Everyone loves a good joke, and some of the most fantastic ones can be found in one of Mel Brooks’ films… Robin Hood: Men in Tights was hilarious! Although it incorporated a plethora of mismatched concepts like present day jokes, medieval costumes, odd musical numbers, and the legend of Robin Hood, they were cleverly combined into a single film that was absurdly entertaining. There are prisoners turned in for jaywalking, a king asking for ‘his bill’ at the feast, and knights fighting training dummies with V8 cans for heads. There is funny wordplay such as on the names: Achoo (sneezing jokes), Blinkin (who is blind) and Latrine (toilet jokes), and there are callbacks to other movies like Home Alone, The Godfather, and obviously Robin Hood. The fourth wall is even broken when the characters yell at the director to stop burning down their village. If there was anything I did not enjoy, it was probably the more raunchy jokes (which there were PLENTY of) like Blinkin with Braille porn.
Despite all the shenanigans and making fun of Robin Hood, the story was able to progress in a recognizable way. Robin Hood brings an animal killed in the king’s forest to the king, there is the romance between Marian and Robin, there is an archery contest, Robin Hood is captured, the merry men help save Robin, and Richard comes back at the end. By putting a well known storyline in the background of all the tomfoolery, it allows the film to be as silly as it wanted to be while also being comprehensible. It is a fantastic film for a group of friends to watch when they are in the mood for a comedy. It would probably be even funnier if you watched it at midnight when people are already tired and think anything is funny (however it is by no means necessary to watch it late at night, since it is already funny the way it is).
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