Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Puts the Funny in Fantasy

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Chris Pine in a scene from "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Chris Pine in a scene from "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
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Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Puts the Funny in Fantasy

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Chris Pine in a scene from "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Chris Pine in a scene from "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." (Paramount Pictures via AP)

“You’re not a lot of fun, are you,” notes barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) to brave fighter Xenk (Regé-Jean Page) in the new “Dungeons & Dragons” film, making two jokes at once.

The first is that Xenk, a paladin (or holy knight) in “D&D” lingo, is everything BUT fun — gorgeous, noble, heroic, smart, and did we mention gorgeous? He’s just REALLY not fun, or funny. He’s so not funny, it’s hilarious.

The second, broader joke is that “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” hotly awaited by devotees of the decades-old role-playing game, makes darned sure to be fun, and funny — enough to laugh at itself. And that’s the thing that makes it work.

At least, for a newbie like me. I’ve never played the game, I confess. But this is a movie, not a game, and I’m here to tell you how it works for over two hours at the multiplex. Which is to say, surprisingly, sometimes delightfully well — even if you have no clue what a paladin or Red Wizard or Harper is, or if the term “Dungeon Master” sends your mind straight to “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

The most obvious reason for this success, besides fleet-footed direction by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, is star Chris Pine, whose sunny charisma and smooth knack for comedy, plus an ability to seem like he’s both inside the movie and outside looking in, keeps everything bubbling.

He’s ably assisted by Rodriguez, plus young accomplices Justice Smith as a confidence-challenged (but sweet) wizard and Sophia Lillis as a shape-shifting druid. And then we have a graying Hugh Grant, playing the heck out of yet another comic villain role — a character almost as curmudgeonly as he was on the Oscar red carpet.

Plus there’s a cameo from another big star, but more on that in a minute. Because first we have to mention the pudgy dragon. Yes, pudgy. Whatever dragons eat, and we can only try to imagine, he’s had too many.

But back to Pine, aka the bard Edgin, whom we first meet in a dank, freezing prison cell. He’s — well, he’s knitting. Nearby sits Holga (Rodriguez), and her own hobby is eating. She’s not a cordial sort, especially when food supply is at risk.

An appearance in front of a judicial council, begging for a pardon, gives Edgin the chance to tell his backstory. Turns out he wasn’t always a criminal; he was a Harper, part of a spy guild acting for the greater good, but he attracted the ire of the Red Wizards of Thay, which led to the tragic murder of his wife.

Teaming with Holga, he sets out to find the magical Tablet of Reawakening that would return his wife to him and especially their baby daughter Kira (played by Chloe Coleman as a youngster). But they get captured, and their accomplice Forge (Grant), who somehow escapes, swears to take care of Kira.

Edgin, a master planner, devises a jailbreak right during the pardon hearing. They discover Kira is now living in a walled city with Forge, a con-man who turns out (gasp!) to have planned the whole thing, and has convinced her that Dad betrayed her for riches. And now he’s allied with Sofina, a terrifying sorceress (Daisy Head). Forge not only refuses to give Kira back but sends Edgin and Holga to their deaths. Holga, however, quickly dispatches all the soldiers meant to kill them — all while Edgin tries, and fails, to untie a rope.

Now they need that tablet, but first they need a magical helmet (bear with us.) The quest, upon which they’re joined by Simon (Smith) and Doric (Lillis), leads to the film’s most entertaining scenes. One of these is an impressive, fast-paced sequence where shape-shifter Doric infiltrates enemy lines and then, chased by Sofina, morphs seamlessly into various animal forms and back to herself again.

Another is a comic bit where Pine’s Edgin tries to elicit key information from a series of corpses. Summoned to life by an increasingly effective Simon, each corpse can answer five questions before returning to the grave forever. Edgin keeps wasting his chances with questions like “Did that count as a question?”

And a prime comic moment comes from none other than Bradley Cooper (see, worth the wait!). We’ll reveal nothing but the observation that this cameo is small, but packs a punch.

Finally we have Xenk (Page), perfectly cast as a paladin so, well, perfect that he delivers babies in between vanquishing enemies, and provides the crucial help Edgin needs. But for all sorts of reasons, Edgin can’t bring himself to like the guy. Most of all, he can’t deal with his lack of understanding of irony, sarcasm, and especially humor.

He’s probably right. Heroism is all well and good, but humor is crucial. That’s a lesson this film has, luckily, already figured out.



Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
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Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)

Eminem, Boy George, George Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, the Doobie Brothers, N.W.A. and Alanis Morissette are among the nominees for the 2025 class at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an eclectic group of rap, rock, hip-hop and pop pioneers.

Joining them on the ballot are Bryan Adams, with radio staples like “Summer of ’69” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?,” and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, hoping to get in 25 years after band founder Brian Wilson. David Gates, co-lead singer of the pop-music group Bread, is also looking for entry.

The Hall annually inducts performers and non-performers alike, and the latter category this year includes Walter Afanasieff, who helped Mariah Carey with her smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You;” Mike Chapman, who co-wrote Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield;” and Narada Michael Walden, the architect of Whitney Houston's “How Will I Know″ and Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love.”

Eligible voting members have until Dec. 22 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the songwriter category and three from the performing-songwriter category. The Associated Press got an early copy of the list.

Several performers are getting another shot at entry, including Clinton, whose Parliament-Funkadelic collective was hugely influential with hits like “Atomic Dog” and “Give Up the Funk,” and The Doobie Brothers — Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald — with such classics as “Listen to the Music” and "Long Train Runnin.’” Steve Winwood, whose hits include “Higher Love” and “Roll With It,” has also been on the ballot before.

Hip-hop this year is represented by Eminem — whose hits include “Lose Yourself" and “Stan” — and N.W.A. members Dr. Dre, Eazy E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella. Already in the Hall are hip-hop stars like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot. Tommy James, with hits including ”Mony Mony,″ ”Crimson and Clover″ and ”I Think We’re Alone Now,″ has also earned a nod.

If Jackson, whose 1989 album “Rhythm Nation” was a landmark, gets into the Hall, it will be more than two decades after her late brother Michael. The Canadian songwriter Morissette, whose influential “Jagged Little Pill” has won Grammys, Tonys, Junos and MTV awards would also add to the Hall's rocking women. (Glen Ballard, who helped produce and write the album, is already in.)

As would Crow, the “All I Wanna Do” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road” singer-songwriter, is having a critical resurgence after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. Boy George lifts the flag for '80s New Wave with the Culture Club hits “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.”

Other nominees for the non-performing category include Franne Golde, who co-wrote Selena’s ”Dreaming of You;″ Tom Douglas, who wrote country hits for Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert; Ashley Gorley, fresh off his co-writing smash “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen; and Roger Nichols, who co-wrote The Carpenters’ ″We’ve Only Just Begun.″

They join Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who contributed to the hit ″The Boy Is Mine″ by Brandy and Monica; Sonny Curtis, former member of the Crickets who wrote and performed the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show," ”Love is All Around,” and British composer Tony Macaulay, who wrote “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

The Hall also put forward three songwriting teams: Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan, who wrote “Secret Agent Man;” and Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who penned the Four Tops hit “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got);” and Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, who wrote the Percy Sledge tune “Out of Left Field.”

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

Some already in the hall include Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond and Phil Collins. Last year saw R.E.M., Steely Dan, Dean Pitchford, Hillary Lindsey and Timbaland inducted.