Fresh and Exciting

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Very minor spoilers ahead...King Ralph is the king! He is funny and so is this movie! John Goodman is... well he is the king! The king of comedy!Everything about this movie is great, and not just realistic but super funny. I mean... who doesn't want to watch a movie where a sloppy slob of a lounge singer and a drunk gets chosen to be the king of the United Kingdom after a horrible accident kills the entire royal family?Who wouldn't want to see a movie where John Goodman challenges the animal skin wearing king of an African nation to darts but then also darts outside where they actually throw spears?Even his mistakes are hilarious, like when he dances with a stripper at a royal event? Even his piano is hilarious because it's so teeny tiny and he is very big, and he plays rock and roll on it. Needless to say his rock and roll music is shocking to the other royals in attendance, including their daughter, the princess of Finland and Ralph's would-be bride, who has a hilariously deep, moose-like voice. In fact his music is so shocking it might even make some snob's monocle fall out into his champagne glass!OK so the movie is pretty stupid but it's also very fun and funny. Lighten up and enjoy it ya snooty snobs!

I'm not even going to attempt to be unbiased about King Ralph. I first saw the movie at a young age and watched it many times growing up. The movie isn't high art or genre defining. It is a simple story about a lovable slacker who discovers he is much more and embarks on a fish-out- of-water journey. And as that King Ralph is a decent movie.When a freak accident wipes out the entire British Royal Family, American lounge singer Ralph Jones is uncovered as the next heir to the throne. Despite being your atypical slacker, he shows a certain charm and his unconventional methods (along with much help from his private secretary and assistant) begin to win people over. He even begins to secretly see Miranda, a former stripper that he meets soon after arriving in England. But soon the corrupt Lord Graves begins a plot to disgrace Ralph and position himself as next in line for the throne. Miranda is pulled into the plot but falls for Ralph and backs out. Graves already has what he needs and disgraces Ralph at a royal ball. After Miranda admits her part in the plot, Ralph is able to trace it back to Graves and repair some of the damage done. He admits to Parliament and the people that he is not fit to be king and abdicates the throne to his secretary, who was secretly part of the royal line as well. Soon Ralph makes up with Miranda and the movie ends with them married as Ralph becomes a Duke and gets to live his dream of being a musician.The cast is solid all around. John Goodman is impossible to hate as the big buffoon struggling to adapt to an entirely new world. Camille Coduri is likable despite her character's part in the plot against Ralph and has good chemistry with Goodman. Peter O'Toole and Richard Griffiths provide solid backup as his secretary and assistant, respectively, and John Hurt appears to have a blast in his small role as the evil Lord Graves.As mentioned earlier, the story is a basic fish-out-of-water tale. Many of the jokes are derived from Ralph's class difference and ignorance of English culture. It is all very basic but is carried by the charm of Goodman. While my score of 8 is biased by years of popping in that old VHS tape, I recommend at least giving it a try. It is definitely worth a viewing.

In more recent years the star of The Big Lebowski may have performed more as supporting star, but doing so in great films like The Artist and Argo, I knew this film wasn't going to be good, but I was interested to see him in the days of Roseanne as the big leading star. Basically the entire British royal family are gathered together for a group photograph, and a freak accident kills them all, so the British government get to work tracing the next successor to the throne, and the end result is an unconventional choice, as the only living heir. An American easygoing slob named Ralph Hampton Gainesworth Jones (John Goodman), a Las Vegas lounge singer and piano player, is informed that he is the new king of England, he first sees it as a joke, but Duncan Phipps (Richard Griffiths) and Inspector Thomas 'Tommy' McGuire (Niall O'Brien) explain that Ralph's grandfather, the first Duke of Warren, had an affair with a hotel maid in America, this produced Ralph's father, and he is convinced by a ring matching his. Flown to London he is introduced to all the staff of the British palace, and he is schooled in all history of the British empire and English culture and traditions, including well known meals like "bangers and mash", and the dessert "spotted dick", and although he can relax getting whatever he wants and many other luxuries he comes to realise that being king is hard. In his time as king, while guided by courtier Sir Cedric Charles Willingham (Peter O'Toole), he learns how to play cricket, meets Prime Minister Jeffrey Hale (For Your Eyes Only's James Villiers), doing a knighthood, and the various other royal duties, but Lord Percival Graves (John Hurt) is against an American being the king of England and the Commonwealth, and he is scheming to cause a scandal and force him out. Graves sees his opportunity to cause a scandal and either an abdication or sabotage with Ralph and exotic dancer Miranda Greene (Doctor Who's Camille Coduri) getting very close and slowly falling in love, and the plan is to catch the two of them kissing in a photograph, as he may be required to marry someone of royal descent, and they do get the photograph. Ralph has eventually learnt to be a serious king, and following a bad encounter with the woman he is told to marry, Princess Anna of Finland (Joely Richardson), and causing a breakup with Miranda, he prepares a serious speech to abdicate himself from the throne, he first exposes Graves as a traitor for his scandalous acts, and he informs the government that there is in fact another true heir to the thrown, it is Cedric. In the end, Cedric becomes the new king of England, Ralph makes up with and reignites his romance with Miranda, he is made the third of Duke of Warren, and fulfils his dream to be a rock star with a state of the art studio, he has a young with his duchess, and with a great salary they have a palace of their own in the country, Ralph Jr. may be another heir in the future. Also starring Leslie Phillips as Gordon Halliwell, Julian Glover as King Gustav, Rudolph Walker as King Mulambon of Zambezi and Judy Parfitt as Queen Katherine. Goodman is certainly charming and lovable as the lousy king, and the supporting cast of well known British stars like O'Toole and Hurt are good value as well, of course the story is completely ridiculous, has many predictable moments and characters, and it definitely makes Great Britain and living there look a little silly, it does have amusing bits, but overall it is an average comedy. Okay!

John Goodman is Ralph, an American lounge singer who is the last distant relative of the royal family of Wyndham who are electrocuted by a photographer in a freak accident. He is told by some British detectives that he is the grandson of a duke who had a fling with a hotel maid, and now he is the king. He is flown to England and given a crash course in their history and culture. He meets a stripper, Miranda Greene at a club and asks her out. She hides in the background while he assumes the throne. He becomes popular, as a plain speaking blue collar guy. A marriage to a Princess Anna of Finland is arranged but he hears her deep voice and is quickly turned off. He instead hooks up with Miranda and eventually abdicates the throne. In between, he plays cricket, imitating his hero, Babe Ruth, and sings Good Golly Miss Molly, while playing a harpsichord. Goodman reminds me of John Candy, with the same affable manner. King Ralph works as a light comedy.