You know, if A Knight’s Tale was a low budget find, I could understand why critics might embrace the effort.  Brian Helgeland has attempted to mix the past with the modern and to charm us all the way.  Unfortunately, this would have taken an act of inspiration and a touch of genius.  And Helgeland displays neither with this film.  His efforts as a director are definitively inferior to the uneven, but sharp work in Payback.  And his screenplay is easily his worst effort ever, though I have never seen Highway to Hell, so maybe I’m overstating.