Review: The Princess Bride

A fairytale romance with swashbuckling action and fun

It was absolutely tragic when director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer died in December. Their son Nick Reiner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

He was best known for films like Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and The First Wives Club.

My favourite is When Harry Met Sally (1989), the dialogue was so sharp and hilarious, and gave us young kids rules to live by when it came to relationships. 

These three cause trouble for Wesley

When Harry says, "Men and women can never be friends because the sex part always gets in the way", it's from a male perspective, but is it still true today?

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed The Princess Bride (1987) and a neighbourhood cinema called Hollywood Theatre showed it last night.

I don't think I have ever been at this place and once you pay the admission at the door, and pick up popcorn, the last several rows of seats have been taken out and replaced with bar tables and stools so they can hang out with friends or sit in the (cramped) rows closer to the screen.

A lot of the audience were around the same age as me, with glasses of beer in hand with their popcorn.

The Princess Bride has romance, comedy, action and fantasy all rolled in one. There's the main plot and a sub plot, where a boy is sick and his grandfather comes to read him a story. Actor Fred Savage interrupts legendary actor Peter Falk several times through the movie and it's endearing and funny.

The main story is about Buttercup (Robin Wright) who is in love with Wesley (Cary Elwes), but there is a whole round about way for them to reunite, and in between Wesley must face several challenges, like a giant, a Spanish fencer and a Sicilian smart ass.

He also has to rescue Buttercup from marrying Prince Humperdink, who knows she doesn't love him, but he doesn't care.

Crystal was hilarious as Miracle Max

Some of the scenes look like sets, like when Wesley (as the man in black) has a fencing duel with Inigo Montoya, or the castle; today the sets would look more realistic, and the giant rats would not look so fake.

But hey! The story still holds up and the chemistry between the characters are funny and sweet.

Apparently Billy Crystal as Miracle Max, improvised most of his lines that Elwes found it so hard to act dead that he couldn't help but laugh while filming.

While it's a good-triumphs-over-evil story, the characters are complex and not so straight forward. Inigo Montoya is determined to avenge his father's death, Wesley takes on the title of a pirate and doesn't reveal himself to Buttercup right away, and the giant (played by Andre the Giant) isn't just a man with brute force, he would rather not kill people as he thinks it's inhumane.

Another Reiner film, Stand By Me, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Gen Z kids are marvelling at how carefree children had it decades ago...

And with Reiner's untimely passing, we are celebrating his humour and wit, but more importantly, his humanity.