Men in Tights has the manner of something that wasnt argued over long enough.Advertisement Continue reading the main story Supported by Continue reading the main story ReviewFilm; Mel Brooks Aims His Comedic Barbs At Robin Hood et al.Robin Hood: Men in Tights Directed by Mel Brooks Adventure, Comedy, Musical, Romance PG-13 1h 44m By Vincent Canby July 28, 1993 Credit.
The New York Times Archives See the article in its original context from July 28, 1993, Section C, Page 13 Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Robin Hood Men In Tights Script Movie Ever MadeRobin Hood: Men in Tights is Mel Brookss breezy sendup of every Robin Hood movie ever made, with subsidiary references to other movies, most of them made by Mr. Brooks. The new films favorite target is Kevin Costners politically correct Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, which championed not only the civil rights of serfs but also feminism, racial understanding and maybe even whales, though my memory is now hazy about that. The Costner film remains memorable mostly for the scenes in which the camera sometimes adopted the point of view of an arrow whizzing unerringly toward its mark. The movie takes a long time to get off the ground, and then it wobbles. It hits a couple of ecstatically funny high points, only to plummet into a bog of second-rate gags, emerging a long time later to engage the audience by the sheer, unstoppable force of the Brooks chutzpah. Any review of Men in Tights must waffle in somewhat the same manner. ![]() Brooks back on screen as a director, a writer (in collaboration with Evan Chandler and J. ![]() Appearing as Robin is Cary Elwes, a young English actor who looks something like the athletic, unlined Errol Flynn but who behaves as if there were a seven-second time-lapse between the world and his brain. His Robin is earnest, stalwart, dashing and always a little bit slow. Hes also good exclaiming the mad Brooks dialogue (Stop that castle) when Robin arrives home from the crusades to find Loxley Hall, his ancestral home, being carted away because of nonpayment of taxes. Amy Yasbeck, who plays Marian, is a perfect mate for this Robin. Shes beautiful and sincere, though theres not much going on upstairs. On one giddy occasion in her bubble bath, she sings with the purity of Julie Andrews (with a voice supplied by Debbie James). If Marian sometimes appears distracted, its probably because of the bulky chastity belt she wears with otherwise maidenly resignation. Roger Rees, still best known here for his Tony Award-winning performance in the title role of Broadways Nicholas Nickleby, is extremely funny as the evil Sheriff of Rottingham, a character that seems to be based less on legend than on Alan Rickmans overripe performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the Costner production. Mr. Rees also has a fine foil in Richard Lewis, the television comic who appears as a seriously neurotic Prince John, a fellow who is afraid of absolutely everything. The supporting cast includes Tracey Ullman as Latrine, Prince Johns chief cook and soothsayer; Dave Chappelle as Ahchoo (son of Asneeze, played by Isaac Hayes), a Moorish exchange student studying in England, and Mark Blankfield as Blinken, Robins blind servant, a role that could have been played to the lunatic hilt by Marty Feldman. Whats missing is the kind of densely packed comic screenplay that helped to make Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety two of the most delectable movie parodies of the last 20 years.
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