This is part of a series of No Shame Movie Reviews. For reasons I won’t speculate and rant about now, we have been told that only some movies are worth enjoying. Only artsy movies with a meaningful and/or ambiguous message, perhaps. To that, I say phooey. I say that you should be able to watch and enjoy any movie you want – from low-budget children’s movies to dramas about the hopelessly romantic. If you enjoy them, then why the heck should you not be able to watch them without shame?
Almost every little girl has one or both of the following fantasies: be told out of the blue that she’s a princess or fall in love with a handsome man who just happens to be a prince (ergo making her a princess). If Netflix had Princess Diaries, I would certainly be talking about the former right now. But since it sadly doesn’t, I guess I’ll go with the latter, the next best thing, The Prince & Me.
The Prince & Me tells the tale of a Wisconsin farm girl, Paige (Julia Stiles). (I think we might be getting to the heart of why I, a small-town Midwestern Paige, love this movie so much.) While away at college, she meets Eddie (Luke Mably), the undercover, rabble-rousing, heir to the Danish throne. It’s probably needless to say that, after their fair share of squabbling (and a surprising amount of farm shenanigans), the two fall in love. But what happens when Paige finds out that Eddie is really Prince Edvard?
Much of this movie circles around the idea of responsibility—to your family, your country, your significant other, yourself. Each of these responsibilities pulls you in a different direction. The Prince & Me is about finding a balance, making sacrifices, discovering what your priorities truly are. And, ultimately, it’s about realizing that you and your wants, dreams, and loves are the most important.
And if those following those wants and dreams and loves happens to involve trying on priceless gems and kissing the future king of Denmark, then all the better.
Movies, and especially corny, romantic movies like this one, are wish-fulfillment, plain and simple. All those things that you dreamed of as a child. All those things that you’re supposed to stop fantasizing about when you grow up. All those things can happen in movies. And in my favorite movies, they do. Those corny fantasies that you never really stop hoping will come true one day do in fact come true.
When I told my friend I was watching The Prince & Me this week, she summed up really well why I’m writing these no shame movie reviews. She said, “I don’t usually like chick flicks, but that one always gets me. And by ‘don’t usually like chick flicks,’ I mean I like a lot of them but don’t usually admit it.” I think you all know my stance on this topic by now. Be proud to enjoy movies that are fun to watch. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. And I can guarantee that actually enjoying movies is a heck of a lot more fun than criticizing them.
The Prince & Me is a fairy tale. A modern fairy tale in which people still have to do homework, but a fairy tale nonetheless. It is fun and romantic and just plain adorable. I don’t know about you, but I definitely like that in a movie.
If you have any ideas for a movie that you want me to review, then let me know in the comments below! Bad, fun, silly, adorable, enjoyable, romantic, anything that you shouldn’t be ashamed to watch and love! (Bonus cookies if it’s also on Netflix.)
Image Credit: Fanart.tv; Netflix