Dir. Martha Coolidge, 2004, USA, 110 mins
Cast:
Julia Stiles, Luke Mably, Ben Miller, James Fox, Miranda Richardson
Once upon a time every young girl fantasised about being swept off her feet by a handsome prince, from a far away land, with a wardrobe full of cummerbunds. Whether that's true or not, it forms the basis for the latest crossing-over-the-tracks teenage rom-com, The Prince and Me.
If anybody thought the idea that the Crown Prince of Denmark would fall for a simple, non-aristocratic girl was ridiculous, they would have found recent newspapers suggest otherwise. Frederik André Henrik Christian is 32 years old, handsome, charismatic and the polar bear chasing, real life Crown Prince of Denmark, who is set to marry the everyday sweetheart he met while trying to get into a bar.
Somehow that copy of Danish Hello! found it's way to Los Angeles, because this film sees the Royal Crown Prince of Denmark, Edvard (Luke Mably) being sent to college in America in that hope that the University of Wisconsin will teach him how to behave like a true Royal. Back in Denmark, Edvard liked kissing two bimbos at a time, whilst staying ahead of the country's few paparazzi. He also takes part in random street races in his Lamborghini, for no other reason that the target demographic of this film really liked The Fast and the Furious. Julia Stiles plays Paige Morgan, a pre-med student who is a serious, dowdy, grew up on her Dad's dairy farm, and doesn't use his Ford pick-up for street racing of any kind.
So just as in the earlier Julia Stiles' film, Save the Last Dance, the two star-crossed lovers meet and dodge the obstacles that their backgrounds throw up on the path to true love. Being Danish Edvard naturally speaks with a cut-glass English accent, which gains a slight Germanic twang in the scenes back in Copenhagen. Luke Mably (an alumni of Eastenders) doesn't over impress in the Freddie Prinze Junior role, but then he is hamstrung by weak dialogue. Miss Stiles brings a certain warmth to the role, but it's still an autopilot performance from the actress who showed her versatility on the London stage recently.
The film cycles through the expected clichés and standard set ups, with the couple putting on their angry faces before working out their differences in cathartic scenes of ham slicing (literally) and lawnmower racing (a Wisconsin pastime enjoyed by Dairy farmers apparently).
When Edvard, tries a seductive dance in the student union bar, hoots of unintentional laughter (from the audience) result.
Ben Miller (from the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller) handles some comedy scenes well, with his turn as Soren, Edvard's faithful servant, amplified by the fact his name is pronounced like Christopher Walken's not particularly Danish Bond villain, Zorin, from A View to a Kill.
Even the most romantic of 11-year-olds on a Sunny Delight overdose, will be smelling the cheddar before the credits roll.
Johnny Messias |
