One of the biggest book hits of the last few years was Red, White, and Royal Blue written by Casey McQuiston. Now a feature film being released by Prime Video, the movie is the debut film for playwright Matthew Lopez, Red, White, and Royal Blue is as deliciously sweet as the cake.
When we begin our tale, Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the President and a Congressman, has been tasked with attending the royal wedding. With good friend Nora in tow, he hopes to make the best of it, despite knowing he’s going to have to see his nemesis, Prince Henry. The two men can’t stand each other and their hate quickly goes viral when they accidentally topple the wedding cake. Forced by both of their countries to do damage control, they must pretend to be great friends, attending charity events and parties.
However, it seems those intense feelings were not just hatred after Henry kisses Alex at his New Year’s party and Alex finds that he didn’t quite mind. Soon the two start a whirlwind romance full of sexy escapades and heart felt conversations. But peace can only be held for so long and both men quickly realize that the world may not be ready for their love.
In putting the film in the hands of a queer man, Red, White, and Royal Blue gets imbued with lived in experience as well as an understanding of the shades of the rainbow in the alphabet mafia. Writer-director Matthew Lopez certainly acquits himself well in balancing the various tones and large ensemble. As a playwright he knows the power of getting audiences invested in the humanity of characters. There are so many thoughtful scenes and even when this movie is at its funniest, it still cares for its characters. It’s not just the dialogue, but Lopez shows a promising understanding of the medium and how to craft images. Whether its a party scene or a heartbreaking confession, he’s got a good way of nailing down the characters and their emotional journey.
What’s fascinating about this film is that much was made of the book’s steamy scenes and the movie achieving an R-rating. While the film certainly has its moments where the characters engage in sexy times (including one really lovely first time sex scene), the movie isn’t so much steamy as it is warm. Its got the impression of steaminess, some light petting if you pardon the vulgar term. I’m surprised the movie got rated R at all given what happens in the story.
This is likely a byproduct of the MPAA’s ridiculous standards when it comes to sex and also the movie’s glossy feel. This is a very streamlined adaptation of the story (not a bad thing!) and as such, the movie must only dwell on what it can. However, Red, White, and Royal Blue sometimes suffers under the choices made. In whittling down to two hours, you encounter issues from the simple such as not explaining how characters can just show up certain places or removing characters for consolidation purposes, to the more nuanced such as the sanitized version of American politics or never seeing the Black Vice President when his granddaughter is in the movie. This movie moves at a generous clip, but in doing so loses a bit of tangible intensity. Henry and Alex move so quickly from enemies to friends to lovers you’re almost hard pressed to remember if they started not liking each other at all.
Which is why of all the characters, the streamlining hurts Alex the most. In this film, he feels lightly sketched. You don’t quite know why he wants to do more on the campaign or even his life outside of being the son of the president and a student. It’s a testament to Taylor Zakhar Perez’s innate watchability and acting charisma that he doesn’t come off as flat. Perez imbues Alex with a wide eyed optimism and a depth that even those around him don’t think he has. He brings Alex’s impulsive nature to the screen, but didn’t forget the pure heart he also has.
Nicholas Galitizine has much more to play off and do, and rewards the script’s faith in him with a soulful performance. As the prince in this tale, there’s much more obvious conflict, but Nicholas doesn’t just rest on that. He commits his full self to the performance, every lingering glance, every choice he made felt fully devoted to the character, which in turn helps to give the movie a strong emotional core. Both men are buttressed by some strong supporting work, chief of which is Sarah Shahi, who takes arguably the book’s best character and makes her just as vibrant and funny on screen as she is on the page.
Red, White, and Royal Blue is a bit of a triumph in that it exist wholly unto itself. Not trying to rock the boat can certainly lead to a boring film, but this movie is steadfast and solid and should give viewers the cuteness with a dash of steam they’re looking for.