YMMV / A Knight's Tale

• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • Widows of blacksmiths and other tradesmen really did take up the job — not just the Politically Correct History you may have thought (not that it would have been out of place). Blacksmiths paid their taxes to the local feudal lord in arrowheads instead of gold, so nearly all blacksmiths' wives were trained in basic smithing so they could make arrowheads and free up their husband to do the earning jobs. The blacksmiths' guild had a rule that if a blacksmith died his widow would be allowed to continue working in the trade to support herself and any children (which is why Kate is established as being a widow).
  • The real Ulrich Von Lichtenstein — yes there was a real one! — was a 13th c. knight who, on one occasion in his career of errantry, rode the tournament circuit in the guise of 'Queen Venus' complete with silk gown over his armor and long braids of false hair dangled beneath his helmet. He was a huge hit and the tour a massive success with a final score of three hundred broken lances without a single fall. Somebody really did their research to unearth Ulrich. That or they read the Horrible Histories book on knights.
• Awesome Music:
  • The songs the rest of the Five-Man Band sing in a tavern about William (to the tune of The Quartermaster's Song ).
    He's blonde/he's pissed/he'll see you in the lists/Lichtenstein/Lichtenstein!
    He's blonde/he's tanned/he comes from Gelderland/He comes from Gel-der-land!
  • Chaucer has a solo act later, when collecting the group's money from the Frenchmen betting against William.
    Chaucer: He's quick/he's funny/he makes me lots of money/Lichtenstein/Lichtenstein...
  • The soundtrack in general. The opening set to Queen's "We Will Rock You," concluding with the epic Brian May guitar solo (apparently, in-universe, played on a trumpet). David Bowie's "Golden Years" highlighting the romantic dance between William and Jocelyn, and "The Boys Are Back In Town" as the knights ride in to London for the World Championships.
  • The credits also has You Shook Me All Night Long briefly playing.
• Base-Breaking Character: Jocelyn gets a lot of hate from people who dislike William's constant showering of her with praise, as well as a role as The Obstructive Love Interest - or from people who just prefer Kate. But there are others who think her relationship with William is still very sweet, and she does get some of the best lines in the film. A lot of Jocelyn hate tends to come from Die for Our Ship.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Just before his eventual defeat Adhemar imagines Wat, Roland, Kate, Chaucer and William delivering an Ironic Echo of the speech he gave William. It's would've made more sense as a Flash Forward, but the director confirmed it was an Imagine Spot.
• Cliché Storm: Some would argue that there isn't very much that's original in this film beyond the main gimmick. Troperiffic clearly comes into play however.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Prince Edward, big time, all due to him not only being a heroic Magnificent Bastard, but also being similar to William, and finally giving him an Awesome Moment Of Knighting, all to repay his kindness.
  • Jocelyn's lady-in-waiting Christiana is quite popular among fans, despite being a side character who has only minimal lines. A lot of fans state that they found her to be prettier than Jocelyn, and use her in ships.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Quite possibly deliberate, according to the DVD Commentary.
• Fridge Brilliance: The classic rock soundtrack. On the commentary, the director admits it's a kind of audible Translation Convention, to show that people in the middle ages thought their music was just as fun as we think ours is today. But at the time the film was released, the songs used were twenty years out of date. It's still an awesome selection of hits, but also puts you in the mindset of "the past," fitting oddly well with a period film that's fun and lighthearted.
• Genius Bonus:
  • There is no record of what happened to Geoffrey Chaucer for a year in his life, and this film is implied to take place in this year. At the end of the film, he says I Should Write a Book About This, and indeed 'The Knight's Tale' is the first chapter in The Canterbury Tales.
  • Geoff also tells two men that he will get revenge on them by humiliating them in fiction. These two men are Peter the Pardoner and Simon the Summoner, who both appear in The Canterbury Tales too.
  • Jocelyn's challenge for Will to lose the tournament and prove his love for her is a direct Shout-Out to the 12th century poem Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One of Chaucer's Red Barons for William is "the seeker of serenity". Wat is played by Alan Tudyk, star of Firefly and its film adaptation Serenity.
  • During the training montage Roland helps Wat to keep a shield steady; that shield has a sigil of a stag on it (Sir Ector's coat of arms). Roland is played by Mark Addy, who would later star in Game of Thrones as Robert Baratheon, whose House uses the sigil of a stag.
  • For another Game of Thrones reference, William being a knight with long blond hair has led to screencaps of him being with Roland being jokingly used that it's a picture of a young Robert Baratheon and still-alive Rhaegar Targaryen.
  • For a third Game of Thrones reference, a major plot point of this film is Prince Edward jousting under an assumed name, and those who find out (except Will) withdrawing rather than endanger a member of the royal family. In Game of Thrones, Robert Baratheon wants to compete in his own tournament (though in the melee, not the joust), and Ned Stark has to spell out that everyone would let him win rather than strike their king.
• Ho Yay:
  • Chaucer and Wat. They are also a major ship in the fandom.
  • Ok check out about 2:34 of this. Kick, my foot.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: There's fanfiction of Kate/Will, Kate/Wat, Kate/Chaucer, Kate/Roland, and Kate/Adhemar.
• Memetic Mutation: Chaucer's calling William "The seeker of serenity" has been fodder for mashups with Firefly , usually with Wat or William asking each other "did he mean me or you"?
• Narm:
  • During the final joust, there's WIIILIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! It doesn't help that the line is said by William himself.
  • Only for Dutch audiences, but Gelderland is a real province in the Netherlands. So its status as a made up homeland for William caused many unplanned laughs.
• Narm Charm: The romantic dialogue is quite silly in places but still works since William's supposed to be struggling with expressing his feelings. Especially hilarious is when he's fumbling over words and manages to spurt out "Your breasts! They are ... below your throat."
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Paul Bettany as Chaucer. He later achieved greater fame playing The Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • Bérénice Bejo, who plays the handmaiden Christiana, also starred in the surprise Best Picture winner The Artist in 2011.
  • Alan Tudyk (Wat) is better remembered for Firefly and his voice acting roles.
  • Ten years after this film, Mark Addy went from playing the peasant Roland to King Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones. The priest who thinks Jocelyn is So Beautiful, It's a Curse is played by Roger Ashton-Griffiths, who played Mace Tyrell later in the series.
  • Laura Fraser (Kate) is now best known for playing Lydia Rodarte-Quayle in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
• Special Effects Failure: It's painfully obvious when the stuntmen take their lance off-target, just because the script says they lose that round.
• What the Hell, Costuming Department?: One of Jocelyn's outfits looks like she's wearing a lampshade on her head.

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