‘Red, White and Royal Blue’ is a cute rom-com with an awful Uma Thurman – New York Post

TV

By Lauren Sarner

August 13, 2023 | 7:23pm

“Red, White & Royal Blue” is a charming LGBTQ romantic comedy — if you can get past a career-worst performance from Uma Thurman.

Based on a popular novel (TikTok videos on the topic have over 500 million views), the Prime Video movie is directed by Matthew Lopez and produced by Greg Berlanti. 

The story follows Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), a bisexual law school student who is the “first son” of the United States, since his mom, Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), is the President. 

Alex accidentally causes an international scandal with Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) — a member of this story’s fictional British royal family– when the two men knock over a $75,000 cake at a royal wedding.

Following that disaster, Alex is forced to pretend that he and Henry are best buds to mitigate the resulting media crisis during his mom’s re-election bid. 

Soon enough, sparks fly between Alex and Henry. But because they’re both public figures — and Henry feels pressured to stay in the closet — they must keep their relationship secret.

This often has comedic results, such as Henry hiding in Alex’s hotel room wardrobe from the White House Chief of Staff (a scene-stealing Sarah Shahi), who tells the Prince that she will “Brexit your head from your body” if he doesn’t skedaddle back to England without being spotted by anybody — adding a bow and a, “Your highness” on the end of her tirade.

Secret service agent Amy (Aneesh Sheth) is also an amusing and scene-stealing highlight in a movie that’s largely uninterested in its side characters.

Alex and Henry communicate by phone calls and text messages for much of the story, and “Red, White & Royal Blue” handles that in inventive and visually appealing ways.

Relative unknowns Perez and Galitzine both shine.

Their winsome performances save “Red, White & Royal Blue” from its faults, like its shallow politics, which usually makes sense for a rom-com but not one with such a firm political setting.  

The second half of the movie also plods on too long, and gets sappy. 

And then, there’s Uma Thurman. 

President Claremont is from Texas, and Thurman puts on a dreadful regional accent. (This is Lopez’s directorial debut, so maybe he wasn’t willing to tell a big-name star that her accent wasn’t working.)  

Thurman is miscast and the role would have been better-suited for Connie Britton, Reese Witherspoon or Sandra Bullock.

But even beyond that, President Claremont is an oddly written character: coldly ambitious in some scenes, down-to-earth in others. Instead of giving the impression of her being multifaceted, this just makes her characterization ping-pong around inconsistently.  

The royal family in “Red, White & Royal Blue” has some parallels to reality — the real Prince Harry isn’t gay, but Prince Henry still feels like a fictionalized version of him: he’s the younger “spare” son, and his older brother, with whom he has a strained relationship, scoffs at the idea that Henry is tanking his reputation to pursue a “mad” romance with an American lover.

 But “Red, White & Royal Blue” also tweaks some things in its fictional universe. For instance, Henry must answer to his grandfather, the King (played by a mostly wasted Stephen Fry), instead of the real Prince Harry answering to his grandmother, the Queen (before her death). 

Despite all this, many of the movie’s jokes are amusing, the relationship is cute, and though Thurman almost sinks the ship, Perez and Galitzine are good enough to float it through choppy waters.

“Red, White & Royal Blue” has some big flaws, but it’s fun and cute rom-com with heart.