Red, White and Royal Blue Review
By Sioph LealRed, White & Royal Blue is based on the hit novel by Casey McQuiston, and like the book, the film follows the story of Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the charming and ambitious son of the first female President of the United States, Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman). When a public feud breaks out between Alex and Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), the Prince of England, they must fake a friendship to repair their images. As their fake friendship blossoms into a genuine bond, they discover a love that transcends boundaries and expectations.
Leading Red White and Royal Blue is Alex, whose desires and ambition give him a determination to prove himself and show how far he has come from being a working-class kid. What is interesting about Alex is he makes it known that he remembers anonymity, but it seems he prefers to be part of history and wants to make some. For a leading man, Taylor Zakhar Perez is effortless in the role and carries the film during its more questionable choices. He is the right mix of energetic, determined, smarmy and charming that many would struggle to pull off, but he takes in stride and carries every complexity of the role and emotions with ease and natural allure. Alex shows all of himself to those he cares for, but even so carefully determines who gets to see what part of him. The world and his mother’s administration wants him to be part of a PR move, someone to calm uneasy waters but he wants to be more and wants to play an active role in the government. What is refreshing is that it is shown throughout the movie and explores his characterisation deeper than other genres would normally have. Alex’s book counterpart has a longer role within his mother’s presidential campaign, which adds more risk to it, should his relationship with Henry be made public. Unfortunately, this risk isn’t fully explored in the movie.
Taking the role of Alex’s secret love interest is Prince Henry. Much like the book, the movie doesn’t focus much on Henry’s drives and doesn’t showcase Henry’s desires for a better world like the book, with the exception of a few lines thrown in about how the monarchy is redundant and outdated. Galitzine brings a lot more charm and ease to the prince, as well as showing a more playful side to Henry through his interactions with Alex. While it took a while for this to show in the book, having this side of Henry early on offers viewers a more human side that Galitzine perfectly combines with Henry’s looming inner anxiety. Without saying a word during one water-based scene, Galitzine emulates the weight and expectation of a country, but also the devastating relaision that he will hurt the one person he could love. Despite the brilliant performance from Galitzine, the writing lets the character down. Henry feels more like a supporting role, not given the chance for audiences to see his risk.
Considering the marketing and plot of the movie focused on the relationship between Alex and Henry, there is minimal time spent with Henry so the relationship we see is very one sided in favour of Alex. There are six montages and only two of them work with the problem being no build up of the relationship. There are six montages, with only two of them fitting within the theme of the movie. The build-up and romantic scenes are condensed to montages that audiences should have seen in its entirety, not just quick seconds. The movie is only two hours long so some things would need to be rushed to progress, but it would have worked better with an equal split between the two love interests of the movie, instead of trying to rush Henry’s side of things in a few short scenes at the end.
A large portion of the book is done through texts and emails between Alex and Henry which removes a human, more intimate element and this is rectified and translated better in the movie. When on the phone, Henry appears next to Alex but doesn’t quite look at him (because he isn’t there and speaks over the phone) but having the character share the same space adds a more emotional and authentic feel. There is a good transition of Alex on his bed, talking to Henry, when Henry appears next to him, and it creates a warmer feel to their relationship. The two leading men have mountains of chemistry and play a genuine desire for each other. Their relationship and chemistry comes naturally between the pair. It is almost instantaneous with some build up that gives a false promise that this would be explored deeper. When there are deeper, more emotional scenes, it feels as if the writers wrote short, standalone scenes instead of focusing on the overall storyline of the movie. There are some key moments from the books that the writers clearly focused on, but by doing so, almost neglected the growth and development of these characters.
Matthew Lopez makes his directorial debut with Red, White & Royal Blue. Lopez also co-wrote this movie alongside Ted Malawer and while the chemistry between the two male leads is flawless, the same cannot be said for the writing and directing of this movie. Instead of showing the conflict in different ways, Lopez and Malawar spend a lot of the movie being repetitive with the characters overexplaining the need for secrecy, without fully showing audiences why this is such a risk. It’s almost as if the writers didn’t trust the audience to fully understand the risk these two characters have, so have it explained countless times. One way is that Henry constantly says he belongs to England, that he can only belong to someone momentarily but then it's undone in the same scene by this being resolved almost instantly.
As Alex and Henry's relationship deepens, the conflict remains stagnated. There was hope with the addition of political journalist Miguel Ramos (Juan Castano). Miguel is an odd combination of June and Rafael Luna from the books, and had the conflict been set up properly, this could have added a bit more depth to the character and the plot. The story could also have focused on who had the bigger risk, or explored Henry’s risk a little bit more with the antiquated traditions of his family and what the repercussions of possibly leaving it all behind could have cost. Instead, the royal family characters aren’t utilized as much as they could have been to further Henry’s internal turmoil of heart and duty.
With any adaptation, a lot of things do not make the final cut. Changes such as combining Rafael Luna and June Claremont-Diaz in the form of Miguel Ramos was an odd, but interesting choice that had a lot of potential. There were a few key moments from the book that didn’t make the cut, or simply did not translate as well as they could have been. One aspect of the books that seemed to be cut was Alex’s interactions with the royal family. Excluding Princess Beatrice (Ellie Bamber) and Prince Philip (Thomas Flynn) from such a match also removes the chance to show Alex being vulnerable in Henry’s world. It’s another chance to show how this obstacle could have impacted their relationship, while Henry has some support in the form of his sister.
Senator Jeffery Richards (Donald Sage Mackay) has a reduced role in the movie. Apart from being seen on the TV screen twice, viewers will not get the threat this man possibly holds to his mother’s campaign. In the novel, Richards’s campaign were behind the leaked emails and didn’t shy away from the racist and homophobic values that are often associated with right wing politicians. While it was good this didn’t make it into the cut, Richards needed to be presented as a bigger threat, possibly to drive home why Alex would be removed from his mother’s campaign. When Alex loses his job, Alex has already started to put his career on the line for Henry, while Henry feels the gravity of his duty to the crown, and it causes him to flee from Alex’s love.
Red, White & Royal Blue was meant to be a love story between the children of the most powerful people in the world and how their societies differ, how tradition demands their love must fight for a chance. Instead, it is a movie that gives one side of the story and limits interactions despite beautiful chemistry between the two leads. The main problem seems to be there is no impact or risk despite being told at the end that there was. Had it explored Henry’s side and how the antiquated traditions of his family held him back from being and accepting himself it would have been a better exploration. There are times when Prince Philip might be the antagonist, but he is reduced to an almost cameo role. The villain, and we use that term generously, that sets up any conflict is Miguel but he is limited in his role with no real impact throughout the story until the halfway point when the writing finally uses him in an impactful way. The only conflicts the movie has are found, anguished over and resolved all in a few minutes. Had there been time to let one conflict breathe, it would have made for a better dynamic and exploration into this history making love.
Viewers around the world can watch Red, White and Royal Blue on Prime Video starting Friday (Aug. 11) at 12:01 a.m. ET.