A Royal Runaway Romance

Hallmark is on a nice winning streak. I'm tired of plots involving royals, but this is one of the better ones. The opening shot of a beautiful foreign coastline is actually a scenic view of one of the Azores islands, nearly 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal. For a moment, I thought the fictitious location was called Northeast Phillipa after I saw that on the screen, but then I figured out that Phillipa Northeast was actually the name of the actress who played Princess Amelia, and that the latest fake country name was Bundbury. I knew nothing about Phillipa (she's an Aussie actress with few film credits) but she was lovely to watch as she becomes aware of her feelings, interacts kindly with others, and experiences things she had never experienced before as a sheltered princess.

The family reunion with her uncle in America was a nice excuse to travel abroad, but the artist she liked seemed a little too blasé about having a sweet beautiful princess interested in him. Had that been me, I would have gone to L. A. as soon as I found out Amelia was there.

I like it when Hallmark movies show two people really getting to know each other before falling in love. People can learn a lot about each other during long road trips. That's a movie plot that dates back to "It Happened One Night" a classic (but far more antagonistic) rom-com. But it was also the plot in the recent Road Trip Romance, one of the worst Hallmark movies that I've ever seen (Ugh, so bad). I acknowledge that setting up such road trips, with people who've just met each other, usually requires some outlandish plot contrivances (as in RTR), but here the set up didn't seem all that outlandish. That's due to some surprisingly good writing by Jake Helgren, who wrote and directed another one of the worst Hallmark movies that I've ever seen (Save the Wedding).

One of the squares on a Hallmark bingo card is the inevitable "small town festival". So, of course, the Princess and Grady go to one (the "Spring Fling Festival"). Not only is it an opportunity for them to have a mini date, and to show how sweet Amelia is (with booth worker Becca), there's a nice scene where Grady (who "doesn't like to dance") and the Princess go to a barn dance.

The ensuing smoldering dance scene is accompanied by a perfect song for this movie ("You Can Sleep While I Drive" by Melissa Etheridge). Somebody really thought that through. While dancing, Grady describes his ex as having been "more focused on her career". Amelia asks: "What's wrong with that? " to which Grady responds: "Nothing as long as it's not her only focus." I appreciate how modern Hallmark movies are all about women (and men) trying to strike a balance in life, rather than promoting the old school idea that women should abandon their careers for the men in their lives (an outdated trope that is literally reversed in this movie).

And, once again, this modern Hallmark movie included a gay character who was presented in a "matter of fact" positive way without any drama or stereotypical behavior. He's simply a character (played engagingly by Vincent Gale) who just happens to be gay, just like a character may happen to be Black or Asian. I applaud Hallmark's more inclusive approach to making movies. It's very very healthy.

I'm looking forward to seeing Phillipa Northeast in another Hallmark movie soon. It's a cliche for an American to say this, but I LOVE her accent. And she's quite a good actress.

I've now seen this movie three times.

8.3 stars.

Two wonderful leading actors whose chemistry is off the charts, this is a must see royal journey to find love.

The story begins on a frustrating note. A man named Wes from Chicago, and a princess, are supposedly in love. Wes is a successful painter and his current project is painting a portrait of the princess. After he's finished, he flies back to the states. Side note: It's a stretch that he is American, he is olive skinned with an eastern look and a strange accent...

Princess Amelia wants to visit him, however he becomes somewhat distant, he is a busy artist after all. She leaves nothing to chance, she is persistent, and will visit him as soon as the opportunity arises.

Two months later, Princess Amelia and her mother are visiting her uncle in Los Angeles and soon she meets Grady the head of her uncle's security detachment. The first impression is icy cold...after all he is a tall and handsome American who symbolizes power and sex appeal. Immediately, she is overwhelmingly attracted to him, but carefully masquerades as a disapproving dignitary to conceal her feelings.

She wants to fly to Chicago to see Wes, but she knows her mother will not permit it, so she persuades her uncle to allow her to sneak off via automobile. He allows it under one condition, that she be accompanied by his trusty security guard Grady.

We can guess how the story goes...

They visit many places, Princess Amelia experiences the mid-west, and she falls in love with the culture and with Grady. Oh, but she is supposed to be longing to see her painter Wes, and her feelings become confused...will her rendezvous with Wes be a game changer, or does she have stronger feelings for Grady?

We can guess how the story ends.

Hallmark have done a lot of royal-themed films and the quality of them has really varied. Some being surprisingly good, some watchable if rather average and some really bad. Have watched many Hallmark films with very mixed expectations prior to watching and 2022's 'A Royal Runaway Romance' was one of those initially when hearing that it was another royal themed film. Expectations did increase however when seeing the synopsis and seeing that there was a road trip twist.

2022 was a varied year for Hallmark, which was as has been said more than once not unexpected (as it is the same with previous years too). With some very good films, some very bad films and some that ranged between mediocre and slightly above average. 'A Royal Runaway Romance' is one of the good ones and was close to being one of the very good ones once it got going. Much has been said about the lack of location authenticity and geographical errors, but am going to talk more about what matters to me more. So quality of writing, storytelling and acting for examples. While failing on the authenticity, 'A Royal Runaway Romance' mostly succeeds in most areas.

It is not flawless. Phillippa Northeast does start off stiff and her character does come over as a bit too immature and naive at points. There is some awkwardness early on.

At times too, there is a stock look to the production values, meaning stock footage like.

Most of the time though, it looks quite nice. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and the photography is mostly slick. The music at least fits and is pleasant enough, though never anything exceptional. Really liked the barn dance song. The script is light hearted and also has a warm heart, did appreciate that it didn't rush the relationship, overdo the antagonism, allow the playfulness to shine and didn't rush the softening.

Furthermore, the story on the whole is very engaging. It is predictable and starts awkwardly, but never takes itself too seriously while never feeling like a parody. Like the script, it is agreeably light hearted and charming while with a warm centre while the characters and relationship soften. The ending is sweet and while not surprising it doesn't feel too pat. The characters were likeable and worth connecting with on the whole, Brant Daugherty's character's development was very striking. Northeast does become much more natural and really matures into the role, so overall it is a charming performance that didn't look that experienced. Daugherty is also charming and easy going, while shining in his character's more vulnerable moments. Their chemistry is witty and touching. The supporting cast are solid.

Concluding, well done. 7/10.

The obvious try to be a different Hallmark romance is the main motif to define it as more than another nice film.

First virtue are the actors -the handsome Brant Daugherty ( including in shirtless scene ) in fair and clever driven orole of bodygurd , friend and true love of a princess, Philippa Northeast as interesting version, off course, with significant differences, of Audrey Hepburn from Roman Holiday, Sara -Jane Redmond as perfect queen and. Vincent Gale as admirable uncle of too loved niece.

But the perfect " spices '' are BJ Harrison and Terence Kelly ( and the beautiful blanckett like the pearls ) and. Catherine Baroll and. Robert Wisden as The Becks.

Not the last, the travel across USA and the clash with the young artist, too selfish to be the chosen one.

A beautiful film, indeed.

A combination of royal and road trip? 2 cliché plots in one? I didn't have much hope for this one. But I was surprised. It was just nice. Great chemistry between the two leads, thanks to fun and serious conversation. Slow burn. Anticipation of the meet up with the rival in Chicago kept the interest up. I liked the character arc of the princess who started out stiff and uninteresting, but as she opened up, her enthusiasm for American culture was endearing. Very good.