‘Red, White & Royal Blue’: Straightforward Queer Love Story, or Something Kookier?

August 10, 2023

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A couple of party dudes (CREDIT: Jonathan Prime/Prime Video)

Starring: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine, Uma Thurman, Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, Thomas Flynn, Malcolm Atobrah, Akshay Khanna, Sharon D. Clarke, Aneesh Sheth, Juan Castano, Stephen Fry

Director: Matthew López

Running Time: 118 Minutes

Rating: R for Explicit and Tender Sexuality

Release Date: August 11, 2023 (Prime Video)

What’s It About?: Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) is the son of the first female President of the United States (Uma Thurman). Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is one of the grandsons in the British royal line of succession. (Although, just like a certain real-life prince, he’s a spare, not an heir). They’re forced to interact with each other at various diplomatic functions, but they hate each other’s guts. Do I need to make it any more obvious?

In case I do, it’s a modern-day queer Pride and Prejudice. Or at least that’s the first third of Red, White & Royal Blue. Alex and Henry are actually able to get past their shallow first impressions relatively quickly, and once they accept each other, the bigger question is whether or not everybody else can. The world that we see in the movie generally reflects the most progressive modern attitudes towards queer love stories, but there are a few snags. For one thing, there are worries that Alex’s dalliances could derail his mom’s re-election campaign. And more pressingly, there’s the question of whether or not there’s even a place for a gay prince in the royal family.

What Made an Impression?: Searching for Personality: It’s nice to see a globally released queer rom-com that doesn’t shy away from the most explicit parts. But it would have been even nicer if it didn’t feel so generic. Perez and Galitzine are charming enough, and their chemistry is serviceable, but the paint-by-numbers setting isn’t doing them any favors. A political backdrop certainly doesn’t need to perfectly recreate the real world, but it ought to at least be interesting if it’s going to be so integral to the story. Alas, we never really get a sense of what it’s like to have an America with a female president beyond mere platitudes. There’s at least some more urgency on the other side of the pond, as the presence of a gay prince is something that the crown hasn’t fully grappled with, and the juice of that drama is squeezed enough to feel the tension.
Strange Bursts of Personality: Thankfully, Red, White & Royal Blue isn’t entirely a slog through the most generic story beats possible. It has some sparks of coming to life, particularly a New Year’s Eve party soundtracked by perhaps the dirtiest mainstream hip-hop song of all time. Then when Alex opens up with his parents about what’s really going on, they have conversations that can best be described as “shockingly open-minded.” Thurman and Clifton Collins Jr. (as Alex’s senator dad) absolutely relish these opportunities to wax poetic about the likes of Truvada and gender-neutral bathrooms. I just wish the rest of the movie had been this inspired to let its freak flag fly. It’s what Alex and Henry (and those of watching) deserved.

Red, White & Royal Blue is Recommended If You: Can Handle a Watered-Down Version of Reality

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Giant Wedding Cakes

Movie Review: Laika Puts Its Own Lovely Spin on the Bigfoot Myth with ‘Missing Link’

April 9, 2019

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CREDIT: Laika Studios/Annapurna Pictures

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant, David Walliams, Matt Lucas, Amrita Acharia, Ching Valdez-Aran

Director: Chris Butler

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Rating: PG for Wild West-Style Gunfire and Icy Heights

Release Date: April 12, 2019

The Bigfoot-based Missing Link features enough bullets flying around and enough characters falling to their (presumed) deaths to make me wonder if it is really appropriate for children. Its PG rating is justified in that we do not see the bloodiest ends of these lethal situations, and as a stop-motion animated feature, the whole aesthetic is too charming to ever be gruesome. But I still wonder about how well young kids are equipped to handle such unmistakable peril. Honestly, though, my preference is that we give children some psychological credit and let them be exposed to these frights. So thank you for not holding back, Laika (the production company behind this and other stop-motion flicks like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings).

The innovation I love about Missing Link is that its humanoid ape creature is perfectly willing to expose himself to society, or at least to Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman), the bon vivant searching for him. Furthermore, Mr. Link (Zach Galifianakis) speaks perfectly fluent English, which could make the gags based on his inability to grasp sarcasm and metaphor illogical except for the fact that there are plenty of real human people who are similarly not so fast on the uptake themselves in such lingual matters.

Anyway, Mr. Link is tired of living by himself in the Pacific Northwest, and he’s heard that his cousins the Yeti are cool up in the mountains of Asia, so he asks Lionel to lead him there. What follows is a buddy road trip movie in which everyone is gratifyingly on the same side as each other and making a deal that benefits them all fairly. We the audience get to witness some genuine, hopefully lifelong friendships blooming over the course of this high-stakes adventure. If a predictable message of “what you’ve been looking for has been right in front of you all along” pops up by the end, it’s safe to say that Missing Link has earned that indulgence.

Missing Link is Recommended If You Like: Previous Laika features, Kid-friendly Wild West adventures, Smallfoot

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Yeti Elders