Audiences have flocked to watch the new gay rom-com Red, White and Royal Blue on Amazon Prime, with it clocking in as the most watched film on the platform last weekend.
It’s given leading actors Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine who play the son of the US President and the grandson of the King of England a bundle of new fans.
The adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s 2019 young adult novel tells the story of Alex Claremont-Diaz (Perez), the son of the President of the United States (Uma Thurman), and Britain’s Prince Henry (Galitzine) discover that despite having so much in common — stunning good looks, undeniable charisma, international popularity — they can’t quite escape their total disdain for one another.
When an incident between the two causes a furor, they are forced to spend time together, but they soon realise that their animosity is actually masking other deeper feelings.
At the beginning the film is really corny, a super clunky, and it’ll drive anyone who knows anything about how royal protocol or politics really works insane but stick with it because you’ll fall in love with these characters by the end.
Perez and Galitzine are both very easy-on-the-eye, both were models before they turned their hands to acting. It never states how old the characters are, but you get the feeling they are meant to be in their late teens or early twenties. In reality they are 31 and 28 respectively, but hey Stockard CHanning played Rizzo in Grease at thirty-three.
There’s also an obligatory appearance from Stephen Fry, who just seems to pop-up as headmasters and monarchs in queer films and television series these days. Uma Thurman is camping it up with a Texan drawl as the first female president of the United States, but when it comes time to show her understanding of the LGBTIQA+ world she shows she knows all the facts.
The popularity of the film has left fans wondering if there’s an opportunity for a sequel.
Red, White and Royal Blue is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Graeme Watson
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