A Knight's Tale is a curious movie. You either get it or you don't. If you don't get it, you are in for a tedious two hours. It won't take long to decide whether or not you are the type of person who can accept Queen's "We Will Rock You" sung by peasants at a jousting tournament or not. The soundtrack, along with several other contemporary references, exists side by side with the medieval element. No explanation is given for this. You just have to be "cool" enough to deal with it.

Once you have decided to be cool, you can take in the very medieval dilemma of William (Heath Ledger), lowly servant to a knight. William seeks to "change his stars" - a feat made possible when his boss dies, and he is able to joust in his place. This is a huge risk, as pointed out by his fellow servants, Roland and Wat (Mark Addy and Alan Tudyk). Jousting is a sport exclusively for the high born, and a peasant such as William could be put to death for attempting it.

After pulling off the deception, William is inspired to continue jousting, and conveniently comes across a naked Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany), who just happens to specialize in forging certificates of royal birth. Disguised as a knight, William is free to joust away, and joust he does. The two hour film shoots these scenes from every angle, but essentially, jousting is riding a horse carrying a big stick, and after the first few times, you wind up hoping for some sword fights, fist fights... anything?

At this point, William meets and inexplicably falls for the lady Jocelyn (newcomer Shannyn Sossamon), a young woman so self possessed and irritating she seems less a love interest than a villain. Alas, that role is filled by Rufus Sewell. His Count Adhemar wears black armor and scowls frequently - he's also the land's jousting champion and Jocelyn's suitor. The only question is what 70s rock anthem will be playing in the background when he goes down.

Bogged down by an overstuffed plot and slow pacing, A Knight's Tale would have been served better had director Brian Helgeland stood by his gimmick more often. As jarring as the modern elements could be, they gave the film momentum sadly missed during the more serious stretches. Rock and roll can exist in an MTV version of knighthood, but not side by side with heavy handed dramas about class struggle.

As William, Heath Ledger bears most of the burden for making this work, but his hero is a humorless zealot, unable to mesh well with the other characters. The lack of chemistry between Ledger and Sossamon makes their tacked on love story even less interesting - would he really cross the street for her, much less abandon his dreams for her? More interesting are the supporting characters, most memorably Paul Bettany's unselfconscious portrayal of Chaucer - a cross between Hugh Grant and P.T. Barnum.

A Knight's Tale flounders because it loses faith in its direction. For all appearances, it is a fun, fluff film made almost exclusively for "TRL" viewers. Why then, would it be over two hours long? A film starring Heath Ledger with a rock soundtrack should be a breezy joyride, not a tedious slog through the mud. In summer films as it is in jousting - the last thing you should do is miss the point.

Photo copyright: Columbia Tristar.