”Red, White & Royal Blue” is a royal rom-com that follows the fictional relationship between a President’s son and a prince.
“Love gets royally complicated.” That is the tagline for one of Amazon’s most popular films right now streaming on the platform giant. Does anyone not know a time when love wasn’t complicated? I sure as sugar do not!
Red, White & Royal Blue is based on a bestselling novel by Casey McQuiston of the same name. It follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the first female president of the United States, played by Uma Thurman (Beautiful Girls), and his very public rivalry with the young English Prince Henry.
The royal Prince Henry himself, played by Nicholas Galitzine (Cinderella 2021), is as dashing as he is classy. But the arrangement goes awry when both male figures start to fall for one another, breaking public stereotypes and most certainly the rules of engagement while in the public eye.
This very successful Amazon film raises some eyebrows and some solid questions in these trying times that we are currently living, depending on where your address in this country lies and your political affiliation for that matter. Red, White & Royal Blue was as charming as the day is long, even if it does sort of play out like a sugary sweet that could have been a Lifetime Channel movie. Gear up my readers, because those easy to digest Lifetime Christmas flicks will be starting to air in just under two months, believe it or not!
This off-beat romantic comedy was charming, cheeky (literally speaking!), but questionable in its believability factor. It felt like a fairy tale of sorts, just unconventional. I suppose it was a breath of fresh air from the typical mainstream hard-hitting LGBTQ+ dramas like Boys Don’t Cry or Brokeback Mountain though. But with the current events circling around my head as I write this review, I can’t help but be bothered by just how “clean” this one feels, making it not overly convincing.
We now once again as a society have back-peddled in terms of humanity. As you may have heard, just weeks ago, a female shop owner in California was shot and killed for refusing to take down her pride flag that was hanging outside her place of business. The kicker was she wasn’t even identified as gay herself, just an advocate. This also comes during the same time frame as a 28-year-old Black man in Brooklyn was killed for innocently Voguing outside a gas station as he was perceived to be openly gay by his perpetrators. I hear many friends and acquaintances who say they support gay rights, but then choose to openly vote for a political platform that makes it their mission to roll back those very rights. So, is that true support I ask? I guess I will leave that for you to decide…
The word on the street is that this film is very fast moving in comparison to the book itself, which I have not had the pleasure of reading. So, if you are looking to maybe dive a little deeper and get into some real content, maybe try the paperback edition first. Upon further review, I do think this one would have made for a better mini-series as opposed to a feature film, but que sera, sera. Once in a while its nice to watch something not so complicated, and maybe, just maybe “Once upon a time”, love won’t be.. .
“Red, White & Royal Blue” starring: Uma Thurman
Christopher’s “Meow” Score: “8” paws out of 10.
