The Daily Stream: A Knight's Tale is a delightfully anachronistic comedy with a big message

It may sound like some sort of simple fantasy tale of knights and ladies, battle and glory, but it's not. It's all in there, but it's liberally sprinkled with modern, vernacular music and sensibilities. I know anachronisms can hurt people the wrong way in movies, but this isn't a Starbucks mug in a scene from "Game of Thrones." No one is trying to claim this is historically accurate, despite having real people like The Black Prince (James Purefoy) as the characters.

The woman William falls in love with - Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) - sports makeup, crazy hairstyles and dresses that would have shocked people in the 14th century. We have a blacksmith named Kate (Lauren Fraser) who is here not for love, but as a friend and colleague. (Many women took up jobs after the death of their male relatives, but having a profession like this was very rare.) They dance to David Bowie's "Golden Years" at a ball. In fact, the movie's soundtrack includes songs like Queen's "We Will Rock You," Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town," and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."

We have all the trappings of a fairy tale, with a noble peasant who becomes a knight, a bard, battles, love and great speeches, but what we also have are characters who would never have been part of a story like this if it was accurate at the time. Jocelyne does not hesitate to sleep with William. The gang confront Kate after a tiny bit of resistance. A prince is impressed with a peasant and does something about it.