3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’:
The scenes before the beginning credits led me to believe this would be an intolerable, corny, cheese-fest of a film. I was wrong. This was heartwarming, well-done, and didn’t shy away from much. And I would love to revisit these characters again.
It was great to see Uma Thurman! Her president’s reaction to her son’s news was EVERYTHING. Sincerely beautiful.
I particularly enjoyed the scene of them texting / talking to each other while separated, the way it was put together. Envisioning them in the same room, the same bed. Appearing and vanishing. That’s when I started to realize this movie was actually pretty smart.
Bonus Thought: That journalist is a total POS. We’ve all met this guy.
This rating is from the perspective of a fan of the book.
1 star for Prince Henry casting.
1 star for If I Loved You, so appropriate to use an old song for the prince
1 star for Alex's speech post hacking scandal.
1 star for scene with the king, Stephen Fry did an outstanding job chewing up the scene.
Uma Thurman was underutilised, like the rest of the supporting cast.
So disappointing. I hope the author at least made a truckload of money out of this disaster.
Well it's a lovely queer movie. If I compare it with the book there are many moments and characters missing. I think it would have been better to make a (mini) series to have more time to tell the story. It often felt rushed. But there are still not enough happy queer movies and I still enjoyed it.
One thing that bugged me was that the book was so hopeful when they were out because of the support they got from the (queer) public. Taking one step back from the personal level would have made much more of an impact.
(I still need a shirt with "History, huh?" on it.)
I have read the book more than once and I've watched this movie an ungodly amount of times. Is it a perfect adaptation? No. Is it amazing? YES. IT IS SAPPY, IT IS ROMANTIC, IT IS HEARTWARMING, IT IS GAY AND I LOVE IT. Seeing some Bi-rep makes me so happy and a happy ending, a good rep for gay relationships (and safe sex!!) AND CUTE PLOT? I LOVE IT.
Way better than I thought it was going to be. I saw it advertised on TV and it looked rather bland. But when a friend tonight suggested we watch it, I figured we might as well give it a go. I've got to admit, it's something that's never crossed my mind, perhaps coz I'm not particularly a Royalist. But it's never occurred to me that there will have been and will continue to be many gay or bi-sexual Royals who have had to hide their sexuality for public image. Same goes with politicians and arguably anyone under the spotlight. In an ideal world, nobody SHOULD have to hide who they are and this film brings up a very good point. I love the speech that Alex makes when their sexuality is exposed to the world as I agreed with every word. I won't repeat it here (my memory's not THAT good.) But watch it and if you're a half decent human being, you'd agree with it too. The acting by every actor was brilliant and believable and as other comments have stated, the chemistry between Alex and Henry (Taylor and Nicholas) was very well portrayed. Plus, I've gotta admit, it's worth watching the film just for the eye candy.
Cute rom-com. A queer fairy tale. So glad our culture is progressing to the point that something like this can be mainstream. Baby steps.
it’s so nice to see a queer movie teetering on the precipice of cringey instead of depressing!! that being said some dialogue did have me full body wincing
Shallow. Problematic consent. Zero chemistry. Confuses lust with true romantic connection. A missed opportunity.
gif of Michelle Visage waving her hand above her head YESSSSSSSS
I had a lot of fun with this movie. They were totally adorable and I was really rooting for them the whole way through. That being said I did cringe at times and occasionally the script was too cheesy to handle.
I'm not gonna say this movie gave me a headache but I did get the worst tension headache I've had in a while during this movie.
I don't remember the dialogue being this cringey in the book so I don't know what that's all about but it was Bad with a capital B. I also don't believe for a second that these two love each other. I like hot people as much as the next person but please bring back chemistry tests. I don't even care if they're ugly just make me believe they want each other please i beg.
There's also the god awful acting, not to mention Uma Thurman's accent???
The soundtrack kind off fucked severely though, in a semi-ironic way.
A perfectly pleasant romcom where the cheesiness is part of the charm and the leads have palpable chemistry. That’s all you really need when you’re having a bit of depression late at night. We’re now getting queer romcoms to fill that function. How far we’ve come.
They had NO chemistry. And I’m not even good at rating acting. I’ve seen frat pledges give more sentimental hugs
I feel bad about doing this, but in the interest of honesty and as a public service to those in the community who haven't seen it, here it is. This movie SUCKED BAD. Aside from it being just a ridonkulously absurd story, the execution of this film was TERRIBLE. The casting, other than the price who was quite good, is atrocious. Uma was awful (sorry Uma) and the dude cast as the Presidents son couldn't act his way out of a paper bag if his life depended on it.
Just take the scene where their relationship is first discovered by the Presidential aide. Her acting (and using the word acting is a big stretch) is among the worst I've seen, and I've seen Tori Spelling act. That scene alone will make you want to poke your own eyes out.
