VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

matt_fin They don't make them like this anymore. Too funny. So great from beginning to end. Mel brooks at his best. Dave Chappelles big break. Cary Elwes is fantastic. Richard Lewis is great.

bkoganbing The Robin Hood legend and swashbuckler films in general get the Mel Brooks treatment in Robin Hood: Men In Tights. What that means is that a lot of movie clichés are broadly winked at, conventions are smashed and lots of laughs to be had.Robin Hoods from Douglas Fairbanks to Kevin Costner probably saw lots of potential for a few winks themselves that Cary Elwes saw here. Our Robin here is all that one expects from a hero, brave, loyal, and true, a great fighter and would like to be a great lover if it weren't for that chastity belt that Amy Yasbeck as Maid Marian wears. Way back in those days many a maiden was put in one and I wouldn't be surprised if that was also a gift from King Richard to Errol Flynn for Olivia DeHavilland. Like a true Mel Brooks hero, Elwes is also a bit thick.Kevin Costner's Robin Hood had a black cast member kind of grafted into the film so Brooks goes one better, he has two. A very hip Moor played by Isaac Hayes gifts charge of his son an 'exchange student' to a returning Elwes to England. A rapping Dave Chappelle is a nice addition to the mix.Two of my favorites were Tracey Ullman as a witch and Mel Brooks as Rabbi Tuck. As King Richard himself gives the bride away in the end, all we can do is quote from another classic comedy, "a royal wedding, Mazeltov". It's a Mel Brooks film so you know it will be great.

mark.waltz It's obvious that Mel Brooks' best days were behind him in this costume comedy adventure that seems to be made for 10 year old boys. Sexy Cary Elwes goes back to "The Princess Bride" territory and finds that he's now in a mid evil Saturday morning cartoon. With Norm Lewis as wicked King John and Roger Rees as the evil Sheriff of Rottingham, Elwes has an easy chance of defeating the bad guys. Amy Yasbeck is a rather lame Maid Marian, while Brooks' toilet humor comes to life in Tracey Ullman's hideously crude sorceress, Latrine. Cameos by various familiar faces, including Brooks himself, can't aid this from being anything more than an outrageously dumb and desperate attempt to capture the success of his '70s masterpieces.Novelty musical numbers may have work when done in small doses in Brooks earlier films, but here he obviously was not prepared for writing a full musical score. Who would believe that less than a decade later he would have a smash hit on Broadway by writing the songs for the for the stage version of "The Producers"? This has the comic equivalent of a 20 minute short that appears to have been rushed together. Broadway had better luck in spoofing British history with "Monty Python's Spamalot" and "Something Rotten" where modern cultural references were actually funny and appropriate rather than just randomly placed and really having no effect. One funny line has Elwes indicate that unlike other Robin Hood's (Kevin Costner, anyone?), he can speak with a genuine English accent, and sure enough, he is right. Elwes is charming and as perhaps the only subtle humor that this film has, but repeat of old gags that Brooks is overused just come off as eye rolling and dated. It simply just is not funny. Comedy truly is a very difficult thing to do, and simply by throwing funny people into an allegedly funny script doesn't mean that you're going to end up with a funny movie.

Phil Hubbs 'We're men...we're men in tights...YES! we roam around the forest looking for fights!'A strange choice for Brooks I think, he seemed to move into historical legends in the 90's along with his take on Dracula. The tag for the film is accurate I guess, this legend did have it coming for sure with so many variations out there at the time...most notably and laughably the Kevin Costner debacle. Also not forgetting the Patrick Bergin Robin Hood flick that was emulating Costner's version!Of course being a Brooks film the cast is made up of all his regulars...and I'm sure if his older regulars weren't dead he'd have used them too. Amy Yasbeck begins her brief Brooks career here as Marian before rejoining Brooks for Dracula. Dick Van Pattern is back after working with Brooks in 'High Anxiety' and 'Spaceballs', Megan Cavanagh and Matt Porretta both went on to Dracula along with Yasbeck and finally the magnificent pair of Dom Deluise and Robert Ridgely are both Brooks film veterans.Naturally there has been many liberties taken with the plot...well actually its based around other Robin Hood movies really, nothing to do with the actual fable at all. Its clear to see the classic Errol Flynn version and the classic animated Disney version are the two main influences here. Brooks pretty much follows both of these films scene for scene whilst adding his own unique brand of spoofery. This whole approach does actually work well in all honesty because you can enjoy the cartoonish tomfoolery and it also kinda harks back to a different age of cinema. Whether this was intentional or not I'm not sure, it probably just happened because they were spoofing two classic films but the quaint visuals, simple effects and colourful characters are very appealing.There is a thin line between the silly childish humour and the slightly more risky adult humour which I think is handled well. I say adult humour but its not really that bad, just a touch of toilet humour. Whilst most of the laughs fall flat I can't deny there are some nice chuckles to be had and some clever imaginative send-ups. The usual blend of visual slapstick and cheesy dialog is to be expected but much of it is all in the delivery and luckily this movie does have some noteworthy comedic performances.Its quite a surprise that Elwes does actually put in a solid funny performance as Robin Hood, what's even more surprising is the fact he does have a slightly similar resemblance to Flynn...a blonde Flynn. His little tufts of facial hair, the fact he's British, that wry smug smile of his when he fights and all tied together in the classic green and brown attire. At the same time Richard Lewis is also a great Prince John! I loved how his mole kept moving across his face in each scene and his 80's mullet hairdo, plus this guy can deliver a funny line. He has this great whiny nervous tone to his voice which really comes to life when he panics and cries 'hurt them! hurt them!!'.I also must confess to enjoying Brooks small cameo as a Rabbi, could of gone another way but the old ones are the best ones I guess. Eric Kramer is also surprisingly amusing as the towering Little John, not so much to say but he is good with the visual comedy side of things as was Blankfield as the blind 'Blinkin'...sounds utterly cringeworthy I know but it does work. It was only Rees as the Sheriff of Rottingham (*groan*) that seemed to swing and miss for me, clearly trying way too hard to hammer those funny lines in. Same could be said for Tracy Ullman as the witch who didn't even really need to be there.As I'm sure everybody knows by now a film like this is all about the delivery, the comedic performances of the actors, if that aspect is nailed then the film is reasonably secured. Its not about the effects or sets or costumes...although its nice if they look good but end of the day its whether you can laugh with the film and not at it for being crap. Personally I think this movie just about makes the grade, its earned somewhat of a cult status over time and I can see why. There is a lot of embarrassing crud in here this is true (Dave Chappelle), some visual gags are terribly simple bordering on downright infantile whilst some of the visuals are very basic. But (and its a biggish but) there is also just enough solid cheeky clever lampoonery and dialog along with performances to make you smile. Although it doesn't have the overall sheen of Brooks follow up vampire flick.6.5/10