Bride of Spinal Tap in three sentences
- Review By:
- tpb
- Date:
- February 22, 2009
- Movie:
- The Princess Bride
- Director:
- Rob Reiner
- Released:
- 1987
- Good Guy:
- Westly
- Played By:
- Cary Elwes
- Bad Guy:
- Prince Humperdinck
- Played By:
- Chris Sarandon
- MPAA Rating:
- PG
- Family Friendly Ages:
- Everyone
The Princess Bride speaks for itself. With its tongue-in-cheek fantasy storyline (Buttercup (Robin Wright) to Westley (Cary Elwes) in the Fire Swamp: "What about ROUS-es?" Westley: "Rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist");
hilarious dialogue (Prince Humperdinck (Chris Saranden): "Surrender!" Westley: "You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept. ");
swashbuckling swordsmen (Inigo (Mandy Patinkin) "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.");
valiant heroes (Westley: "Hear this now. I will always come for you.");
giants (Fezzik (Andre The Giant): "It's not my fault being the biggest and strongest. I don't even exercise!");
evil genius masterminds (Vizzini (Wallace Shawn): "You're no match for my brains." Westley: "You're that smart?" Vizzini: "Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates?" Westley: "Yes." Vizzini: "Morons");
cold politicians (Prince Humperdinck: "Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped.");
cruel lieutenants (Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) to Westley as he tortures him: "What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity, so... be honest. How do you feel?");
magic (Miracle Max (Billy Crystal): "You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.");
religious pageantry (The Impressive Clergyman (Peter Cook): "Wuv. Twue wuv.");
and the ultimate moral of the story: Love, True Love (Grandpa (Peter Falk) to his grandson (Fred Savage): "As you wish."). Rob Reiner's timeless fantasy/action movie just gets better with each viewing.
Great review! Loved being reminded of some of the many funny lines. One of my favorites: Humperdink picks up a vial of iocane power, which is odorless and tasteless, smells it and says: "Iocane powder!" My only quibble: I wish they had made Buttercup less helpless. Geeze!