By Shivani Srivastava
Staff Writer
“The Royal Treatment” taught me that if I want to get a man, a prince even, all I have to do is give them attitude and a haircut, because apparently that worked wonders for our main character, Isabella.
At this point, I believe the concept of building chemistry between leads, or having an engaging, non-generic plot is lost on Netflix.
The Plot
I would say “spoilers ahead”, but frankly, the entire plot, even the conflict, is in the trailer. The movie is really just the trailer with plenty of filler scenes.
Laura Marano stars as Isabella, the owner of a hairdressing business in New York. From the other side of the world, Prince Thomas of Lavania (Mena Massoud) arrives in New York for some ambiguous reason, possibly his engagement dinner. Lavania is a fictional country in which Thomas and his family rule as monarchs.
Of course, the two “coincidentally” meet when Thomas’ butler calls Isabella’s shop because the prince is adamant about getting a haircut. When Isabella arrives at Thomas’ residence, the interaction between them is incredibly awkward — though it was probably meant to be comedy.
Then, completely out of nowhere, one of the kitchen staff spills tea all over the floor and the worst thing a person could ever do happened: the prince does not even say a word! Of course, Isabella does not stand for this injustice and rushes to tell the staff member that everyone makes mistakes and saves the day. She is also very disappointed in the prince and stomps away, refusing to finish the haircut.
The prince sees how noble and righteous Isabella is and falls in love with her on the spot. He then shows up at her parlor to deliver a heartfelt apology and finish the haircut. That’s it. The end. The rest of the movie is purely filler and a failed attempt to build a romantic connection between the two leads.
The Characters and Acting
Aside from the fact Isabella acts as a judgemental, self-righteous saint, a child of God sent to Earth to right all the wrongs in the world — she never reciprocates the prince’s feelings until the end when she has to say the words, “I like you too”.
This can be attributed to Marano’s mediocre acting in this movie. While Massoud follows through with his longing eye contact, shy smiles and going out of his way to help the love interest, Marano just flashes her Disney smile the entire time.
At one point, Isabella even points out that Thomas is looking at her as if he likes her, and then she literally friend-zones him instead of, I don’t know, maybe keeping eye contact?
In another scene, they attempt a “romantic scene that slows down time” when Isabella fixes the prince’s hair. This only ends up appearing awkward as we watch Isabella wack a piece of hair for a solid two minutes.
Ultimately, Marano’s lack of range leads to a lack of chemistry between the leads, leaving the romantic-comedy movie without the romantic part.
And let’s not forget the most aggravating part: Isabella changes her accent every 10 seconds. Sometimes the accent, resembling a New Yorker’s, is there. And then it vanishes — like a game of hide and seek that slowly killed me on the inside.
The Verdict
When I finally got through the 97 minutes of this ludicrous movie, I reminisced about the romantic comedies of the past, movies that actually made us laugh, fall in love with the leads and believe in fairytales, like “Runaway Bride”, “10 Things I Hate About You”, “She’s The Man” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” just to name a few.
The problem does not lie in the predictability of the movie — of course the leads will end up together — or even the cringe for that matter. It’s the fact that Netflix, or Hollywood, has lowered the bar for rom-coms so much to the point where the audience will probably find this movie “not bad”, only because it was at least better than other movies, such as “He’s All That.” Because of that, Netflix will take it as a sign to produce more poorly-written films, continuing this cycle.
So, if you plan on watching this movie, go in with zero expectations. In fact, to elevate the experience, I suggest watching only to laugh at the forced 一 yet comedic 一 acting and plot.
Were there some cute moments? Yes, of course. Even a 10-year-old could write in some moderately romantic scenes. Did the movie leave me wanting more? Absolutely not.
Even Massoud’s charm did not make me want a sequel, which we will probably get anyways.
