A Knight's Tale (2001)

All Critics (154) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (85) | Rotten (61) | DVD (37)

Whipping along at speed, with elaborate camera movements and rousing speeches, this knows how to engage a crowd. It's corny, of course, but a guilty pleasure: romantic, diverting, with mildly amusing modern gags.

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

Instead of pulling young audiences imaginatively back into the past, A Knight's Tale cheapens the process by demonstrating that there's no essential difference between then and now.

August 6, 2001 Full Review | Comments (3)

Peter Rainer

New York Magazine

Top Critic

The movie promises to rock you, and much of the time it does.

June 11, 2001 Full Review

Rita Kempley

Washington Post

Top Critic

The result is half Python, half Ivanhoe -- and not as much fun as either.

June 4, 2001 Full Review

Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

You might find yourself smiling and laughing all the way through it.

May 21, 2001 Full Review

David Edelstein

Slate

Top Critic

Essentially, it's a screenful of pseudo-medieval popcorn that hits a high enough level of goofy fun to transcend a pretty blatant marketing strategy aimed at the MTV demographic.

May 14, 2001

Jay Carr

Boston Globe

Top Critic

Slightly edgy medieval tale with rock music.

December 21, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

It's as if Helgeland didn't have enough confidence in his own material's basic appeal that he resorted to desperate pandering.

April 4, 2010 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

Endless jousting tournaments transpire with lots of balsa wood jousting poles splintering across the screen. It's a classic example of a "'what-on-earth-were-they-thinking" movie that no group of filmmakers and actors could have ever pulled off with much

July 18, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Unmotivated storyline, bad love interest situation, dull leading man, quick plot with no set-up. Lazy movie.

April 29, 2009 Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

For all its mainstream exertions, A Knight's Tale is actually something of an experimental melding of old and new.

July 23, 2007 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

A Knight's Tale looks and sounds pretty darned good in Blu-ray.

September 16, 2006 Full Review

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

A breezy, lightweight romp perfect for a summer afternoon.

September 23, 2005 Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

...surprisingly intelligent summer fare...

August 1, 2003 Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

It's all done with a light-hearted touch and a wicked sense of humor.

April 5, 2003 Full Review

Andrea Chase

Killer Movie Reviews

Historical accuracy is cashed in for a classic rock soundtrack and a forest of shattered lances, but the trade-off is worthwhile.

March 20, 2003 Full Review

Brian Mckay

eFilmCritic.com

Minor grievances aside, this warped medieval yarn glides by on a funny, friendly, goofy sort of goodness.

March 10, 2003 Full Review

Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

Knight's Tale does suffer from a predictable, follow-the-dots plot, but it's so well executed anyone willing to have a good time will readily buy in.

September 13, 2002

Forrest Hartman

Reno Gazette-Journal

Ledger carries A Knight's Tale as far as it can go, which is an accomplishment.

September 4, 2002 Full Review

Jeffrey Westhoff

Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Oh, to be 15 again and truly able to appreciate this movie's simplistic charm!

August 10, 2002

Gina Carbone

Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine)

Gadzooks! Methinks I witnessed the World Series of Jousting in A Knight's Tale and actually enjoyed every minute of it.

August 2, 2002 Full Review

Betty Jo Tucker

ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Overloaded with plot where it doesn't need any ... Its latter acts detract from a movie that could have stood up for itself with its funny irreverance.

July 12, 2002 Full Review

Jeffrey Chen

Window to the Movies

a rousing Cinderella story that cannily combines boisterous comedy, blood-pumping combat scenes and a generous portion of class-crossing romance.

June 9, 2002 Full Review

James Sanford

Kalamazoo Gazette

Corazón de Caballero no aspira al Oscar; se trata de una realización netamente con la marca de Hollywwod. Pero sin duda es un buen producto.

May 25, 2002

Luis Martinez

Cinenganos

The kind of silly feel-good popcorn movie that film critics generally enjoy ripping apart, and mainstream audiences generally just enjoy.

May 9, 2002 Full Review

Steven D. Greydanus

Decent Films Guide

• 1. Roland: [seeing Sir Ecktor dead] He's dead
  2. Wat: What do you mean Dead?
  3. Roland: The spark of his life is smothered in shite....his spirit has gone but his stench remains does that answer your question?
  – Submitted by Arjun I (10 months ago)
• 1. William Thatcher: It is strange to think, I haven't seen you since a month. I have seen the new moon, but not you. I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face. The pieces of my broken heart are so small that they could be passed through the eye of a needle. I miss you like the sun misses the flower; like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to. I next compete in the city of Paris, I will find it empty and in the winter if you are not there. Hope guides me, that is what gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you're gone from my sight, it will not be the last time that I look upon you.
  – Submitted by Alec M (12 months ago)
• 1. Roland: You may feel like a poet, but you sound like an idiot.
  – Submitted by David A (13 months ago)
• 1. John Thatcher: [hearing William enter] Is someone there? If you're here for the net, I haven't finished it yet. Who are you?
  2. William Thatcher: A knight. My name is...Ulrich.
  3. John Thatcher: I hear your name called out there. What business have you here?
  4. William Thatcher: I have word, Master Thatcher. Word of your son.
  5. John Thatcher: [drops his tools] Of my William? Come in, sir. What word? Does he live?
  6. William Thatcher: Oh yes. He lives. He wanted you to know...he changed his stars after all.
  7. John Thatcher: [emotion washes over, he starts crying] And has he followed his feet? Has he found his way home at last?
  8. William Thatcher: Yes. [his father blindly reaches out; now it's William's turn to cry] Oh, Father.
  9. John Thatcher: Oh, William. Oh my boy. [shoulders shake with sobs as he and his son melt in each other's arms]
  – Submitted by Jordan P (17 months ago)
• 1. Chaucer: [keeping time with a stick as William and Wat dance] And one, two, and three and four and your hands should be light like a birdy on a branch. And one, two, and three and four and Wat doesn't lead. He follows like a girl.
  2. Wat: [looks at William]
  3. William Thatcher: [shrugs in agreement with Chaucer]
  4. Wat: [laughs a bit, then punches Chaucer in the nose]
  5. Chaucer: [with some bloody cotton up his nose moments later, conducting William and Wat] And one, two and twirly, twirly, twirly. One and two and you're still getting it wrong. And one, two, and three and four. You can hit me all day cause you punch like a what?
  6. Roland: A girl.
  – Submitted by Jordan P (17 months ago)
• 1. William Thatcher: Your just a silly girl!
  2. Jocelyn: Better a silly girl with a flower than a silly boy with a horse and a stick.
  3. Wat: It's called a lance. Hello?
  – Submitted by Conner F (2 years ago)