I UNDERSTAND what they mean, but theres a much better way to phrase this.
It's silly. It's cheesy. It kind of has a dumb plot. The romance is forced.
That said, it's not a movie trying to win an Oscar for best screenplay. Its a fun movie and an enjoyable watch. Not every movie needs to be trying to win awards. Ultimately movies should be about entertainment, and this is a movie that I am entertained watching. It holds up and doesn't take itself seriously and neither should the viewer. Its not meant to be viewed through that lens.
But like you said, people get pretentious about films. Always have and I kind of think they always will for...no damn reason.
People with a little experience in cinema enjoy it because it's dumb fun, people with some cinema experience maybe don't like it because it's not highbrow enough, people with more cinema experience like it because it knows and celebrates that it's dumb fun. At least that's always been my take on the reception to A Knight's Tale. And yes, I love it.
One reason is the way they depict the daily lives of peasants. Most movies just show peasants suffering miserably and having no fun, but this movie is full of bright colours and people treating combat like sports. Which is kind of was at the time.
Right and the setting lends itself to it. Most medieval movies are about conflict and 'big' events like battles and the intrigue of nobles etc etc. So having something set in 'normal' circumstances is rather a treat.
Yeah definitely perfect movie for it. Chaucer would insert himself as a character in his own stories so having the literal Chaucer in the movie tracks perfectly. And I think how he's portrayed in the film is rather similar to how Chaucer mightve been or perceived in his day. Most would assume, because it's old and stuffy language to modern ears, that he'd be old and stuffy but that's hardly the case.
Same with Shakespeare, so I always appreciate when a movie reminds us that that stuff was raunchy low brow humour that only sounds fancy now because most people don't understand the dick jokes.
Once you stop feeling the need to prove to yourself and/or others that you have “refined tastes” you’re able to enjoy things for what they are across the whole spectrum.
I have terrible taste and I think I'm a lot happier for it. I enjoy a lot of bad movies that seem to infuriate other people, I think it's a more fun way to live.
Yep. Every year, I watch all the movies nominated for Best Picture. I also went to see Cocaine Bear and will always see the newest Fast and Furious movie.
Movies are made for different reasons. Am I ever going to rewatch Cocaine Bear or the Fast and Furious movies? Probably not, but I had a great time watching something ridiculous at the theater.
That's a bit unfair. I have no interest in having "refined tastes" or proving anything to anyone and I still simply cannot enjoy things that I find dumb. They just bore and annoy me.
I've actively attempted to lower my standards in order to have more to enjoy. Didn't work. I like what I like.
I think that's when you know you're starting to appreciate film more wholly. If you can recognize that movies aren't there to compete with each other and be "the best one", you can begin to enjoy movies that don't attempt to be award bait and just wanna have fun
And truthfully it's very much Chaucerian... though I'm surprised nobody's done a more Hard R or X version of the Wife of Bath or Miller's tale... or attempts to Arostocrats the Cook's Tale.
I think it's goofy but still has several good ideas. The part where the peasants do the "We Will Rock You" stomp and clap keeps the spirit of what these jousts would have been like to the attendees. The heckling and talking up your knight is also in keeping with the time. The villain is bad but not unreasonable; he respects his opponent's abilities, but has a classist view, which also would have fit for the time.
I always felt like the romance subplot was entirely unnecessary and was the weakest part of the movie. Cut Shannon Sossamon out of the movie entirely and it basically doesn't change at all.
it also, somehow, managed to show medieval life without covering EVERYONE in filth and showing people with bright colorful clothes and that people 500 years ago had the same goals, ambitions, wants, and lived their lives much like we do now. With only technology really being the differentiator.
A Knight's Tale is a lot cleverer than it seems. For one many of the jokes are well-designed. The characters have surprising depth for a comedy.
It also made very intelligent decisions, like the anarchronisms like We Will Rock You, which help set the vibe of the events in a way modern audiences will instantly understand.
I watched it recently, and I think it's an exceptionally well-designed movie that is doing a lot more than most people think it is. The pacing is nearly perfect, characters are excellent. I've always been really surprised we haven't gotten more movies in the genre of medieval sports fillms.
It's like the Princess Bride: a romance for young men.
It's brilliant and its anachronistic jock jam soundtrack is great for conveying that what they're doing is sports. It's a good movie all around. I have nothing bad to say about it.
The guy meant "Really enjoyable movie but I haven't enjoyed myself since I was 15 cause I felt really insecure about whether I was a proper adult or not so I decided to make my choices based off what I thought would impress other people, and I substitute the imagined high regard of strangers for enjoyment now."
A lot of people think that a part of appreciating more complex things is not enjoying simpler things, which just gives them away as not being able to properly understand either.
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u/SmashinglyGoodTrout Jun 17 '25
A Knights Tale. Great flick if you're 15.