Genre Guesstimation – King Ralph (1991)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by J-Dub of Dubsism and we will be reviewing our favorite Movies featuring Royalty

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of May by sending them to royaljdub@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice J-Dub!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Movies featuring Royalty.…

“There’s no problem that can’t be ignored if we really put our minds to it. ” – Ralph Jones

Number of Times Seen – At least 5 times (Theater in ’91, DVD, 2 May 2011 and 1 May 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A Las Vegas lounge singer is made king of England after a tragic mishap kills the Royal family leaving him as the only heir to the throne.

My Take on it – When J-Dub chose this genre for GG, this was one of the first films that came to mind for this companion series.

I recall seeing this movie in the theater when it came out and have enjoyed revisting it a few times over the past 28 years.

This movie manages to stay fun largely due to the performance of John Goodman in the lead role.

Yes, the premise itself is extremely ludicrous and implausible yet they find the right notes along the way to keep the story entertaining despite this.

This movie finds a way to properly explain the British government system in a simple way that even Americans (like me) can grasp how things actually work.

Much of the humor in this film is based on clash of culture humor and they do manage to have some nice moments in the film that are funny yet they still are unable to make this film more powerful or impactful in all that it does.

Bottom Line – Very fun movie that is helped by Goodman’s performance. The premise is completely ludicrous yet still is able to stay entertaining. They do a nice job of explaining the British system of government in a simple way so even Americans can understand how things work. The clash of cultures in this film leads to a few humorous moments but still fails to make this film even better and more impactful.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – According to an interview with John Goodman in the article “‘No Leading Man, King Ralph Insists” published in the February 12, 1991 edition of the Los Angeles Times, Goodman denied his new leading man status in this movie, and said he was still just a character actor. Goodman said: “Don’t call me a leading man. This is just another part, with a lot more lines. The only difference for me this time, was that I didn’t have time to fool around when I wasn’t working. When you’re the leading man, your meter’s running all the time, and you’re always working. There’s no goof-off time. But that still doesn’t make me a leading man. I’m still just a character actor. Nobody’s ready to call me Mel Gibson, Jr., and I don’t think anybody’s ready to pay good money to see me get the girl in the movie. I know I wouldn’t go see something like that.” (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not really. This is a fun film but lacks anything really impactful in its delivery.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)