Another huge mistake was the big deal made out of the principals use of an intimacy coach to "nail the chemistry". If the complete lack of chemistry between these two is the result of that intimacy coaching, I'd hate to think how hostile they were to each other BEFORE the coaching. They have ZERO chemistry. None, nadda, zilch, zip.
This script is enough to undo any good will towards writers who are on currently on strike. There is actually, no joke, a line uttered by the prince where he says he's "as gay as a maypole". If that line were gay classical music, Liberace would have refused to play it. I've never in my life met a guy, even on the outer Kuiper belt, Rip Taylor extreme fringes of the gay spectrum actually gay enough to deliver a stupid line like that.....yet there it was. Absurd in the extreme.
This isn't 20, or even 10 years ago. There is plenty of quality gay cinema at this point (Being 17, The Way He Looks, Call Me By Your Name) so no more passes will be given for shit films. This one is two giant scoops of it. Much like a couple hours of watching Hannity or Tucker Carlson, you will actually be less intelligent at the end of this film just from having to sit through it.
It's woke, broke and not worth a toke.
Definitely suffers from "the book was better" syndrome. The leads were good for what they were given but not the best casting choices, imo. The actors are just too old. Good on Amazon for making this happen though as there's too few gay love stories being told in the mass media, especially with explicit scenes.
This was…lovely, yet a disappointment. There were definitely highs, and great moments — Zahra’s scenes, the emails, the ending, most things from the book — but a lot fell flat, including the chemistry between the leads. The spark and connection between them died down whenever there intimate moments; not exactly what you want from a romance. And a lot of their innuendos and banter came off cringy rather than adorable or age-appropriate. Overall a letdown, but still glad I experienced it. Okay, now off to reread the book…
I haven't read the book, so I'm just judging this movie on its own.
I'd say it was just okay. Initially it seemed like it was going to be one of those movies where everyone has this annoying fake way of talking, but it got better later on. The plot is decent. There were some moments/lines that I found incredibly cringy, but that might just be because I'm not all that into the romance genre.
As an uncultured gay, it pains me to admit that I have not read the novel and I have nothing to compare this adaptation to, but my own expectations and this movie totally meets them. The chemistry between the two leads, the back and forth banter, the well-portrayed and sensual sex scenes; it is a 10 out of 10 recommendation.
Fuck, this was a bit of a letdown. I was so hyped. The book was so good. The trailer seemed good. They just cut out too many moments and too many people. It felt so fake, especially Nora and Zahra's characters, and how they reacted to things was just awkward.
Everything was way too rushed.
It had its good moments but damn, I'm dissapointed.
I was not able to get past Uma Thurman’s “Texan” accent. It was a mix of Pre-Cival War Georgia and cartoon cowboy. Quite a distraction. The movie overall was a decent gay story of posh royal trapped in his stately role and brat son of a politician wondering why things don’t go exactly as he wants. Also, everyone has unlimited sky miles to go wherever they want. Decent movie to watch while you’re doing something else.
I never read the book but always thought it would be a rom-com, but damn, the movie was deep.
God, I’m such a sucker for a well done (and slightly cheesy) queer romcom.
I had read the book a while ago and was not a huge fan. The movie is alright as long as one does not expect too much. Nice to see Stephen Fry in it—even though his role is a bit weird. Some details were left out but I guess that makes sense for an adaptation. Ended up being 2h long anyway. Could not have been as enjoyable if it had been much longer.
What a great feel good movie! But then again, I’m playing for the same team :wink:
Trust me, this is the worst movie ever.
I haven't read the book but I can confidently say the movie is a pile of poorly acted rubbish.
7/10 fair
I don’t know the book so have nothing to compare it too!!!!
For the topic it covers This is a good film, Prince Henry was very well cast and he’s characteristics were spot on.
The whole story telling was perfect and treated with full respect for the subject material.
We have none of the over the top stereotypical one fits all interpretation of a gay lover story, what we get is a honest telling of what it would be like…..
As for my score 7/10 I honestly believe I would score any other movie the same way, the only gripe I would have is the one sex scene went 10% to far for me, but again I’d say the same if it was a heterosexual couple.
Guess I’m just a prude over this kind of scene lol……
Thank you for this gay love story and telling it in a perfect way…..
The last half an hour made up for the whole movie
Such a sweet film, I loved it
i didn't read the book (yet) but the film is cool tho everything happens a bit too fast
The book of course was so much better. The characters were richer and funnier. The story was smooth. Here things were rushed. We didn't learn enough about Alex or Henry. I laugh and cry at both book and movie adaptation. But more at the book where i through also some anger at the end. I missed Alex's sister at the movie, the family and friendship dynamics. They have 2 hours which surprised me and still rushed everything. This would be better as a tv series
This was definitely missing the build-up, depth and charm of the book. The acting was also very stiff/awkward, and their chemistry was practically non-existent. Henry was a lot more annoying in the movie as well, and I hate that he didn’t seem to love Alex back as much. This just felt rushed, and honestly could have been so much better.
