Home Movie: The Princess Bride

If you’ve ever wondered what you might get by challenging a bunch of big-name celebs with a movie remake on a nonexistent budget, then you’re in luck. Enter Home Movie: The Princess Bride, a total oddity in traditional entertainment but oddly satisfying nonetheless. There’s nothing perfect or even polished about it. Despite the fact that it’s a word-for-word copy of the original story, it’s full of unpredictable twists like gender-swapping character presentations, cameos by actors’ kids, and family pets in supporting roles. Action figures and toy building sets help stage stunts that exceed the lack of budget (The Cliffs of Insanity, for one), and imagination and humor helps fill in the rest. 

This fan-film version of The Princess Bride is designed for viewers with a better-than-average knowledge of the original movie, as the constant cast changes make it almost impossible to follow otherwise. Even with a good recollection of the story and dialogue for context, the option to watch in split-screen alongside pictures and reference notes from the film is a help in identifying both the characters and the multitude of actors who appear. As for the individual performances, some are decidedly better than others. Some fail to wow, while others -- like Patton Oswalt’s version of the lispy and cackling Vizzini -- utterly delight.