movie review of red white and royal blue

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‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ Review: Two Studly Scions Attract in Affirmational Queer Rom-Com

'The Inheritance' playwright Matthew López makes an unexpectedly fluffy feature debut, using the opportunity to demonstrate that gay love stories needn't end in heartbreak and tears.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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The “prince of England’s hearts” falls for the American president’s son (or is it the other way around?) in “Red, White & Royal Blue,” an effervescent gay rom-com that might be easily dismissed as a mere trifle, were it not for the still-historic novelty of its existence. Arriving less than a year after “Bros,” director Matthew López’s Amazon-backed, R-rated lark goes even further to normalize queer romance on-screen, taking a classic “chick flick” premise — the kind once reserved for Mandy Moore and Amanda Bynes movies, à la “Chasing Liberty” or “What a Girl Wants” — and recasting it with dudes.

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After the cake fiasco lands them on the cover of every tabloid, Henry and Alex are ordered by their respective governments to play nice. That means posing for photos together, trying to sound pally for TV interviews and so forth, while sniping at each other when the journos aren’t looking. This stretch is all a bit rushed, spanning several months as the two bachelors (both presumed to be straight by the public) keep in touch by text message, striking up a rapport López illustrates by putting the two characters in the same frame and then spontaneously bursting the one who’s not there into a million CG butterflies. The trouble with that device is that it puts audiences ahead of the couple, such that their first kiss doesn’t come as a surprise.

What is surprising is just how far López is willing to take their attraction, featuring sex scenes that don’t shy away from reflecting what these two studs do to one another without revealing any body parts that might offend the Japanese censors. Getting to know one another after one early tryst, Henry and Alex discuss their unwieldy full names. “I thought Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz was a mouthful,” says the first son, to which Welsh prince Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor suggestively replies, “He is.”

Anyone watching “Red, White & Royal Blue” is surely prepared to accept this couple, but that’s hardly true of the wider world — or the fairy tale-adjacent one in which they live — which means that Henry and Alex have to worry about keeping their passion on the down low. The abundance of recent coverage of both Princess Diana (for whom the crown became a cross to bear) and her younger son Harry (who renounced his title after marrying for love) give audiences ample context to appreciate what’s at stake.

Here, the Prince of Wales must answer to his father, the king (played by Stephen Fry). Meanwhile, on Alex’s side, his Democrat mom is desperate to get reelected, and the whole gateau-gate controversy was bad enough. When their secret finally breaks, it’s courtesy of one of Alex’s former flings, D.C. reporter Miguel Ramos (Juan Castano, who played the lead role in the Los Angeles production of “The Inheritance”). This twist, while consistent with the Nickelodeon-level plotting throughout, is treated in such a way that audiences are encouraged to think about the consequences when the media outs celebrities, depriving them of what Henry articulately describes as “our decision when to share our truths and queer identities.”

While most of the movie functions as wish-fulfillment fantasy, López takes the Trojan horse approach to raise issues of HIV prevention, consent and personal privacy alongside the film’s most important political point: namely, that queer romances can be every bit as corny as their hetero counterparts. As political platforms go, that’s hope and change all rolled up in one.

Reviewed at Culver Cinemas, Culver City, July 24, 2023. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 118 MIN.

Production: A Prime Video release of an Amazon Studios, Berlanti Schechter, Potboiler production. Producers: Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter. Executive producers: Casey McQuiston, Michael Riley McGrath, Matthew López, Michael S. Constable.
Crew: Director: Matthew López. Screenplay: Matthew López, Ted Malawer, based on the novel by Casey McQuiston. Kristina Hetherington, Nick Moore. Music: Drum & Lace.
With: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine, Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, Thomas Flynn, Malcolm Atobrah, Akshay Khanna, Sharon D Clarke, Aneesh Sheth, Juan Castano, Stephen Fry, Uma Thurman.

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Red, White & Royal Blue

When the feud between the son of the American President and Britain's prince threatens to drive a wedge in U.S./British relations, the two are forced into a staged truce that sparks somethin... Read all When the feud between the son of the American President and Britain's prince threatens to drive a wedge in U.S./British relations, the two are forced into a staged truce that sparks something deeper. When the feud between the son of the American President and Britain's prince threatens to drive a wedge in U.S./British relations, the two are forced into a staged truce that sparks something deeper.

Matthew López
Casey McQuiston
Ted Malawer
Taylor Zakhar Perez
Nicholas Galitzine
Uma Thurman
377 User reviews
82 Critic reviews
62 Metascore
3 wins & 7 nominations total

Top cast 99+

Alex Claremont-Diaz

Prince Henry

Ellen Claremont

Prince Philip

Princess Martha

Princess Beatrice

Nora Holleran

Buckingham Palace Waiter

Zahra Bankston
Ellen's Assistant

UK Prime Minister
(as Sharon D Clarke)

Shaan Shrivistava

Interviewer
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

Trivia When Alex and Henry are on vacation reading together in the hammock, Alex is seen reading "One Last Stop," Casey McQuiston 's second novel. Henry reads a book by Bernardine Evaristo .
Goofs In the wedding scene, Alex enters and takes the whiskey glass from the bartender's hand stealing it from a guest, in the montage the next scene is the same but from a different perspective.

Alex Claremont-Diaz : Okay, here's what we're gonna do.

Prince Henry : Yes, tell me.

Alex Claremont-Diaz : You're gonna stay at least five hundred feet away from me for the rest of the night.

Prince Henry : Sensible plan.

Alex Claremont-Diaz : I'm not done.

Prince Henry : Of course you're not.

Alex Claremont-Diaz : Then at midnight, you're gonna come to my room on the second floor of the residence where I'm going to do some very bad things to you.

Crazy credits After the end credits, there's a small, comedic extension to the opening of Alex and Henry on the floor after the cake has collapsed on them, with Alex asking Henry if he thinks anyone noticed.
Connections Features Some Like It Hot (1959)
Soundtracks String Quartet No. 10 in E Flat Major, D. 87: IV. Allegro Written by Franz Schubert Performed by Melos Quartett Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd