The Prince & Me Review
by Bob Bloom (bob AT bloomink DOT com)April 5th, 2004
THE PRINCE AND ME (2004) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Julia Stiles, Luke Mably, Ben Miller, Miranda Richardson, James Fox, Joanne Baron and Zachary Knighton. Directed by Martha Coolidge. Rated PG. Running time: Approx. 100 mins.
Unlike many of the actresses in her age group, Julia Stiles exudes an intelligence that makes her irresistible.
Yet this fine young actress seems to find herself in movies that fail to truly
utilize this spark.
Her latest feature, The Prince and Me, is a prime example.
On the old cliche-meter this formulaic romantic comedy would rate at least a 9.5 out of 10.
Supposedly a modern-day fairy tale, this is one movie that will put you to sleep way before you ever get to "... and they lived happily ever after."
Or do they?
Paige Morgan (Stiles) is a Wisconsin farm girl with a brains and beauty. She is a practical young woman who has her life all planned out. A pre-med track will put her on the road to fulfill her dream of working with Doctors Without Borders.
The only road Danish Prince Edward (Luke Mably) knows is the one on which he races one of the royal family's sports cars. He's a playboy and a scandalous disgrace to his parents, the king and queen.
After viewing one of those girls gone wild videos, in which the young women of
the Midwest are highlighted, Edward decides he must go, incognito, of course, to a university in the United States to broaden his education.
So, with his faithful manservant Soren (Ben Miller) tagging along, Edward, now
known simply as Eddie, finds himself at the same school as Paige.
Of course they meet cute: He asks her to take off her top, she sprays him down
to cool him off. And thus a romance begins. They are next thrust together as chem-lab partners. What he is doing in an advanced chemistry class is never made clear, except as an excuse by the writers to throw him and Paige together.
You see where this is going. The Prince and Me fails to stay true to its characters.
The level-headed Paige all of a sudden falls in love with Eddie, and we never
really understand how or why, except that he helps her with her Shakespeare course.
Eddie's transformation from spoiled royal gadabout to concerned young man plays just as phony.
The characters lack consistency; they are manipulated like puppets merely to serve the whims of the writers.
Stiles does the best she can with the material handed her, but she can do so much more and so much better.
Some smart filmmaker should dust off some vintage Katharine Hepburn material such as Adam's Rib, Holiday or The Philadelphia Story and throw it Stiles' way.
She deserves better than such tripe as The Prince and Me.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He
can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier
Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site:
www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
