Your experience with Prime Video’s Red, White & Royal Blue might depend on your relationship to fluffy, harmless romantic comedies in general. The tale of two sons of very public figures secretly falling in love might make you swoon or roll your eyes. Either way, I am here to reinforce that Matthew López’s film is traditional in its set-up and some mechanics, but it has important messaging at its core.
Alex Claremont-Diaz (First Son of the President of the United State) and (His Royal Highness) Prince Henry are tasked to calm the waves of a PR tsunami when their bickering at the Royal Wedding climaxes with the wedding cake toppling over on top of them (enter creampie joke here). With Alex’s mother, Ellen Claremont (Uma freaking Thurman), facing re-election in a little over a year, these two studs in the public eye are forced to play nice and a undercover romance (eventually) blossoms.
Alex (played by Taylor Zakhar Perez) has some political aspirations underneath his jock-ish charms while Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) abides by tradition and what his family’s legacy asks of him. Those of us who devoured The Crown will be triggered by the Royal Family’s reluctance to allow anyone lead by the heart. Their bickering falls away to online flirtation and eventual confession that they both harbor lustful feelings for one another. Clandestine hook ups occur at posh parties (very America) and polo matches (quite British).
While I expected Alex to be a tad more book-ish, I am not going to complain about the presence of Zakhar Perez, an actor who seems to be game for anything. Galitzine is quieter and more reserved, but López’s film succeeds the most when they are on screen together. López is hot off a Tony nomination for Book of a Musical for Some Like It Hot and a win for his sprawling, labyrinthine play The Inheritance. Any script that allows Thurman–with her Southern drawl that can only be identified as a combination of Blanche Devereaux and Beverly Leslie–to mention bottoming and Truvada is good in my book. Fans of the book might miss the presence of Alex’s sister, June, and their stepdad, Leo, as they are no where to be found in this adaptation of Casey McQuistion’s mega-popular book. Stephen Fry, a beloved queen, pops up later as Henry’s grandfather, the King of England.
Is the old school rom-com dead? Not necessarily. Red, White & Royal Blue wants you to have fun and give gay men the storybook romance they have been told for decades that they aren’t worthy of having while exploring the issues of coming out and privacy. Many of us will take globe-trotting excursions to Paris with these two men, thank you very much. Let yourself be swept off your feet.
Red, White & Royal Blue streams on Prime Video starting on August 11.
