A person’s favorite movie: “the older you get, the harder it is to choose” says Herr Mendro. “There’s so many different movies to love for different reasons”.

Unlike Mr. Cunningham, Herr Mendro was quick in finding his favorite movie, namely 1987’s The Princess Bride. Like Mr. Cunningham’s, this one is also a classic.

If you haven’t seen it, you’re still likely familiar with it. The clever quotable-ness of it pervades society to this day. Just as Herr Mendro says, “It’d be hard to find someone who doesn’t recognize: ‘My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!’”.

In explaining his personal affections for the film, Herr Mendro pins it upon his personal sense of humor, stating while laughing that his favorite scene “would be the sword-fight. The whole notion that they’re discussing form during this ridiculously choreographed fight”.

Within my family, this film is a favorite also. If the phrase tongue-in-cheek could only be used once, it should be used to describe this movie. Where most comedy movies’ jokes are nudges of the elbow, wry wisecracks here is more like the strokes of some benevolent force petting you. These jokes make the chair you’re sitting in more comfortable.

The film is a farce poking fun at the fantasy/adventure drama, but it’s charm has become so widely recognized that the film overshadows any others with similar subject matter. Characters in the story are made such perfect, flat, stock characters that they’re not flat at all. These shades of familiar characters are so zany that they satisfy the viewer the same way an entirely original character would.

The only complaint to be given is that the second half of the movie was never destined to live up to the first. While it is fulfilling from a plot perspective, it comedic set pieces at the beginning outshine the handful at the end.

The Princess Bride receives from me four out of five tokens of approval, but it must be said that it’s a classic four out of five.