A Boy's Tale

A Knight's Tale (2001)
directed by Brian Helgeland
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

Helgeland never meets his outrageous premise - that arena rock contextualizes the thrill of medieval public spectacles for a modern audience - more than half way, as if he realized that good stunts sell themselves, and an original score by the Coens' resident composer is cheaper than licensing Queen. The thirteen year-olds in the theater didn't mind, because the screenwriter of Blood Work and Mystic River wrote a fantasy just for them, in which a group of friends talks about girls, laughs at the bullies behind their backs, and worries about when they're going to get home. What's more contextual than a lady-in-waiting as the friend of the girl you like working as the go-between to figure out a first, awkward date? Anyway, it's a lot more modern than her lady's mercurial wigs. The rest is entertaining, funny, smart, and just romantic enough to maybe inspire a kiss at the door before the car goes back to mom and dad.