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Chick flicks are supposed to be a little cliché, right? If you’ve got a formula that
works, why mess with it?
Take The Prince & Me, for example. You
take two totally different people: Paige (Julia Stiles), who’s focused and driven, who
wants nothing more than to get into Johns Hopkins University’s med school, and Edward
(Luke Mably), the careless, irresponsible crown prince of Denmark, who decides that he
wants to go to Wisconsin (where, in the videos advertised on TV, crazy college girls take
their tops off for no apparent reason)—no matter what his parents think. So he heads to
college incognito (he calls himself “Eddie” to sound more American).
In
the standard chick flick formula, these two totally opposite people are thrown together
(in this case, in chemistry class and at work), and, in this case, one (Eddie) falls for
the other and is shockingly shot down. Repeatedly. But slowly, things come together,
and the two get closer and closer. Just as the two are beginning to admit their feelings
for one another, something gets in the way. When the Danish paparazzi hunt Edward down
in Wisconsin, Paige learns that he’s not who he claimed to be.
Once
Eddie’s gone—back to Denmark, to be with his ailing father, the king—Paige realizes that
life just isn’t the same without him, and she’s forced to choose between following her
handsome prince to Denmark and continuing toward her dream of med
school.
In The Prince & Me, the formula just seems to go a little
too far. What’s meant to be a cute Cinderella-like story produces just a few too many
eye-rolling moments. Paige is just too much of a weak, cliché female character, and the
irresponsible playboy prince becomes the lovesick, monogamous puppy a little too quickly
and easily to be believable. And the end is disturbingly abrupt.
I love
Julia Stiles—I especially loved her in 10 Things I Hate About You—but, while it
did have a few fun moments, The Prince & Me just didn’t work for me. If you’re
looking for a cute princess-y fairy tale, check out The Princess
Diaries instead.
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