Making a film intentionally anachronistic can work, and A Knight’s Tale is really no better example. Using classic rock songs, modern language, which also filters into the styles and production design, A Knight’s Tale is a medieval take on the sports movie.

And despite not having seen it for a couple of decades at this point, rewatching it now, it still works like gangbusters. You get your training montages, your cheering crowds, your villain, your love interest, and a team taking on the odds. Damn this one is enjoyable.

Heath Ledger, reminding us once again what we lost with his passing, is charming, engaging, funny, vulnerable, and courageous as William Thatcher. William is a peasant, longing to change his stars, when opportunity presents itself. His master passes, and William takes his place in the jousting arena, a realm reserved for nobility only, knights.

William is not a night, but his friends, Roland (Mark Addy), Wat (Alan Tudyk), Kate (Laura Fraser) and Geoffrey Chaucer (!) (Paul Bettany), will help create a new persona, and he’ll enter the lists, fighting for the gold to change their lives, and compete.

As William gains acclaim as Sir Ulrich, and his pit team works on turning him into a legend, things get complicated with the arrival of two characters, the love interest – Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon), and the villainous, unafraid to cheat competitor and all-time champ, Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell).

Filled with wit, and a surprising amount of heart, the film features needle drops to elicit the emotions you would expect the people of the time were going through. It’s a nice use of music. We may not dance to lutes, and such, but Bowie and Queen we can always get down to.

It’s brightly shot, and while there are a couple of iffy greenscreen moments, most of the film stands the test of time because of the sharp writing, and the performances – not to mention music. There’s a real sense of chemistry between Ledger, Addy Tudyk and Betttany, you believe in them. And you can’t help but delight with every heraldic call Chaucer delivers for William.

There are songs for the players, chants much like in football (soccer for some), face painting, jerseys, there are triumphs and failures and a love story that has some spark. There’s a combative feel to the relationship as if Jocelyn were closer to the modern woman than the women of the time, or at least realizes the constraints of women at the time and fights against them, at least in the realm of love if nowhere else.

It’s a damned fun film and I can’t believe I’ve not watched it since it came out. It’s a delight. Check it out if you want a different kind of sports movie, with a rom-com touch.