‘Electrifying chemistry between leads’ – Red, White and Royal Blue | Films | Entertainment

If you’ve had enough of fraught romances involving a British prince, an American outsider and the tabloid press, this breezy adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s best-selling novel could sound like a non-starter.

But, like all good romantic comedies, Red, White & Royal Blue makes us buy into a fantasy. What if said prince was clever and charming, and the American was witty and unassuming?

And what if lovely old Stephen Fry was the King (I’d vote him head of state) and American politicians were smart and honourable?

For two hours, Tony Award-winning playwright-turned-film maker Matthew Lopez whisks us off to a much-improved version of the real world.

A hard-working and entirely compos mentis US President (Uma Thurman) sends her son Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) to attend the wedding reception of Prince Philip (Thomas Flynn) at Buckingham Palace.

Alex has a long-standing beef with the royal “spare” Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) and a tetchy encounter results in them both falling into the wedding cake.

After the resultant picture makes headlines across the world, the president’s chief of staff (Sarah Shahi) orders Alex to pretend to be best pals with Prince Henry in a series of TV interviews.

The bickering pair gradually become real friends, before a very “special relationship” begins to develop.

As one character puts it, Henry is gayer than “the first four rows of a Gaga concert”. Alex is secretly bisexual and, when an unscrupulous journalist gets a whiff of scandal, Henry has to choose between his heart and his royal duties.

The garish soap opera-style lighting won’t win many hearts. But the chemistry between the two leads and Lopez’s witty dialogue provide plenty of sparks.

Red, White and Royal Blue, Cert 12, On Amazon Prime now