Note: This review contains mild spoilers for Red, White & Royal Blue.
More often than not, rom-coms eschew sexiness in favor of the saccharine: grand gestures, longing looks, rain-soaked confessions. Only a small subset of the genre features characters who actually go to bed with each other, such as Friends with Benefits and other Apatow-era raunch-coms, or LGBTQ+ films like the 1999 classic But I’m a Cheerleader and the recent Bros.
You can feel free to add Red, White & Royal Blue, the directorial debut from Inheritance playwright Matthew Lopez to that list. Rather than shying away from the realities of physical intimacy, the film uses sex to show the vulnerability and growing closeness between its two leads, who just so happen to be the son of the U.S. President and the Prince of England. Adapted by Lopez from the beloved Casey McQuiston novel of the same name, the Prime Video film is a sweet and sexy summertime distraction. While it may not fly anywhere near the Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon outings of the rom-com’s heyday, it is still a cut above many of the dime-a-dozen genre films being pumped out on streaming services these days.
While Lopez brings an assured hand to the direction and writing, the film truly sings thanks to the chemistry between its leads, adventurous and excitable American Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and buttoned-up, sheltered Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine). Skipping past some of the book’s opening pages, the film skips right to the meet-cute (which is not, we learn later, their first meeting) when the two cause an international incident by toppling over the wedding cake at Henry’s older brother’s ceremony, which Alex is attending as a U.S. envoy.
Their journey together really begins when Alex is forced to return to London on a damage control mission to mitigate the fallout of “Cakegate,” as the incident has been dubbed. After rehashing and getting over past misunderstandings, the two begin a friendship that eventually (spoiler alert, I guess?) winds up in them locking eyes across the room at a New Year’s Eve party on the White House lawn. (It has to be said: this is perhaps the only time we’ll ever see a queer kiss soundtracked by Lil Jon’s “Get Low.”)
As the two turn from enemies to lovers, the film truly finds its footing, breezing through the first half of its runtime like a great relationship: it’s fun to fall in love, and conflict is scarce. But it’s easy to forgive the film’s lack of angst, given how much fun it is to watch the two besotted former frenemies navigate the unique restrictions of their respective political obligations. Along the way, they each realize they have found someone who can, in some small way, understand their situations.
But it's the film's casual treatment of sex and sexuality, especially queer sex, that proves to be its most refreshing element. Even at its most sexual moments, 2022’s Bros often felt the need to over-explain its sexiest moments to appeal to a broad audience. Red, White & Royal Blue mostly frees itself from that obligation, so much so that Alex’s best friend and confidante Nora (Rachel Hilson, who ironically also played a BFF to Victor in Hulu’s Love, Victor) can feel comfortable using a phrase like “dick you down” without any apology or hedging.
When comparing how long each other’s names are, Prince Henry assures Alex that, despite his shorter surname, he is still a “mouthful.” And just before their first sexual encounter, which will be Alex’s very first, Henry promises to help him navigate any awkwardness, quipping: “I went to an English boarding school, you’re in good hands.”
Recently, the question of sex scenes on film, especially in rom-coms, has stirred up some hot social media discourse. The film that seemed to spark it is the upcoming Syndey Sweeney-starring Anyone But You, which miffed some when it obtained an R-rating, the same MPAA designation that Red, White & Royal Blue received, as did well-worn genre classics like When Harry Met Sally and Bridget Jones’s Diary. Though it was written before the discourse got a handjob-level grip on all of us, Royal Blue does seem to be reckoning with it. Its sex scenes mostly seem to be included to titillate and add humor — in one memorable romp, the Prince and Alex fuck while the camera watches polo players’ butts bounce up and down on horse saddles — but they also underline how sex can be a step toward vulnerability, without fully defining a relationship.
Which brings us, at last, to the conflict: when the film does finally dive headfirst into its contentious second act, the script does deft work at exploring the limits of sympathy. As Henry points out, Alex, whose mother Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman, having the time of her life) is the current president, belongs to a family that has chosen electoral politics; Henry, on the other hand, was born into a lineage that will always severely hamper his freedoms. As he watches Alex choose a life of politics, he sees himself going from one prison of social expectations to the next, which eventually causes the pair to rift.
Most rom-coms include a moment of separation between its leads, followed by a third-act reconciliation. But given each character’s station in Red, White & Royal Blue, their conflict is not only deeply personal, but also awfully public. When their relationship becomes fodder for the likes of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Lopez’s script lands the emotional plane beautifully, demonstrating the lengths Henry and Alex will go through to be with one another.
And, unlike some rom-coms, this resolution feels earned; not only have Henry and Alex been engaging in some truly steamy sex, they’ve also become more emotionally open with each other, which might not have happened had they not allowed their passions to play out. In that sense, the film feels like a much more true-to-life queer love story, one that includes and celebrates sexuality as a part of the package.
Red, White & Royal Blue premieres Friday on Prime Video.
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