Um Príncipe em Minha Vida

A nice easy watch. Very predictable but enjoyable.

Almost 20 years old, and i couldn't help but laugh at the uncanny similarities between what's going on in the film and currently with Meghan Markle. Perhaps she should have watched this film, and seen that joining a European royal family isn't without difficulties. Harry said in his book Meghan was upset as she was a hugger, the American in this film was a hugger and it was pulled up in a jokey context.

Would I watch again? No. Am I glad I gave it a go? Yes. Julia Stiles is lovely and loved all her films from back in the day, not sure how I've never seen this before.

The prince and me was a pretty typical film, with a worn out plot. Not to mention an annoying view on Danes. Some of the things that bothered me on what I mentioned above, was the names in particular. Edward, Rosalind, Arabella...they could at the least have tried giving the names a Danish feel. And there is the fact that Denmark does NOT have a king, we have a queen! The Queens husband is not called a king, but a prince, because he married into the royal family, and a king will always range higher then a queen. Sorry, that was besides the point......Anyway this movie does have some quite funny moments that makes it worth watching, and I kinda liked the scene at the table with Edward telling Paige's brothers a few things about Denmark. Another thing that made me smile, was that they hadn't abandoned the Danish language completely, but had inserted some speech with it. 4.5/10 stars.

"The Prince & Me" is likely to be skewered by critics for being entirely predictable. Meet Paige. Pre-med student who has ambitions of seeing the world with Doctors Without Borders. Meet Edvard. Danish crown prince who wants to go to America, Wisconsin particularly, because he sees one of those "Girls of Wisconsin" videos. He enrolls at Paige's school as an exchange student named "Eddie". He's incognito because he wants to avoid the papparazzi. Do you think he'll get along with Paige at first? Think they'll fall for each other? Think the fairytale romance won't blossom? If you doubt any of this, then you A) have been living under a rock B) have never seen a romantic comedy in your life. "The Prince & Me", which I was dragged off to see by my girlfriend, *is* that predictable. There's hardly a plot twist in sight. Everything happens according to the book. Girl meets prince in disguise. Girl falls for prince. Prince reveals identity. Girl gets mad. Girl realizes she loves prince. Goes off to neverland to marry prince. Etc., etc.

But I figured if I could stay awake through this movie (and I did) it had to have some merit. And it does.

The "Danish" royal family in this film is a thinly-veiled parody of the British royals. The old queen with the aversion to her kin marrying commoners, the playboy prince...you get the point. This part of the film adds a touch of realism to the proceedings. I kind of liked that. I've seen royalty portrayed in other movies that I've been forced to watch (eg. King Ralph, Princess Diaries) and they couldn't have been more off the mark.

There's some genuinely amusing (but not laugh-out loud) moments in the film too.

I won't spoil them for you here. But if you're a guy, and your girlfriend is begging you to see this, you might want to give it a chance.

7/10

I enjoyed this movie, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm a Dane myself. I found myself smiling on a few occasions, which involved Danish actors or mentions of other Danish things.

But there's many things that's not correct, obviously. Danish princes are practically always called Christian or Frederik, we currently don't have a king but a queen, we speak Danish and our newspapers are also in Danish, and monarchs are not allowed to be involved in politics. I'm sure there is more, but I can't remember.

But it's a cute story, predictable, but it's a romantic comedy, and those are predictable.

See it, enjoy it, but don't take it too literally.

"The Prince & Me" is a simple, warm-hearted love story. It's almost like another kind of Julia Stiles "10 Things I Hate About You" romantic comedy, but posh. Truthfully I think "10 Things I Hate About You" is the better film because of the inestimable Heath Ledger, but also because Julia Stiles "tempestuous b--tch" character shines brighter. In "The Prince & Me," Julia Stiles is as smart and witty but more conservative and mild tempered. Even still, Julia Stiles gives a strong performance with many affectionate and heart breaking moments in subtle changes of expression. Julia Stiles acting skills has certainly matured here but I wish she had a larger and more differentiated role to fill than she does.

Anyway, "The Prince & Me" is a predictable but genuine romantic comedy and very funny in parts (I.e. when the prince's butler becomes crack-addicted to video games). Very watchable.

One quibble is the ending which seems to go on for a long time. A good twist to show what happens after "happily ever after," but almost like it belongs in the next movie.

Other than that, a fine, conventional, but pleasing film.