31 thoughts on “TBT: All’s Faire in Love (2009)

  1. Ok, I watched this last fall, and found it cheesily delightful, as a sometime-rennie myself (Maryland Renaissance Festival ftw y’all!). Jock-bro’s acting was realistically horrible. I truly believed he was just some football player picked off the bench and tossed a script to perform in an hour instead of a football. The wonder is that he managed to memorize the lines at all. The rest of it was alternately cringey/quirky/cute. Definitely a neverwatchagain experience. But I was content with my choice that day!

      1. Lol yep! Henry VIII was a known lover of the bellydance and often rewarded his favorite dancers by composing sonnets set to bagpipe music praising their prowess in the dancing line ;-)

    1. Trystan…you haven’t been to THE Texas Renaissance Festival?! SO much snark potential. But it’s fun, too!

  2. Ren faires: there’s one here in PA which is pretty good; went a few times. The movie — saw it once, since I’ll watch Ricci in just about anything, but it wasn’t particularly memorable.

  3. Full confession: I’ve watched this more than once, mostly because I was working in a shop at the Michigan Renaissance Festival the summer they filmed this. The movie was a logistical nightmare for those of us who worked at the faire, causing all kinds of extra difficulties and traffic jams. Apparently Ann-Margaret was lovely to work with, and Matthew Lillard was really nice to all the faire workers, but Christina Ricci thought we were all freaks and hated being there. I think I heard that she was dating Owen Benjamin at the time and made this movie just so he could have a role in it. The reason so many of the extras look better than the main cast is that they used locals when they could, and they provided their own costumes. I mostly enjoyed watching this for the background folks, many of whom I knew or at least recognized.

    The film crew built the lovely stage that the final scene uses, and was supposed to let the faire keep it, but California set builders know nothing of Michigan winters, so they didn’t use properly treated wood. The following summer the whole thing was collapsing and had to be torn down.

    1. Bummer that Ricci was a jerk — the opposite of her character’s attitude towards the faire! And I was wondering if the extras were from the faire cast & using their own costumes.

      Hilariously sad about that set, it was a great stage.

    2. I suspected as much about the extras, so I’m glad to hear you confirm it! I worked at NYRF for 5 years and I’m pretty sure I recognize the woman announcing the joust as having been with us, too.

      I’m SO jealous of their semi-historical luxury tent- I wish we had those backstage! Some of the “magic” of Faire for me was sullied by waking up in a tiny vinyl backpacking tent and dragging my ass out of my sleeping bag on cold September mornings and seeing everyone having a morning cigarette in their t-shirts and flip flops.

  4. The last one looks like a ripoff of La Reine Margot costumes.By the way,I think it is complicated to have sleeves even on the shoulder blades(as in tudor era necklines) without getting unsightly wrinkles.How these designers design sleeves that manage to stay completely off shoulder(or cold shoulder with straps)without falling off is beyond me.

  5. My husband and I got together because of the SCA and Ren Faires, so we kinda had to watch this. It is pure fluff and utterly silly, and really has such a niche audience as to make me surprised that it was made at all, but we enjoyed the inside jokes. I don’t feel the need to watch it again, but it’s a pleasant little romp if you just need something to have on in the background while you’re sewing.

    Oh, and this thread is probably the perfect place to mention that there’s a graphic novel called “All’s Faire in Middle School” about a Rennie kid who has been homeschooled her whole life and been part of the Ren Faire with her family since before she could walk, but now – zounds! – she’s going to the public middle school.

  6. I saw this movie once about five years ago and could never find it again – I was half-convinced I’d imagined it! Looking at it now, what hurts most is the hair! COVER IT.

  7. I’ve never been to renfaire (not a thing here), but I think I would thouroughly enjoy it – after watching last year tv series “American Princess” set at the renfare. The plot is somewhat reminiscent of the film, rich girl ends up at the renfaire and reevaluates her life, and the show is totally hilarious. I never knew I could laugh so much.

  8. How did I not know of this before????!!!!!! I live in Michigan and attend the Holly Renaissance Festival every year. Thank you for bringing this to my attention – added to my must-watch list!

    1. There are about 5,000 swampies at Pennsic War who I know would! Pennsic Trim is a thing…..

  9. I never heard of this movie! Now I need to watch it and will be profoundly disappointed if they didn’t use the song “Where is the Renaissance in the Festival” somewhere in the soundtrack.
    Also if this counts what about a snark week watch of the Knights of Badassdom? A monster unleashed at a LARP, pure silly fun.

  10. It’s been years and years since I attended Michigan’s Ren-Fest. There’s one closer to me on the west side of the state, but the Holly one is far bigger. Either way, my outfit was very snarkable, but we always had fun being silly wenches. I don’t know if I could watch this (not just because I don’t have Prime).

  11. I’d forgotten about this movie! Pretty sure I watched it while on a ‘he has to have done more than scooby doo’ Matthew Lillard kick. Costumes were fun in an “I’ve seen that at faire” (NYRF in Tuxedo, NY) kinda way. Reading this, I also thought of Knights of Badassdom which was really a lot of fun! Thanks for the reminders

  12. My family (“lifer” SCAdians with friends on the faire circuit) loved “American Princess,” which was adapted from a true story about an English major who ran away to the faire. Tempted to see this one just for a look at Matthew Lillard in garb!

  13. I really want to see this movie. I worked at the NY Renaissance Faire outside of NYC one summer. It was my 1st paying acting gig, and the most interesting thing is that Michelle Hurd, who is in Picard, played Maid Marian that summer, and all the actors spent most of their time quoting from Robin Hood: Prince of Iowa which came out that summer.

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