Purists be damned.

Brian Helgeland's A Knight's Tale is no stodgy history lesson.

It's a rousing tribute to sporting events regardless of era or rules.

The combatants in A Knight's Tale may be carrying lances and riding horses, but they could just as well be wrestlers, boxers, footballers or race car drivers.

That's Helgeland's premise and he pulls out all the stops to make his point that times may change, but people don't. They still love to go to major sporting events. They love rooting for the underdog and they love all the pomp, fun and ceremony. It takes Helgeland only a few minutes to set the scene.

The first jousting match shows the spectators belting Queen's We Will Rock You and making a wave. It's this kind of playful irreverence that makes A Knight's Tale such an unexpected delight.

In a summer that promises some true heavy weight competition, A Knight's Tale emerges a promising thoroughbred.

William (Heath Ledger) is a poor squire who can only dream of being a knight. Then fate intercedes. His master dies in the middle of a tournament, so William fills in and wins the trophy. It's a small competition in a little town, but the win whets William's appetite.

He and fellow-squires Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk) invent a knight known as Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland and set off to participate in the major tournaments.

They are soon joined in their deception by a young poet named Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) who is able to forge all the documents they need. Helgeland may stage his jousts to a new beat, but he doesn't stray all that far from a tried-and-true plot.

William falls in love with a beautiful, upper class, aloof beauty named Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon). He immediately locks horns with the reigning champion, the black-hearted Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell). The two men become rivals for the top prize and the hand of Jocelyn.

Helgeland doesn't play all his cards this obviously. Through flashbacks he introduces William's father (Christopher Cazenove) a humble Thatcher who was forced to apprentice his only child because he could not afford to raise him properly.

Ledger proves he has the mettle to carry a film. He's handsome but also rugged enough to be believed as a jouster. He gives William a cocky attitude that spells disaster. This is a kid who has to learn life's lessons the hard way.

Sossamon is the requisite ethereal beauty. She's an ice queen who never fully thaws which may be the requirement of the script or the inexperience of the actress.

As the wily, effusive Chaucer, Bettany steals every scene he's in. It's the most audacious performance since Rhys Ifans upstaged Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in Notting Hill.

Like a sport event, A Knight's Tale is a genuine crowd-pleaser that manipulates its audiences knowing full well that's precisely what they want. (More on: A Knight's Tale).

(This film is rated PG)

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