Your Highness’ resorts to low humor

I was looking forward to the comedy “Your Highness,” even if I did meet an acquaintance outside the theater who advised me to skip it. Uh, no, I thought.

And while I enjoyed the film far better than I was led to believe, I still had one major problem: With all these current comedies, which I refer to as Seth Rogen comedies because they seem to be written by (or star) guys who are part of his posse, there’s always an obvious spirit of homophobia.

And that’s getting tiring. The story, in essence, involves a trio of guys (two brothers, played by James Franco and Danny McBride , and McBride’s servant, played by Rasmus Hardiker) who go on a quest to, one, save a princess and, two, kill an evil wizard. The conceit: One brother (Franco) is a genuine hero, while the other (McBride) is a slacker. The further conceit: The hero loves the slacker, unaccountably, while the slacker resents his position as second in line to the throne.

But let’s count the gay jokes: Brothers (Franco and movie co-screenwriter McBride) greet each other by kissing on the lips; they consult a wise man by kissing him on the lips and then by fondling his privates; Franco’s character is threatened by the prospect of having a spike rammed up his poop chute; when Franco’s character is bitten on the upper thigh by a poisonous monster, his brother refuses to “suck” out the poison; the brothers are continually measuring themselves to a young woman warrior (Natalie Portman) and found wanting (she even calls them “maidens” at one point); the Minotaur that roams the maze has an erect member that resembles a baby’s arm holding an apple in its fist (and the beast dry humps McBride’s servant); and so on.

Some parts definitely are funny. McBride may be an acquired taste. But he is a natural comic. And sex symbol Franco has good comedy credentials, too. Portman may not be funny, but she effectively sets up the jokes.

All in all, I enjoyed “Your Highness” (for the double meaning, think Cheech and Chong). But I think the Rogen crowd — Rogen, Franco, McBride, etc. — could benefit by repeated viewings of “The Celluloid Coset.”

Below : The trailer for “Your Highness” (just skip the ad).