes a target for abuse by the "uppers" as they sense he doesn't really care for his job. He doesn't, that is, not until he meets Kate. Before long, this fair might not be such a bad thing after all, thinks Will! But, there are complications. A big, obnoxious "upper" takes a shine to Kate while the queen's daughter tries to entice Will into her arms. Also, Will gets in scrapes, where he is punished by stocks and hurled rotten vegetables. Is there a future for W and K? This very lovely romantic comedy has the stuff to soothe its fans into a satisfied sigh. Ricci and Benjamin are attractive and winning as the principals. After the wonderful Penelope, Ricci is fast becoming a favorite lady for the genre. The rest of the cast, including AM, is likewise very fine, making a great impression. As for the fair sets, they are a fantastical delight, and ditto for the costumes, too. Then, too, the script has plenty of mirthful moments related to the medieval world, although occasionally the words uttered fall somewhat flat, and the direction is adequately energetic. All romcom fans, its fair to say you will find this flick a great watch, so get it before a fortnight arrives.

I am a history student and I have been to Renaissance Faires, and I'm a big fan of Shakespeare. I thought this movie was great fun! It went a bit overboard in a couple of areas, and it didn't portray Shakespeare in a positive light, but it was all for one of the best causes around: comedy! I thought most of the comedy worked fine, and Sir Rank was absolutely my favorite character.Shortcomings included the whole bit about having allegedly slept with Princess Jeanette. Did Crocket actually do it, or did he just do her nails, like Will? If Crocket were wronged, and Will then went through the same experience, why didn't they talk about it and set the record straight? In general, alcoholics don't have the surplus wherewithal to also be major participants in Renaissance Faires, so Jeanette's entire character was somewhat unconvincing.But the whole concept of a story set during a Renaissance Faire is great! It adds several extra dimensions of acting-within-acting, and motivations-within-motivations. Were the witches real witches or just pretending? Did Crocket really believe in the curse, or just pretend to? A lot of the elements were played to some comical extremes here, and while it wasn't terribly realistic, it certainly served its comical purpose very well. I had a great time watching this, and I hope word spreads about this movie so it reaches a larger audience. I will definitely buy this when (if?) it is released on DVD.8 out of 10.

SPOILER ALERT: If your idea of comedy is watching people get urinated on by a goat, then you will like this movie. I'm not even kidding! There's a whole scene where they pick up a goat to have it urinate on them because they think it will remove a curse.What's a curse doing in a Renaissance Fair movie? Good question. It's a lame bit that makes no sense. I like silly movies and all (Harold and Kumar rock!) but this was not even that. I also like crazy stuff too like Boratt, but this was not crazy it was just stupid.My friend dragged me to this because she's a Ren Faire person and works there every year, and she didn't like it either. I've been to Faires and they're kinda fun, but this movie did not even show what a real faire is like.Like in the movie there was this rule that said a guy had to sleep with the girl who was playing a princess because it was tradition and he'd get fired if he didn't.Hello?! You can't fire people for not sleeping with the boss! That's what I'm talking about -- it was just stupid.If you see this movie playing somewhere don't bother going even if you like RenFaires. Just save your money and go to a real faire.