‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ Review: Keep Calm and Pine On

Like a corgi back-flipping over a bath of champagne, “Red, White & Royal Blue” begins with a giddy premise and has the derring-do to succeed. The setup is thus: Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the wild youngster of the White House, is commanded to scrub up a global PR catastrophe by befriending Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), the cloistered British spare. In the movie’s first half, the scions secretly fall in love; within the second, they fret that going public may trigger one other world kerfuffle simply as Alex’s mom (a Southern-drawling Uma Thurman) campaigns for re-election.

It appears like fan fiction and appears prefer it, too, significantly when Galitzine dips his chin bashfully — a tic that Princess Diana handed on to her boys. Yet, as in any screwball romance value its trans-Atlantic sea-salt, the first-time director Matthew López will get us rooting for the cheeky couple’s transition from rivals to romantic bedfellows, boosted by the cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, who images the leads so adoringly that you just half-expect them to show to the digital camera and hawk a bottle of cologne. Thanks to their playful chemistry, we’re offered.

The movie is a closely trimmed adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s zesty 2019 novel, a TikTok smash whose hashtag boasts greater than 500 million views. López (best-known because the Tony-winning playwright of “The Inheritance”) wrote the script with Ted Malawer, and the 2 add theatrical thrives that really feel over-florid: a late-night cellphone chat visualized by having Galitzine magically seem in a whirl of digital leaves; a museum stroll voice-over that’s so odd, you marvel if it was a postproduction repair for one thing gone awry; and, most goofily, an across-the-dance-floor stare-down the place Alex and Henry lock eyes as the opposite revelers, grooving to Lil Jon, get so low that they look like enjoying Duck, Duck, Goose.

But the story neatly zeros in on the couple’s cultural hole — or, as Alex expresses it, “He grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football.” Henry has borne a heavy crown since start and wears his privilege matter-of-factly, although he desires of anonymity. The Yank is, true to stereotype, brash and idealistic. He remembers being an invisible suburban child who vowed to perform objectives that have been out of attain for his father (Clifton Collins Jr.), a Mexican immigrant. (Perez additionally appears conscious that his angular cheekbones and roguish swagger make him resemble a younger Al Pacino.) Their centerpiece intercourse scene is intimately staged with Galitzine tracing Perez together with his fingertips as if his character desires to recollect the second without end.

The D.C. sequences are snappy, freshened-up variations of the banter we’ve lengthy seen on TV. (Sarah Shahi because the president’s no-nonsense aide and Aneesh Sheth as a gruff Secret Service officer are standouts.) Though the credit checklist a royal etiquette adviser, it’s onerous to gauge if this depiction of the monarchy is correct (paisley loungewear, tiny topiaries, gilt-framed the whole lot) or only a gaga fantasy that permits a prince to coo, “I went to an English boarding school. Trust me, you’re in good hands.”

Red, White & Royal Blue
Rated R for swearing and a few royal hanky-panky. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. Watch on Amazon Prime Video.