A Match for the Prince is yet another modern-day fairytale with a literal Prince (not so) Charming from a European monarchy (“an enclave by Switzerland”) with a patently made-up name, but who speaks the King’s English fluently (to be fair, Prince Maximillian Lucien Adalwolf of Voldario “went to boarding school in London”).
According to Max (Jamie Thomas King, who also played a prince of “Sanovia” in A Royal Recipe for Love. Way to get typecast), his uncle has been “acting as regent but has wanted to retire for some time.” So why doesn’t he?
By definition, a regency is a provisional office (pro tempore, if you want to get fancy), in case the king is a minor, absent, incapacitated or not able to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, or the throne is vacant and a new king has yet to be determined.
By his own admission, Max is a month shy of his 40th birthday, and he seems of sound mind and body. What gives? Well, “per Voldario law,” Max must get married before he turns 40 or he “will be forced to abdicate or marry a duchess who is in love with another man” (never mind that he would first have to be king before he could abdicate).
Max is conscious that he “can get a wife anywhere;” the problem is that he wants “true love” — and the crown too, of course. Anything else you’d like? Eternal youth, maybe?
Max claims to have tried everything (including but not limited to “Hollywood casting agencies,” a “supercomputer,” and a “shaman”); his last resort is Julia Castle (Paniz Zade).
Julia is “a medieval romance novelist.” That is to say, she’s a novelist who writes medieval romances, not a medieval trouvère that Max has magically summoned forth through the centuries to serve as his wingwoman (although that might have made for a more whimsical movie).
Julia’s adamant that the romance in her books is not “idealized”: “It’s all about respect … good old-fashioned courtship with chivalry and meaning … it’s just a higher standard that we have lost along the way.”
Um, is Julia playing Devil’s advocate by any chance? Despite her arguments pointing to the contrary, she unironically concludes that no, “my romance isn’t idealized.” You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Having just been broken up with by Steve (Sir Not Appearing In This Film), Julia is eager to “prove that the love I write about is attainable and that higher standards are worth it,” as well as “confirm every romantic belief I’ve built my life around.”
What led Max (or, rather, his sister) to think that Julia would be a good matchmaker, I haven’t the foggiest. Was it her writing? Impossible to tell, since we hear no more sample of her work than a solitary sentence at the beginning (and not a good one: “I have tried to forget you, but when I sleep, I dream of you. When I walk, I sing of you. I cannot, lock you out of my heart.” That’s how she types it; “I cannot [comma] lock you out of my heart”).
Moreover, Julia brags (as if it were something to be proud of) that she “pumped out six novels in my first five years” as a writer — the true mark of a hack.
Julia assures Max that “chivalrous romance has built the Western world” and “cemented empires” (no, it hasn’t), but her ultimate solution to his problem is to track down Josie (Rhoslynne Bugay), Max’s ‘one that got away.’ He could have done that himself. Well, not himself-himself, but he could have just hired a private investigator.
As useless as Julia proves to be, she’s obviously going to end up the titular match for Max. Now, that it’s such a foregone conclusion doesn’t mean it’s okay for the filmmakers to not bother establishing some sort of attraction between the leads.
At no point do you get the feeling that Max and Julia could be anything other than just friends. They never once share a single, truly romantic moment, let alone discuss, or even hint at their potential feelings for one another.
Toward the end of the second act, Julia’s BFF asks her how things are going with Max. Out of the blue, Julia replies, “I want something more than just a royal love affair. I’m not about to just leave my life here and jet off and get married in some foreign country.”
Where the hell did that come from? Max hasn’t even implied any of those things, and while Julia adds that what she just said isn’t even a “remote possibility,” she still sounds like she peeked at the script.
Similarly, when Max accuses Julia of being “afraid of real love,” and that “the moment it gets a little bit complicated” she runs, it’s anybody’s guess what he’s referring to. Surely he can’t be talking about himself and Julia, since they haven’t yet gotten anywhere near the point in their relationship that he’s describing.
Anyway, Julia and Max have a falling out, which inspires her to give the book she’s been working on an uncharacteristically unhappy ending. You’d think Steve breaking up with her would have done that trick; then again, I’m not sure Steve wasn’t a figment of Julia’s imagination.
You’d also think that Julia’s publisher would have had a problem with the downer ending (and with good reason; fans at an author event don’t seem to love it, and negative word of mouth hurts sales), and would have wanted Julia to change it, and Julia would have fought to keep it, and so on and so forth.
Even in the best of circumstances, it takes time to get a novel released; if Stephen King completes a book tonight, you better believe it’s not going to be out tomorrow morning.
Nevertheless, Max reads the ending, which convinces him to go after Julia in earnest — and we know it hasn’t even been one month because neither has Max married Josie (which he certainly intended to) nor has he “abdicated.”
Furthermore, we have to subtract however long Julia spent trying (and failing miserably) to find Max a match. That doesn’t leave an awful lot of time for Julia to go on “hermit mode, rewriting” (which could mean she did get some notes from her editor after all), finish the final draft, send it to the press, print copies, bind them (for which covers must be designed and manufactured), distribute them, etc., etc. (if they do nothing else right, at least the characters in this movie read physical books). I know Julia likes to “pump out” novels, but this is ridiculous. Not even self-publishing works that fast.
All things considered, Max’s sister’s review of the The Duke’s Destiny (and of A Match for the Prince?) may be the only honest thing in the entire movie; “Of course, one knows what’s going to happen, but that’s the point.” Be that as it may, I still would have liked the time-traveling medieval trouvère better.
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