by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
Dating in the modern age is hard enough, especially with social media and seemingly no one having a private life. It’s complicated to date for anyone whose personal life is on full display, as in celebrities, political people, or their children, which is where Amazon Prime’s newest movie takes us. Red, White & Royal Blue asks the question, what if the son of the sitting U.S. President fell in love with the Prince of England?
The film follows Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the son of U.S. President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), and after a fiasco at a royal wedding involving Alex and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), the PR teams for both countries force the pair into a friendship. This friendship blossoms into a romance which forces both men out of the closet, and Henry to come to terms with who he is and lose everything in his life. Prince Henry is considered the “spare,” since he is the second son, but the Prince still can’t be gay. He has to risk everything to be with the man he loves. The President is beginning a reelection year — could this be a scandal that would cause her to lose? So many things are on the table that both men could lose, but don’t they deserve to have a private life?
Romantic stories are something I truly love; I have seen so many of them that I jumped at a chance to check this movie out. Although the political side of things almost turned me away, I am glad to have seen it. The film is funny, full of heart, and is most definitely one I will check out again. Based on the book of the same name by Casey McQuiston, the screenplay was penned by director Matthew López along with Ted Malawer. The story is beautiful — it doesn’t just seem like another cheap Wattpad story like so many other cheesy romance movies of late. It has so much heart, and will have you rooting for Alex and Henry to make it by the end of the movie. Their relationship puts so much on the line for both of them, and it breaks your heart to think there has to be some drama added to the story.
The fact that both of these characters are extremely wealthy and can spend part of the movie flying back in forth between countries at ease to spend time with each other makes it hard to sympathize with them on face value, but Perez and Galitzine play them so well that you can easily sympathize with them despite their status. López does a fantastic job of bringing the best out of his actors and making this story memorable. In the world we live in, having a queer relationship is hard, especially if you are a public figure, and there are people out there who believe that all aspects of your life are to be viewed by all.
Robbie Taylor Hunt also deserves praise as the movie’s intimacy coordinator. It’s a very new role in film and TV production, but one that is truly crucial to all movies, especially this one. Given the nature of the film, there are some spicy scenes, as there are in the book, and Hunt does a fantastic job with these scenes. They feel like interactions between two lovers, and not just two people pretending to have sex. This is why I have started to look if a film production has an intimacy coordinator, not only because they make the movie that much better, but because they are needed so that everyone involved in a scene is comfortable.
Red, White & Royal Blue is a lot better than I thought it was going to be, and I enjoyed spending my Sunday afternoon watching it. It is a very positive LGBTQIA+ film, not just if you are a part of the community, but also if you and your partner are looking for a great romantic movie to check out. It takes everything to heart, and treats it seriously. I will be adding it to my list of films to check out during Pride Month every year.
Rating: Liked It
Red, White & Royal Blue is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
You can read more from Austen Terry, or follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd