Amazon Prime Video adds Heath Ledger medieval comedy the family will love

There are some movies that we always return to. A cinematic warm hug that however we're feeling can't help but raise a smile and just in time for the bitterness of Winter, one of the best feel-good movies out there has landed on Amazon Prime Video. 

Free up a (k)night in your schedule and watch this movie. Sorry, but I promise that A Knight's Tale is much funnier than that joke. A 2001 classic starring the late great Heath Ledger, there's something for everyone to enjoy. And I do mean that. Want epic jousting? You got it. A sweet romance? Check. A sardonic Geoffrey Chaucer acting as a wannabe hype-man? Weirdly specific but we've got that too, played by the superb Paul Bettany. 

Ledger plays Will, a lowly squire with a natural gift for jousting, but lacks the noble blood to be allowed to compete. After seizing an opportunity to compete, he finds himself impersonating a knight and winding up on the circuit, amongst superstar nobles, the Premier League footballers of the time. As is always the way, this puts a few noses out of joint, not least the dastardly Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell). 

It's a fairly generic setup for what is actually a pretty silly movie. This is no period drama. Crowds sing Queen songs and the soundtrack is full of unlikely rock classics (ACDC, Eric Clapton, Bowie and more). It helps having Alan Tudyk, and Mark Addy, two brilliant comedic actors, in supporting roles. 

In the writer/director's chair is a man with plenty of pedigree. Brian Helgeland also directed the Kray twins biopic Legend but is probably best known as the writer of both L.A Confidential and Mystic River, that's quite the CV. 

Rotten Tomatoes is normally a pretty good measure of a movie but the 59% critic score for this film is a travesty all told, and the 79% audience rating is still lower than it should be. 

If you're after the latest big-name additions to Netflix and Prime Video this January, we've got you covered too. 

PSA: In the US A Knight's Tale is streaming on Hulu - go and watch it!