Un duca all'improvviso

The promos sounded like a lower-scale, lower-budgeted rehash of the premise of KING RALPH with John Goodman, Peter O'Toole and John Hurt; I soon realized this wasn't quite the case or presented as that kind of LOL comedy, but I still got a lot more LOL moments than I expected. A large part of that is that I've been calling the Greater Philadelphia Metro Region home for the past 55 years and have many friends who are from South Philly or are first-generation children of transplants from South Philly to the South Jersey suburbs where I grew up. If there's going to be a culture clash between British aristocracy and an American-born heir, I can't think of a character that would bring sparks to that clash, more than Ralph the Las Vegas lounge singer, than a working stiff from South Philly. Small references to South Philly from protagonist Johnny in reply to his snooty cousin Allistair brought the biggest laughs such as the one after Allistair identifies himself as being of "Winshere, north of Devon". (I have to give kudos to Andrew Walker for NOT trying too hard to do a South Philly accent. Most actors not native to the PA-NJ-NY region end up not getting the subtle differences between the accents that are most concentrated, and end up overdoing it AND coming off with a Brooklyn or Bayonne NJ accent instead!)

The characters are engaging and most are likeable, and their actors have excellent chemistry. That between Andrew Walker (Johnny) and Emilie de Ravin (Prudence) is particularly involving. The characters are dynamic in the true old high school Language Arts class sense of changing due to the events of the story. Many of the "snooty" aristocratic characters end up not being as stereotypical as initially presented.

Just a little note here. Some of the reviewers mention the ridiculous notion that Johnny supposedly got his horseback riding skills to help another rider in distress by being the mechanical bull riding champion at his South Philly bar. Just thought I'd mention that the Pennsylvania Army National Guard has an Armored Cavalry squadron in Philadelphia that has a rather elaborate ceremonial horse team; if the writers had been aware of that fact, they could have made Johnny a former enlisted member (say a tank mechanic) of that unit and have gotten his riding skills with that horse team, a much more plausible/credible explanation. (I myself organized a much smaller, lower-budgeted and less elaborate horse team within my old New Jersey National Guard unit.)

I'll say this is one of the best Working Class American amid stuffy European Royalty movies Hallmark has ever done. One star off for the silly mechanical bull story. (And do I mean BULL!)

7.7 stars.

I anticipated this Hallmark would be a bit better than it turned out however, it still did not disappoint. I feel that the story is a bit slow at times, somehow the characters weren't as lively as expected, the the mood wasn't as exuberant as some other royal romances. That feeling of expectation, leading up to the final romantic encounter, it was somewhat absent. The leads don't have quite the chemistry that is generally considered the bread and butter of an exceptional romance. On the other hand, I actually laughed a few times-a very rare reaction to Hallmark romances.

However, the overall experience was fine. I would say this film falls a bit short of greatness in several different categories. It's one of those slightly above average Hallmark movies, perhaps a 7.1, but since I really like all the actors and their personalities grow on you after a while, it's elevated to a 7.7. Anything 7.5 through 7.7 I feel like watching again in 2-5 years, depending on my mood at the time. Generally, I rate based on my initial impression, "do I want to see this again in the next couple years, five years, or maybe revisit this one in ten years to never?" If the answer is five years, then my rating is generally 7.5 - 7.6. I think I might be in the mood for 'The Reluctant Royal' in 3 years-just a hunch. It's a strict system, because those unfortunate 7.4's I will probably never deign to watch again, but I must be true to the system or I'll be wasting precious time rewatching average films-time that should be allocated to new releases and favorites.

I have to say this is one of the best Hallmark movies I've seen in a long time. I had to double check that it actually was a Hallmark movie. Loveable characters, some well placed humour- it's really enjoyable. Andrew Walker is excellent in this and yes, he really does his own singing. It's not a musical but there are a couple of short songs in it Love the story line.

In so many of these movies the supposedly romantic closed mouth kiss in the big finale is so unnatural I sometimes wonder if the actors can tolerate each. Not the case in this one. What a pleasant change to the phony end in many others.

Great show and the acting makes all the difference. Andrew Walker makes all the difference in the world to the quality of this movie.

I did not like the tone of this story. The commoner coming in and saving the day might have been a nice story. And he does keep triumphing in almost everything he does including showing up an experienced horseman even though his only riding experience seems to only be riding a mechanical bull. That was a little too much.

The son of a Duke is automatically a Lord and I think has the title Marquess. Yet the cousin constantly insults him. Would he get away with that in front of a group?

The story goes about how you'd expect. The cousin who is the alternate heir becomes the villain. Two relationships develop. The potential romance is rushed because of everything else going on. The story makes a point of a potential problem there and also rushes dealing with it.

The acting is OK, but not great. The dialogue is mostly bland with maybe one or two good lines.

Like the movie, The Royal We, from the previous week on Hallmark, there is an epilogue where the three royal movies of March 2025 are tied together. It was clever in that one, but seemed forced and abrupt in this one.

Hallmark seems, with this movie, (and a few others recently) to have gotten back to what they did best before the whole Hallmark/Great American flap happened. The movie is fun, Andrew is is rare form and it was genuinely fun! Enjoy! The female lead is also very good. She seems to have jumped right into the Hallmark world and "nailed it". The scenery and even the old car What was it? A Triumph? (note the right hand drive!) add a level of believe ability that just adds to the quality of the movie. The only thing that irked me (just a bit) was the hair color application for Andrew...a little, I don't know... weird? Loved it! Keep it up Hallmark!