Do not underestimate the importance of a well-crafted girlie movie. You need the right elements: subtle but fluffy character development, a few witty lines, hot guy, cute girl and you're on the way to fine film enjoyment. Now imagine adding the nation Denmark to the picture, possibly the world's best country, and you've got all the elements of an all time fluff masterpiece.
But honestly, the only enjoyable parts of The Prince and Me are the sunny shots of Copenhagen. This cornball chick flick is a tedious, cheesy attempt at a fairy tale -- a badly scripted, disappointingly acted blah-fest that even Denmark couldn't save.
The basic premise of the movie is disappointing and bland: Julia Stiles is Paige Morgan, an obnoxious, grade-grubbing nerd at the University of Wisconsin, who is hoping to go to Johns Hopkins Medical School. She sticks her nose up at her mother and all her friends who are getting married early. And a theme that should sound familiar to most Hopkins kids, she "doesn't have time," to get into a relationship, a theme which is both clich??d and boring. Didn't Stiles already play the angry, anti-girlfriend in Ten Things I Hate About You?
The Danish Prince "Eddie," (not a Danish name, guys), played by Luke Mably, gets inspired by a "Girls Gone Wild," video and comes over to Wisconsin (side note: Is Wisconsin actually an accurate picture of America?). The realistically Danish-looking dreamy blond comes to Wisconsin with some fun philandering in mind, and ends up with dorky Paige Morgan. The prince/working-class American farm girl fight gets dull. Besides, Morgan spends much of the movie being obnoxious to Eddie, and c'mon, what isn't to like about a Danish prince?
The flirtations and fights between the main pair--the crux of any good chick flick--are supposed to make the movie stronger, not expose the weakness of the script and general lack of acting ability. Stiles and Mably clearly have acting potential, but there is absolutely no creative exchange between them, and the screenplay is simply confusing.
Visit the scene when Eddie is supposed to secretly fall in love with Ms. Paige. He's watching her clean up chairs at the local campus bar where she is a waitress, and her favorite song comes on. Morgan takes off her shoes, yes, takes off her shoes and dances barefoot to a melancholy cowboy love song. Beyond the awkwardness of having naked feet on a bar floor, Stiles has fallen a long way from Save the Last Dance -- she looks like she's about to trip over herself. Most princes would go running.
But back to the plot, or lack thereof. Not surprisingly, nothing really happens in Wisconsin. We see some forced interaction between Eddie and Morgan's idiot redneck brothers when the prince comes home for a good ol' Thanksgiving dinner. To add insult to an already stereotyped image of America, a substantial portion of the film is devoted to lawnmower racing. Oh, but it gets much worse, as we see the prince take a few laps around the hay bales himself. Back at college, Paige and Eddie start making out in the stacks of the library. The paparazzi interrupts their necking session and Eddie's cover is blown. The shock that Paige feels must've been not from finding out that her lover boy is a sought-after prince, but a big enough loser to actually make out with her for the first time in the library.
Transition to Denmark. Suddenly, Morgan has decided to follow her prince, and they are engaged to be married. This would have been an interesting plot development if we had any idea who she was or what the two are like as a couple. A few minutes ago they were making out in the library and racing lawnmowers, and now she's about to be queen?
While many a girlie movie has had its share of quick transitions, it seems like the director was working too hard to make the movie flow into a somewhat believable plot. In the process, the crucial fluff character development is missing--their relationship is almost completely ignored.
The latter half of the movie deals with possibly the most unrealistic idea of all. Paige actually seems attached to the idea of heading to dear old East Baltimore as a Hopkins medical student, so she can eventually work in third world countries for Doctors-Without-Borders. What? Paige whines her way until the end, having to choose between Third World and Denmark, the Best Country in the World. Give me a break. As one of my angry pre-med movie buddies put it, "That just doesn't happen!" Ask your nearest pre-med, would you rather live in the lap of luxury or in America's largest cesspool?
Now what has happened in real life is a story that is oh-so much better. This movie is based on the true story of the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and an Australian socialite, Mary Donaldson, that he picked up in 2002. The two are slated to be married on May 14, for a nationally-designated Holiday. The paparazzi coverage and publicity loops that Donaldson has had to jump through are interestingly similar to those the movie shows.
However, if anyone else enjoys playing the "oh! This is just like Denmark" game, do let me know, but I can tell you that not many people in the movie theater enjoyed the movie's subtleties. If you're interested in European royalty, you'd be better off going to any Danish news website- in addition to the categories of "breaking news," "sports" and "politics" there's a new "Wedding," section devoted entirely to the union of Frederik and Mary. Surfing the web for a real royal couple story is a better, cheaper and more heartwarming alternative for a love story than this failure of a fluff.
