A Christmas Prince

Oh A Christmas Prince.

I had such high hopes. You seemed like you would be a great combination of cheesy premise, pretty locations, and ridiculous romance. You weren't produced by Hallmark but Netflix, a production company that might have a bit of a sense of humor about itself and the Christmas gentle watch it was producing. Maybe it would even poke a little fun at the genre, in a loving, affectionate way.

So we settled in to watch this potential Christmas classic. And low and behold...

Fifteen minutes into the movie we realized...

We struggled through the interminable 90 minutes of a A Christmas Prince, but every ten minutes or so, all I wanted to do was yell at the screen:

Quick synopsis: A journalist is given her big break to cover the potential crowning of the new king of a small European country. It's been a year since his father died and he's been partying ever since (or has he?!?!). She gets to the palace and somehow fakes her way in pretending to be the new nanny to his younger sister. The usual high jinks happen from there but the most disappointing part of this film is it's total and complete lack of joy. This movie is a drag, that's all there is to it.

This movie was such a drag that I'm not going to include any images or gifs from the movie. I don't want to besmirch this blog with that nonsense. 

Besides the total lack of fun or joy, here's a little bit of why this film is so bad:

• Ridiculous hidden identities
• The leading lady, Amber, literally follows the prince on a horse and then falls off and has a Beauty and the Beast moment where a wolf almost attacks her 
• Amber is the worst journalist ever. Her notes are literally a bullet pointed list saying things like "The prince is starting to trust me" and "I have to find out more!!!"
• Lots of unclear rules about royal lineage and the order succession. Monarchies have very clear rules and everyone in those countries know who's in line.
• A secret adoption (that throws said order of succession into chaos)
• The new king is supposed to get crowned at the annual Christmas ball. WHAT? It's basically the chillest coronation ever and coronations are never chill.
• The leads have no chemistry. She seems to like him because he's handsome and misunderstood, and he likes her because she charmed his little sister and is kind of a mess. Rather than being misunderstood, I think the prince is actually just grieving his father's death and hasn't dealt with those feelings. And she is a mess, but not a charming one, just sort of annoying and sad.
• After everything fall's apart, Amber goes home, decides to quit her job because the magazine doesn't want to publish her story about "the real prince". So she starts her own blog called something like "Amber's Blog" and it gets 1000 views and everyone is SO proud of her.  
• There is a ridiculous proposal at the end. It's New Year's Eve and her friends want her to go out with them but she's sad so she stays home. Then the prince shows up and proposes. WHAT? NO.

All of this sounds like pretty normal rom-com fare, so why the vitriol? This movie was just so sad. No one looked like they were having any fun and I certainly didn't have any fun watching it. Imagine all of those high jinks but cover them in a layer of anxiety and sorrow, and that is this movie.


You know what A Christmas Prince?

A begrudging rating:

Cheese Rating: This movie was super cheesy, but not in a fun or interesting way. Just in a bad way. Can I give half a piece of cheese? A whole wedge seems too generous.

Wine Rating: I don't even know. One glass? I certainly wanted to drink during this movie, hoping it would make the movie better, but, really, nothing was going to save A Christmas Prince.

Hot Men: Honestly, who cares. If this movie had a voice, this is what it would say: