A Christmas Prince
Stars: Rose McIver (From IZombie!) and Ben Lamb.
Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!
Synopsis (via Netflix)
Christmas comes early for an aspiring young journalist when she’s sent abroad to get the scoop on a dashing prince who’s poised to be king.
Thoughts
NYC (Or Chicago?… why was there a Chicago flag in the establishing shots?) journalist, Amber wants to become a real journalist. She gets a BIG assignment to Aldovia to cover the playboy prince and his family. The rub is if she accepts the job, she will miss Christmas with her dad. (Who owns a diner!)
After getting her fathers approval we immediately cut to Aldovia, where a handsome (Not really!!!!) stranger steals her cab. She then rides a press van, where a fellow journalist tells her to quit the business. The journalist are at the press meeting and are told it is canceled! (Cue upset group reactions: Argh! Ahhh! Gerrr!)
Determined to get her story, Amber skirts the security and other journalist to sneak into the castle. She gets down to hardcore journalism (Which includes taking pictures of a knights armor and a large hall.) Amber gets mistaken for a tutor to Princess Emily, Martha Anderson! When she is brought to meet the royal family, Amber/Martha realizes that the handsome stranger (Really, not tho!) is the prince! She is embarrassed for yelling at him for seating her cab, so she does an awkward curtsy and then promptly breaks a vase.
Later, at tutoring we have Emily (Who has Spina bifida, and is full on Tiny Tim/Secret Gardening it up.) goes all von Trapp kid on her and places a mouse in Amber/Martha’s chair (Better than a pinecone, I guess?) The two briefly learn things before going out side and do some archery with the now freshly shaven, and I GUESS handsome Prince Richard. (Emily nails a bulls eye, and Amber/Martha breaks a window… so she is a klutz… but not as good as Sandra Bullock, of course.)
Amber/Martha is invited to dinner, where is if offered a disgusting looking jellied meat. We also learn that the Prime Minister has doubts about Prince Richard will be able to step up and be king. (Perhaps Cousin Simon might be a better choice? He is next in line even though he is EVIL!) Emily begins to come around and accept Amber/Martha because she is not like everyone else.
We get a decorating scene, but instead of a montage (Ah la Hallmark), with decorations and memories attached to each one. King Richard (who is now deceased, obviously.) had a thing for handmade ornaments. (Like an Acorn or Elephants that look like Bears.) Netflix ups the anti! Lady Sophia arrives. (Prince Richard’s ex girlfriend, who was summoned by the queen to convince him to take the crown._
Amber/Martha is working on her article, when Princess Emily discovers her. Amber/Martha quickly shuts the laptop, and tries to play it cool. Princess Emily tells her to cut the crap, and reveals that she already snooped through Amber/Martha’s laptop and knows everything. They agree to a deal, Emily will keep Amber/Martha’s secret as longs as she agrees to write the truth about Price Richard. (Who isn’t an actual playboy, despite the fact that he wears a pinky ring!)
*ALL this at the 30 min mark. Sooooo much faster pace than a Hallmark film.
Out on the town, Amber and Emily run into “The real Journalist” who recognizes Amber/Martha. Emily gets rid of him by telling him she will send him to the dungeon. (Will it be the last we see of him?) Richard is also out on the town and he skips a event to build a snowman and start a snowball fight with random kids.
On a less successful outing with Emily, Amber/Martha decides sledding it s good idea! There is a a moment when I thought the movie was taking a dark turn, but thankfully Netflix understands the genre of movie they are creating. The outing turns into a snowball fight with Richard, and we get the romantic falling in the snow. Too bad the bad guys, Sophia and Simon, see all of this and tells the queen, who reprimands her. (While also hinting for an invite next time, she has experience with a toboggan.)
While trailing Price Richard, Amber/Martha’s horse gets spooked and bucks her off. We then get a FULL ON Belle in Beauty and the Beast during scene with wolves surrounding her and her hair falling. Prince Richard comes to her rescue (aa all princes should do.) and takes Amber/Martha to a cabin to warm up by the fire. They talk about why Prince Richard doesn’t want to becoming king. He doesn’t like the press because everything he does is a headline. He then shows Amber/Martha a poem his father wrote for his mother just before he died. It is a mysterious riddle! They almost kiss when the horses neigh. Richard goes out to investigate leaving Amber/Martha alone to find adoption papers for Richard! ADOPTION PAPERS! Will she break the story?
Prince Richard and Amber/Martha go for a walk on the castle grounds and have a heart to heart, culminating in not one but TWO kisses! Meanwhile the bad guys, Sophia and Simon, break into Amber/Martha’s room and find out her true identity AND the adoption papers.
Skipping the makeover montage (Which I personally fell I was entitled to!) We cut right to the Christmas Ball! Amber/Martha looks like Cinderella, but instead of glass slippers she still has on those damn Chucks. Prince Richard is impressed and he even takes her on the floor for a dance. Apparently, at the Christmas Ball is when Richard becomes king? Before crowning the new king, the Prime Minister asks if anyone who has a reason that he should not be king to come forward. (Like a wedding?) Sophia and Simon gleefully tell everyone what the adoption and take over the crown as king and queen respectively. (Oh and that Amber/Martha is a journalist.)
Prince Richard writes off Amber/Martha and accepts his Queen Mother. But what will become of the crown.
At the airport, dejected and heartbroken, Amber/Martha talks to her dad on the phone. He triggers something in her memory and she pieces together the puzzle of they mystery poem! It was a clue leading to the stupid acorn ornament, which has a letter amending the law so that Prince Richard can rightfully become king!
Amber/Martha crashes the coronation and reveals the truth. The Queen believes her and the letter in marked with the king’s official seal. With that Richard becomes king on Christmas!
Back in NYC at Now Beat, Amber/Martha submits her story and it is rejected. So, she quits to start a blog about the real King Richard. The blog is a huge success and until she gets paid for successful blogs, she can work at Rudy’s Diner… On New Year’s Eve, Amber/Martha is cleaning off tables when some jerk throws a snowball at her window. It is KING Richard II, who is there to propose to her.
Amber/Martha can’t leave her blog job, or secondly, her Dad. King Richard II puts her worries to rest buy telling her he will buy her dad a diner in Aldovia and give him a wing of the castle. She accepts and they kiss in an empty, snowy, New York street.
The End! Merry Christmas!
Side Note
This wraps up this years coverage of holiday made for TV movies! Check back for more TV movie updates, soon! Thank you to the over 10,000 of you who check in with Lifetime Uncorked this December.
I didn’t recognizes Rose McIver for the first half of the movie, because she wasn’t in her iZombie makeup.
POC Alert: Pretty much all of Amber’s co-workers. “This is going to make your career, Amber”
POG Alert: Also a gay co-worker, hooray! “Where there is a tiara there is dirt, trust me!”
Does no one notice Amber/Martha constantly recording video on her phone?
Movie created quite a buzz earlier this month: Here is one of my fav articles via Buzzfeed.
Pacing was so much faster and more enjoyable than Hallmark, for me. Maybe because I’ve seen 32 of the 2017 Hallmark movies and am a bit jaded.
Overall rating
🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 (4 Christmas Trees)
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2017 Netflix
