Snores and sorcery

>> Martin Lawrence isn't funny in the past or the present in Black Knight

by MARK SLUTSKY

Martin Lawrence's latest alleged comedy, Black Knight, tells the dull tale of a medieval theme park employee who finds himself magically hurled back to medieval times. This kind of tale has been around for a while, ever since A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, though never has it been told as forgettably as by director Gil Junger (who made the much better 10 Things I Hate About You).

If you must know the particulars, Lawrence plays Jamal Walker, the kind of smart-alecky slacker type so popular in comedies and sitcoms. Cleaning the theme park's moat one day, Lawrence spots a valuable-looking necklace under the water, and when he reaches into grab it, he finds himself magically transported to 14th-century England (well, presumably England--one can assume there weren't too many castles in medieval California).

Lawrence eventually makes his way to the king's court where he gets involved in some intrigue, romance and grimly predictable cultural misunderstandings. The king lives, of course, in a "magnificent" castle, and one of the biggest (unintentional) laughs in the movie is when Lawrence first chances upon the fortress: the music swells, his eyes widen in awe, we cut to the castle itself and... well, it

doesn't look much better than theme park the dude originally worked at. In fact, as far as any kind of production design goes, Black Knight is a real dud. All the exteriors look like it might have been shot at the director's parents' cottage one weekend while they were away, and the castle's interior isn't a far cry from one of those Medieval Tymes restaurants. Now, this could have been played up as a joke--that the middle ages were actually as chintzy as their modern imitators--but the movie plays it with a straight face. It's actually supposed to be magnificent. Yikes. Guess there wasn't much money left over after Lawrence got his $20-million paycheque, or whatever it is he makes these days.

If Black Knight was actually funny, of course, all could be forgiven. But as a movie it's so perfectly forgettable that there's really not much more to talk about than the lousy sets. You may unearth a chuckle or two somewhere in its trudging 90 minutes, but it would be a lot of effort for a pretty meagre return. :