I’ve read Red, White, and Royal Blue several times. When I don’t have a new audiobook to listen to, I have a few standbys that will go back and listen to again. Red, White, and Royal Blue is one of those books, therefore I am very familiar with the storyline. Also, I read it again this week in anticipation of todays release of the movie, which by the way was actually released at 8:00 pm ET last night. I finished the book on my way home yesterday, and at 8 o’clock, I was in front of my TV with a bowl of popcorn. I enjoyed the movie. As with most adaptations, they combined some characters, removed or changed others, and tightened up the story some. The audiobook is over 12 hours long. There had to be some judicious editing to make it a two hour long movie.
I’m not completely happy with all the sacrifices the movie made. A few of my favorite scenes from the book are not in the movie. However, I do think they did a great job of keeping the meat of the story there. There will be people who really love this book that are not going to be happy with the changes made, but I’ll forgive the movie for that. It was a good, entertaining, and enjoyable movie, and I’ll probably watch it again (maybe even today). I’ve gotten into the habit of watching something new all the way through once, and if I really enjoyed it, I’ll watch it again because there is always something that I missed the first time.
So, what did I like about the movie? Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz, the first son, and Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry were very well cast. I think they captured the energy and the personalities of the two main characters. The sex scenes were pretty damn hot, and quite honestly, these were not gratuitous sex scenes because the passion and horniness of two guys in their early twenties is a major part of the book. Think they captured that as well. Alex and Henry are the main protagonists, and everyone else in the movie were basically window dressing. The other standout is Sarah Shahi as Zahra, who has great lines in the book and the movie. I also liked Aneesh Sheth as Alex’s Secret Service an agent Amy. Sheth doesn’t have as big of a part as Shahi, but I felt like she stole the scenes she was in, which almost makes up for her not being portrayed as a transgender woman.
I have three criticism I’ll make of the movie, though there are other things I could say good and bad. However, Uma Thurman as the first female president and from Texas is one of the weakest parts of the movie, and Thurman is almost unrecognizable in my opinion. She looked terrible, not the more sophisticated and well put together woman I felt she was in the book. She does have some good moments though. I can forgive the movie makers for combining the characters of Alex’s sister June and his best friend Nora into just Nora, but when they removed Rafael Luna and Henry’s mother Princess Catherine, I think they did the film a major injustice.
As I said, overall, I enjoyed the movie and will watch it again. I’d give it 4.5/5 stars. If you watch it, I’d love to hear your thoughts, and if you’ve also read the book and watched the movie, let me know what you thought of the adaptation.
6 comments:
I haven't seen the movie or read the book.
In France, the film is rated 3.3/5 on the site: "AlloCiné" , with the title : ""My Dear F***ing Prince"
Loved Red, White, and Royal Blue as well. I have not read the book.
I usually don’t gravitate towards these types of movies but I needed something to watch. I am glad I did. I love the arc and the chemistry between the two. I wanted to kick the ass of the reporter who you and I know what he did. I am glad that Joy R. and Rachel M. were in the film. What would make it even better if Rachel handed off to Steve K.-at the big board-to give the election update? That would be a trifecta. I loved Alex’s Secret Service Agent. I wanted to see more of her. The speech that Alex gave after the incident from the White House Press Room was well written. Did you catch the line that Henry said about him being in an all-male boarding school before they “made love?” The gentleness of the sex scene was well done. I read an article where the actors were saying the intimate scenes were well choreographed with an intimacy coach. I just wish I had this type of acceptance growing up in the 60s and 70s.
I would give the movie a 4.5 as well. There are so many good scenes in the movie. Last night after I watched the movie I went back and watched the scenes that stood out to me. I may just watch it again as well.
Have a great weekend.
Victor, I resisted reading the book for a long time because I thought the whole scenario seemed too goofy, but it kept popping up as a suggestion of something that Audible thought I would enjoy, so I finally broke down, got it, and listened to it. I loved the book. It's fiction and has numerous unlikely scenarios, but it was very emotional, much more so than the movie. While I love Stephen Fry, I really hated they replaced the queen with him (though I suspect it was out of respect for Queen Elizabeth), but that part of the story was so well done in the book. Also, I wanted to see more of the Secret Service Agent too. There were two in the book, Amy and Cash, but the movie combined the characters, just as they did with Nora and June.
I agree about that little shit of a reporter. He was not in the book at all, as they replaced a completely different, though more complicated, storyline with the one about him, though it has essentially the same effect. The two characters that I found hard to even look at were the reporter and Prince Philip. Prince Philip was described as very handsome in a generic sort of way, but the actor in the movie was not handsome at least not the way they styled his appearance.
By the way, did you know that Taylor Zakhar Perez played Shane Brody in the HBO Max series Minx? It (if you google it, you'll know what that "it" is) was apparently prosthetic on the show, but Perez definitely has something going on down there with the bulge in his pants at the polo match. LOL Also, I agree that the sex scenes were really well done. Too bad we didn't get to see more of Perez or Galitzine in those scenes. As it was, they were very tasteful scenes that captured the budding relationship between the two.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I would recommend the book if you want a good story.
For the record, Aneesh Sheth is a transgender woman. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneesh_Sheth.
Thank you so much for pointing that out, ppitts. That makes me like her even more. In the book they talk about her wife a few times, there are only two quick mentions that Amy is transgender. I love that they included that in the movie by having her played my a transgender woman. She plays a great character who needed a bigger part in the movie.
I really enjoyed the book and the movie. I had read the book shortly after it first came out.
Like you, I was afraid the movie would be really bad, but it was decently true to the book to keep the movie to 2 hours. Like any adaption, it has it's "good and bad" points.
I kinda almost enjoy them as "different, yet similar stories"... The stolen emails from the British side is believable because of all of the hoopla coming in the current news, although the "email leak" cause was quite different in the book.
To be quite honest, I really liked the book better. But, the book has the time to be more complex with several different intertwining story lines developing and closing. Now some of the things aren't quite believable, but it's fiction... just "go with the flow"! LOL!
I do think it's good to have that representation out to youth.
I think the movie is well worth watching and I've watched it twice!! And I'll probably get a third in this week to see if I can pick up anything I missed!
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