I generally find myself not hurrying to watch any film with Julia Stiles. It has nothing to do with the fact that she isn’t that great of an actress, but more so that she generally doesn’t have that much in the way of screen presence. Recently, I had the opportunity to catch “The Prince and Me”, which is about to be released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment. It’s easy to get myself in the mood for romantic comedy, and I thought perhaps I’d enjoy this one in spite of Stiles. The premise sounded promising. It had that nice fairy tale ring to it, with the idea of a Danish Prince falling in love with a ‘common’ American girl. So I settled in to give it a try and found myself dragged in to the somewhat sappy and formulaic film. I say formulaic, not as an insult, but more as a cautionary warning. A lot of what is in this film, you’ve seen in other romantic comedies. Very little of it is original, but never the less, “The Prince and Me” delivers all the laughs and tears that you might expect from a movie of this type.

Stiles plays a University of Wisconsin student hell bent on becoming a doctor. Nothing, and I mean nothing is going to stand in her way. Enter Luke Mabry as the Crown Prince of Denmark who has decided to take a hiatus from his life as the future King, and go undercover as it were to ‘find himself.’ As expected, the two meet up and when they inevitably clash… comedy and romance ensue.

As directed by Martha Coolidge, “The Prince and Me” is a pretty good little film. It’s engaging, but you are required to ignore some of the less logical scenarios in order to really get into it.

I was surprised to see some changes in Stiles. Her role here doesn’t require an Academy Award performance, so she doesn’t deliver one, but it would appear that she is starting to acquire a bit of charm. I don’t know if it was just her character, or if she is somehow channeling that certain ‘something’ that a successful actress needs. Either way, this is the first time I wasn’t at all annoyed by her presence onscreen.

The DVD for “The Prince and Me” has a surprising amount of extra features for a film that just kind of came and went in theatres. There’s a commentary by Coolidge, but I don’t really recommend listening to it. She has a few interesting things to say, but she doesn’t really say it with any kind of energy. Her delivery is just kind of bland.

You’ll also find three different ‘behind the scenes’ featurettes that offer up some info on the making of the film as well as several deleted and extended scenes. These are perhaps the more interesting of the features as a couple of sequences might have added enough to make a good film even better. Finally, there is a short Gag Reel.

“The Prince and Me” is an above average romantic comedy that despite some of its plot contrivances, still makes for an entertaining evening.

Directed by: Martha Coolidge
Starring: Julia Stiles, Luke Mably, Ben Miller, James Fox, Miranda Richardson
Extras: Commentary by Director Martha Coolidge, The Lawnmower Race, The Look of The Prince and Me, Inside the Fairy Tale, 8 Deleted / Extended Scenes, Gag Reel, Theatrical Trailer
Specifications: Widescreen - Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 8/10/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG (For Some Sex Related Material and Language)
Website

We'll give The Prince and Me a B.