A Prince and Pauper Christmas

Every so often, there is a Christmas movie different than all the others. This is one of them! I don't do spoilers, but I will say this! The acting was great; the plot totally different; and it was fun to watch the mixups, bad guys, and FBI! The ending just makes women go "Awwww". The mixups and impersonations done by Jonathan Stoddard is really good, and he makes you laugh. Surprisingly, it's easy to keep up with which is which! With Tom Arnold in it and Brittany Underwood, what could ever go wrong? Now a wedding & Coronation sequel, would be even more fun! I can see the "3" of them getting into more scrapes! It's a great way to spend an evening! Pop the corn! Drag out the wine or eggnog, and enjoy this movie! You won't regret it!

The story is pretty basic, but that doesn't really matter as the pitch-perfect performances of Jonathan Stoddard and Brittany Underwood are so wonderful. They both need much credit for really bringing their characters to life.

While this is described as a comedy, it is a very light comedy. The only laugh out loud moment was when the Prince first meets Sydney and she orders him to go up to her suite.

So, if you're looking for a really interesting story, this is not the film for you. It probably works best for someone who wants to unwind and watch a couple of first class actors do their thing.

I did not read the synopsis so was expecting a run of the mill TV Christmas romance, but this is so much more! I'm not normally a fan of Royal movies, with the lack of bodyguards and unreservered final kisses etc, and whilst the former at least is still an issue, the plot does have a feel of old-style British farce. Jonathan Stoddard's upper class English accent is fairly secure, but there are still a few Americanisations that sneak into the Prince's dialogue. I've just seen from a YouTube interview that the production team sold the idea to the actor as a 'James Bond' style script, which he feels was a bit misleading, but I actually thought of it as 007 spoof when watching this movie a while back, but obviously without all the big stunts (and the excessive female sexualisation, thankfully). It reminds me a bit of classic Ealing cinema, plus the Roger Moore / Tony Curtis series The Persuaders, with a bit of Hart To Hart thrown in. Whilst Stoddard and Underwood have made a few one-off Royal Movies (playing different characters, which is cool, yet slightly confusing), this one particularly deserves a sequel.

7.2 stars.

It's the story of a prince in Europe who has a doppelganger in America. Unfortunately, the identical looking person is a criminal. The prince comes to America to attend a gala and the criminal twin is also staying in the same hotel and is part of an FBI operation to catch some bigger fish. It's way too coincidental and outlandish.

I thought this film wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed the romantic vibes between the leads, she is quite attractive, although she doesn't fit the mold of most of the women who do these kinds of characters. I've seen the male lead in many Hallmark films and he did great in this. The story is somewhat weak at times, perhaps some of the characters are shallow and idiotic too. Arnold as the lead FBI guy was not very convincing. He was sort of like the character he portrays in 'True Lies', with the same dry humor and relaxed attitude.

This is definitely a good movie to see once. I don't think I'll return to see it again, but it was fun.