Alex has serious plans for American politics (less convincing). Henry’s favourite film is In the Mood for Love (a believable touch). Red, White & Royal Blue certainly has ambitions just north of forgettable. You could laugh, or cry, or smile, or simply sit there for almost two hours (the run time is truly unfathomable) and think, “Okay, that was a film I just watched.” An exploration of British-American relationships? Okay! A geo-political drama about long-distance relationships and underpinned by an exploration of identity? I’d listen to you. In truth, the film, which follows the enemies-to-lovers romance between the US president’s son Alex (played by Taylor Zakhar Perez) and England’s Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), is absolutely anything you want it to be. Is it really possible that this film is more divisive a summer release than Barbie? One video which sets teary scenes from the film to a Taylor Swift song (never accuse these accounts of not knowing their audience) has been viewed over 3 million times.

Conversely, audience reviews are, widely speaking, passionately positive: TikTok in particular is obsessed with the film, and the slick work of director Matthew Lopez certainly helps that virality. In The Guardian, it’s a “bland gay romance”, The Independentnotes that there’s an “air of liberal fantasy to it all”, Vulture’s headline declares it “Brain-Breaking”. It has been a little over a week since the release of Amazon’s gay romcom Red, White & Royal Blue (though, as with Heartstopper, one of its romantic leads is bisexual), and you might still be nursing some reaction-based whiplash.

Red white and royal blue