A decently little comedy staring John Goodmen who is granted the status of king when every royal member in his family dies. While Goodman is a great actor I couldn't help but picture John Candy in the role. Where Ralph breaks an expensive plays its straight from uncle Buck and his whole personality with the casino scene fits Candy to a T. Another aspect of the story I loved was his conflict of interest between Ralph and Miranda. A king isn't allowed to date a stripper and this he must make a choice between her or giving the throne to his evil rival. It was exciting to see how it would all turn out as it wouldn't effect one person, but a whole country. Lets face it I'm a stickler for happy endings so I was glade he ended up with the girl, found a great replacement and kept a title.The sets, glamour and costumes all seem legit on such a small budget and adds to the realism. King Ralph isn't a barrow of laughs, but subtle and thought out. Let his royal highness sweep you away.

at first sigh, an amusing lesson about royalty. in fact, a kind of parable with flavor of fairy tale who remands the essence of democracy under the British aspects. a comedy who translate the duties of monarch, it has the chance of perfect cast who gives to cultural differences precise marks. a film about the duties and solutions, about a metamorphose and about the spirit of a nation. seductive and amusing. little gem by Peter O 'Toole and a rich nuanced character by John Goodman. a film for laugh and for reflection. easy and clear, far to be great but not series product, interesting and not too complicated. a movie " ad usum delphini".

John Goodman is Ralph, an American lounge singer who is the last distant relative of the royal family of Wyndham who are electrocuted by a photographer in a freak accident. He is told by some British detectives that he is the grandson of a duke who had a fling with a hotel maid, and now he is the king. He is flown to England and given a crash course in their history and culture. He meets a stripper, Miranda Greene at a club and asks her out. She hides in the background while he assumes the throne. He becomes popular, as a plain speaking blue collar guy. A marriage to a Princess Anna of Finland is arranged but he hears her deep voice and is quickly turned off. He instead hooks up with Miranda and eventually abdicates the throne. In between, he plays cricket, imitating his hero, Babe Ruth, and sings Good Golly Miss Molly, while playing a harpsichord. Goodman reminds me of John Candy, with the same affable manner. King Ralph works as a light comedy.

I can't help but chuckle every time I see this film, but I know that just the thought of something like this happening makes about 100 people with calculators sit up and start crunching numbers of the possibility of something like this happening.John Goodman plays a down on his luck performer that, as it turns out, goes from distant family to the throne of England to instant family on the throne. The only problem is that he's had no refinement and leaves a lot to be desired in the courtesy department. If one plus one equals two, then this combination equals a comedy that can't be matched...on ANY level.I'm not saying this is the best comedy of all time, but what I am saying is that this film, if you rent it, is a nice quiet evening that will not offend many people and leaves the lead actor in a familiar base for him: a place where he's supposed to seem unfamiliar. Everybody remembers him as Dan Connor, but how many of you reading this remember he was the head football coach in Revenge of the Nerds? Goodman was an excellent choice for this part because of his range as an actor and his on-screen chemistry with Camille Coduri was priceless, too, as I felt that they represented the kind of relationship that everybody would like.So, hats off (or crowns, if you will) to David S Ward for this film. I just got in here to give this comment and my next stop is to see what else this director has done. 7 out of 10 stars.