Robin Hood: Men in Tights – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

While Mel Brooks has never again reached the heights of the comedic gem Blazing Saddles with his other films, but he’s come close, and after a series of complete mishaps that those unfunny cats named Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have done, the spoof genre is about dead as Britney Spears’ career. The spoof genre seems like a complete waste of time now days, aiming for a quick laugh for a quicker buck, so it’s kind of an odd task revisiting Robin Hood: Men in Tights since Friedberg/Seltzer has continued to whore out the genre to death and back.

But Mel Brooks is the King of the Spoof, if there’s such a thing, and even a weaker entry by him, is still a blast.

17 years later, Robin Hood: Men in Tights isn’t as funny as it once was, but I remember roaring to this as a kid growing up, and maybe it’s the nostalgia, but I was still smiling all the way through again. Can you believe it has been 17 years? Yes, there’s plenty of limp jokes that didn’t work then and certainly don’t now, and there’s some rather dated references in the film (like Nike pumps-remember those?), but it’s Mel Brooks, who still and always will be Mel Brooks. So what does that mean now? The man, even in his weaker films, can string a lot of fun and laughs here and there for a 80 minute romp.

The key to this film’s everlasting fun (yeah, I think I can say that about this film) is the lead performance of Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw). A dash of debonair, a dose of charm, and a helping of cheese sums his performance up.  The next best thing to Errol Flynn himself! Unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent! The film riffs on the classic Adventures of Robin Hood starring the great Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Disney’s own Robin Hood, and overall, Men in Tights features some mixed results. It’s defiantly not a laugh-a-minute, and in comparison to Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein, it’s a lesser entry, but the cast makes it fun when the jokes don’t work. Roger Rees as the Sheriff of Rottingham, is sleazy and flamboyant in all of the right tones, a young Dave Chappelle earns a few chuckles, but it all comes back to Cary Elwes who scene steals at every opportunity.

I wonder if that locksmith ever came?

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Fox delivers a solid little HD presentation for this aging film. While at times soft, the overall video benefits from the HD with some great facial details and nice textures in the forest and castle scenes, along with clothing. The film clever looks its age, but it’s a nice improvement over than ragging looking DVD. The DTS track is surprisingly nice. The sound FX and musical numbers have a little punch to them, with none of the dialogue being drowned out. Could everything have been better? Most likely, but even this should please most fans.

Commentary: This is an older track, recorded in those days of Laserdiscs, and it’s just Mel Brooks talking. Some good info, but mostly a bit monotonous. He’s a bit dry-sadly-and spends not enough time with stuff we might want to know and describes the action on-screen far too much. Worth a quick listen, if you skip around.

Funny Men in Tights: Three Generations of Comedy: This is the only new extra and it’s in HD. It’s a 13 minute retrospective piece on the film with interviews from the cast, friends, and crew about the film and working with Mel. It’s a quick, nice look at the film.

HBO First Look: The Legend Had It Coming: What’s essentially an EPK look at the film, now, as a piece of nostalgia, it’s rather a fun watch. It’s in SD, but Cary hosts the origins and production of the film.

An Isolated Score track and a HD Trailer round out the extras.

Conclusion: Far from Brooks’ best, Men in Tights after all of these years is still a fun film, whether you laugh or groan at the jokes today. Fox’s Blu-ray is pretty good too, better than I was expecting.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: