As we featured a prince who turned into a beast then turns back into a prince, here we will feature a different kind of a prince. The kind of prince from Denmark that falls in love with a commoner. Sounds familiar? Then read on.
This movie shows Prince Edvard (played by Luke Mably) who lives like a playboy and plays with big toys. He has been a constant pain in the royal ass of his parents and he decides to escape temporarily the hang ups of being a prince and likewise give a welcome respite to his parents from his constant front page news.
Of all places he likes to escape, he decides on Wisconsin in the United States. Where in a television show he watched portrayed some wild co-eds flashing their breasts on screen. Thinking that this is the case in Wisconsin, he decided to attend college there as a normal flemish rich kid, not as prince Edvard.
In college he meets with Paige Morgan (played by Julia Stiles), a typical american farm girl with high hopes and dreams. Who works part time so that she can attend university with an attitude that's totally reverse of Prince Edvard. This difference between them later on turned to finding similarities ultimately leading to love.
No secrets remain secret for too long and eventually Edvard's real identity was revealed to Paige and she felt lied to. She break off with Edvard and they tried to move on after. While during Paige's dissertation in front of her professors, she learns that she's in love with Edvard so she tried to pursue him. Only to find that Edvard has been recalled to Denmark to look after his ailing father the king.
Paige then decides to follow Edvard in Denmark and when she arrives, she saw him in a parade. Edvard went past her as she could not be easily seen in a crowd but the Paige was famous now in Denmark. People began calling her name and Edvard finally took notice. He brought her to the palace and Edvard had a talk with his parents about Morgan.
Paige then was accompanying Edvard and his mother the Queen in almost all Royal functions and events. It was all rosy for the two until Paige realized, although she was happy to be with Edvard, she hasn't forgotten his own dreams of being a doctor. Being tied up the Queen of Denmark would mean some of her dreams would not come true. Eventually Edvard had to let Paige go and to let her follow her dreams. Edvard subsequently became the King of Denmark (without a queen) and Paige continued on and graduated at the university.
A few years had gone by and Paige eventually graduates and Edvard was there to witness it. He wants her back in his life and Paige is wary if Denmark was ready for her to be their queen. To this he replied, they have to be since he was ready.
The movie is a straight romantic comedy with a fairy tale plot with a modern woman empowerment thing. It's a fish out water thing as well, as we find a playboy prince, who can get everything she wants, never been declined by the ladies, then experiences working and denied by a girl he wants in Paige. It's a typical rich kid meeting the girl from the other side of the tracks. Similar to a lot of teen movies that uses romance as a focus and this one levelled it up by introducing a real prince into the story.
Usually the unveiling part of the prince usually happens in the end but here it happened midway. You may wonder why too early? It was done with intent as we have seen the prince doing menial jobs, then we get to see a commoner, farm girl at that doing the work of a royalty. Another fish out of water similar to that of the Princess Diaries by Anne Hathaway.
So we see both sides of the coin here for both Edvard the prince and the commoner Paige.
Production and scriptwise it was decent in delivery. Lines were short and sweet, the exchanges between our leads was evenly paced, turning hate into love wasn't a surprise but sweet none the less. And we get to see a castle and servants and a safe full of expensive royal jewelry, along with a meat slicer as well. Story telling was a mix of being slow but not dragging, then a quick turnaround in pace midway made us jump again in our seats. This was especially so just before the paparazzi caught up with Edvard and Paige in the library. Everything before it were a bit slow but it was necessary to drum up the love angle between the two, then all because fast paced when they were discovered in the library.
Performance wise, it was Julia Stiles who holds more beef in the film and we love her farm girl character. Her idea of empowerment was a welcome treat in 2004 and she fits the role very well. For Luke Mably however we liked his accent. Acting wise it was pretty adequate being a prince, but we still expected more from him. We believe he can pass off as a modern prince but we wish he could have spin it a bit more. We don't know how, but we just felt he can do a little bit more.
The movie is a feel good movie and you can enjoy this for sure. Just don't expect much more. We just know that it will tickle your fancy romance side so simply look at the chemistry between the two.
As of this writing, this movie is not on Netflix, but is available on YouTube. Just click on the thumbnail next to this.
