Real life sucks. Just when one thing seems sorted another knocks you sideways instead. Gah. Slowly g...
Real life sucks. Just when one thing seems sorted another knocks you sideways instead. Gah. Slowly getting back to grips on here but can they please stop changing things?
Member since:25.06.2003
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Well fellow Ciaoers today I am hungover. The result of drinking yesterday, so now that I am well enough to emerge from my darkened bedroom I felt like watching a nice fluffy chick flick, so that I can continue to leave my brain on hold whilst distracting myself from the pounding in my head.
This was the first DVD that fell out of my collection so was todays winner!
Normally I would say that Julia Stiles films are very good, this I think must be the exception to the rule, in fact even watching it now I can remember very little of the plot or story line from the last time I watched it.
Opening with Paige heading to a friends wedding the first real action is when she is talking to another friend and finds that she is the only one of her group not to be married or engaged and still following her dreams. Back at college it appears that Paige is a very focussed young woman the sort who puts off people by being focussed to the exclusion of anything else.
Eddie (Prince Edvard of Denmark) is a playboy prince he has no focus and does nothing except have fun to the chargin of his parents and delight of the paparazzi. Until he decides he needs to get away and discover himself, in of all the places Winsconsin.
So he enrolls at the college that Paige attends and running in to her early earns her dislike. She is dismayed when he becomes her lab partner in her main Chemistry class.
But after she gives him a piece of her mind about his 'spoilt little
rich kid' ways he decides to change (anyone else find his skinny body a total turn off?), starting with a job at the bar in which she also works. This is his way to win her over.
Predictably he achieves this as she invited him to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Where he wins the local lawnmower races putting to use his tuning experience, but finally winning because he deserves to not because someone has let him. At this time it is also clear that Paige is becoming confused as her feelings for Eddie are making her question her future plans.
But after this revelation the Danish paparazzi find their Prince as they have become bored photographing the other Royals going about their official engagements. The find him in the college library with Paige, this is the first she knows about Eddie not being a 'normal' student- despite him having his manservant Soren with him at all times. Surely youd have questioned your boyfriend about the older man who is constantly around him at some point?
The paparazzi mean Eddie has to come clean about who he really is, not long after this revelation Eddies mother calls to tell him he has to return home after the semester finishes.
By the time Paige has realised that love should win Eddie has already left to go back to Denmark. So she follows him and despite her face being known due to the paparazzi she gets in a taxi and is not recognised until she is in the crowd trying to get Eddie's attention during a Royal Parade, at which point he helps her upon his horse and canters back to the Palace (sorry this was too sickly sweet and did my hangover no favours!). It is at this point that Eddie's father tells him that if he loves Paige then he should marry her (a situation echoed if we believe the media in the Prince William, Kate Middleton break up) but remember this is a chick flick so he proposes and she accepts.
Now as future Queen she has to attend some of the Royal duties and aquires a schedule. Somehow she manages to mess up many of these duties and upseting the Queen for one as bing nice to children took the attention from the hospital which was being opened. Though finally Eddie's mother begins to see that his experiences in America and that Paige is good for him so she take her under her wing to make her the best Queen Denmark could possibly have - starting with the important stuff the Royal Jewellery avaliable to Paige for the Coronation ball.
The ending I felt should have come at this point, but the film continues during which time Paige realises that while she loves Eddie she can never be his main focus and that he will always have things which he cannot talk to her about. Once again she appears in a crowd and is not recognised during Eddie's coronation speech before flying home to her family and the continuation of her education, at her Graduation Eddie comes back and tells her that he still loves her and he will wait for her to do whatever she wants to do, as he still wants her for his Queen.
I'm sure that I'm not alone in wondering why this film ever got made much less the sequel. Their lead male isnt all that good looking and I felt that even after his 'transformation' from spoiled brat to responsible male he was unbelievable and unattractive in almost every way. Sadly I am also left wondering why Julia Stiles was a part of this, generally though her roles tend to be strong women she displays some acting ability in this she just seemed to be turning up to collect the pay cheque at the end.
Errors in the film range from factual to continuity and sadly are more numerous than in most films. From Paiges dress hanging out a car door to the head on a beer changing there are many obvious ones as well as the factual ones you wouldnt know about without knowledge of Denmarks history.
The extra features of the disc are the usual types, a bloopers reel, documentaries about the lawnmower race, the way the film was styled, and Inside the fairy tale as well as the deleted scenes, a directors commentary and the theatrical trailer. It was all too obvious why the deleted scenes didn't make the movie as they added nothing to the story, though equally they wouldnt have detracted from it either.
I seriously cannot stress enough that if you are looking for a chick flick then don't pick up this one. Even now after watching it again I only vaguely remember the plot, clearly a forgettable film my copy of which is shortly to be listed on amazons marketplace!
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Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Paige (Julia Stiles) has her future all mapped out. A ambitious pre-med student at the ... more
university of Wisconsin, she's vowed nothing will deter her from becoming a doctor. Until she meets Edvard (Luke Mably), the dashing playboy Crown Prince of Denmark ...
![The Prince And Me [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78503132.jpg "The Prince And Me [DVD] [2004]")
May 12th, 2007
(May 11th, 2007)
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