Read the book it’s way better
My comments about this movie are related to positioning during lovemaking. It seems wrong to talk about that, but one of the guys was a prince and the other was not.
I guess I was not prepared for a prince to be shown as a receptive partner.
After so many years of movies and books with fantasies about princes, I expected him to play a more active role. I accepted the movie's depiction mainly, because it seemed the prince did enjoy himself. But I still wondered if they would ever share the responsibility.
The prince had so much more to lose involving his stature in society and was also willing to be more sexually vulnerable to the American. He was able to comfort the American when the boy expressed his fears of "who's going to do what," in the bedroom. He didn't tell the American, "I'll be gentle," like I would have expected of him. No, he took the whole burden on to himself. He expressed being a princely lover in the receptive way. I don't know, however, if the American appreciated it enough.
The American often teased the prince by calling him "Your Majesty," but he didn't seem to harbor any fantasies of making love with a prince. He even said, "Who says make love?" He didn't even seem to be excited by seeing the prince in his fancy royal attire. He really treated the prince like just any other boy.
The movie is a utopia , clearly, Texas Democrat, never. It's a fair movie. But not a family one, and that's okay.
very good film, it is very good to see the LGBTQIA+ community being represented in such a good way, most are always sad or with something tragic so it is very good to see a film focused on the development of a relationship and having a happy ending, loved it.
It made me even more curious to read the book.
That was so cute, I really loved this film. I haven't read the book so I really enjoyed it, no doubt it's missing lots of extra beautiful context.
This has to be the queer movie of the year for me. My gay heart is filled with joy after watching this.
So much emotion, good casting, witty banter between characters about UK/US, and several actually good gay intimate scenes.
It had me in tears, I laughed hard, I sat on the edge on my seat during the hacked-scene.
And also; Uma Thurman with a southern accent is hella sexy :smirk:
Even without having read the book it's pretty obvious that it was difficult to condense the book into a 2 hour movie and still have the same kind of tension and detail that I assume the book holds. That does not take away from the fact that this is an incredibly sweet and entertaining romcom on a mainstream level that we simply have not seen before with 2 men in the lead. Not like this. Not this kind of vibe And definitely not one where 2 gay men are allowed to have a sex scene the exact same way straight characters have sex scenes, on a massive platform like Amazon.
And call me dramatic, but all of that means something, that does make history. It's bigger than itself.
Props to Amazon for having some actual guts and taking this project on, and shout out to Taylor and Nicholas for treating these characters with so much respect.
This is really quite an enjoyable movie if you separate it from the book. It's not a direct adaptation, and this will disappoint some of the fans. They have left out key plot points and even whole characters, however I do think they have captured the overall feeling of the book. The chemistry between the actors who played Alex and Henry was excellent, and the point remained about choosing your own destiny and that love is love. :rainbow:
i have yet to read the book so i watched this blindly...
i could tell alexs mom really loved him but when he came out to her i was very happy that it wasn't like a big deal and that she accepted him
i really loved henrys line "when they write the history of my life i want it to include you"
i think the way the movie played out was definitely cliche and the end felt super rushed one moment they cant talk to one another and the next alex is in the uk and the grandfather lets them walk out like nothing
i feel like if it was a seriies it would've gave them more time to play the story out.. even if it was a short limited show w a few episodes.. + it would've gotten more hype
I still have not read the book, but I really liked this movie, got some good laughs out of me and on the emotional scenes I was genuinely touched. The two lead actors have a lot of chemistry, which was important for the movie. also props for Uma Thurman, Stephen Fry, Clifton Collins Jr., Rachel Gilson and the rest of the cast, they're were all great. it's a 10 for me, and I'll definitely buy the book!
Shout by Heather LeighBlockedParent2023-08-20T15:39:58Z
Huge book fan here! But also, a realist when it comes to a book adaptions.
I love these adaption! Was it perfect? Heck no. Did they leave a lot out? You betcha. Was the book better? Times a billion. But they got a lot right - including at least capturing some of the butterflies the book gave me!
I don’t know how they did it, but the casting of Prince Henry was PERFECT for me. I don’t know this actor but he was exactly who I pictured when reading. I also liked Alex. They seemed to have good chemistry and were easy on the eyes.
But listen - the movie totally underutilized the side characters. It’s criminal how much they underutilized them. Please read the book and you’ll see what I mean. Go on, I’ll wait.
Beautiful movie for an absolutely brilliant and wonderful book.
Also did you see what book Alex was reading on the hammock? That’s another you should read (wondering if they’ll be adapting that next??)