Themes: College Life, Crowned Heads, Class Differences
Main Cast: Julia Stiles, Luke Mably, Ben Miller, James Fox, Miranda Richardson
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
For the second time in her career, Julia Stiles plays a character romancing the Crown Prince of Denmark in The Prince & Me, a romantic wish-fulfillment fantasy from director Martha Coolidge. Far from her role as Ophelia in 2000's Hamlet, however, Stiles plays Paige, a plucky, determined college student from the Midwest who's buried in her last few semesters of pre-med studies when she meets Eddie, a brash, impudent Danish foreign-exchange student who just happens to have a mysterious partner (Ben Miller) shadowing him in everything he does. What Paige doesn't know is that Eddie is in fact the spoiled son of the King (James Fox) and Queen (Miranda Richardson) of Denmark, on holiday in America hoping to find a nonstop keg party complete with buxom American babes. What he and his butler don't count on is squalid dorm life, final exams, and the possibility that Eddie might actually find his true soul mate in the sensible Paige. But when Eddie finally reveals his secret, will Paige want to give up her dreams of becoming a doctor for a playboy prince? ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Ondrej Nekvasil - Art Director, Vlasta Svoboda - Art Director, David Minkowski - Art Director, Matthew Stillman - Associate Producer, Joseph P. Genier - Associate Producer, Mike Elliot - Associate Producer, Kerry Barden - Casting, Billy Hopkins - Casting, Suzanne Smith - Casting, Gail Stevens - Casting, Hopkins-Smith-Barden - Casting, Mark Bennett - Casting, Jeffrey Lampert - Co-producer, Magali Guidasci - Costume Designer, Michaeala Stranadova - First Assistant Director, Martha Coolidge - Director, Branko Racki - Second Unit Director, James Spencer - Second Unit Director, Steven Cohen - Editor, Cami Winikoff - Executive Producer, Robin Schorr - Executive Producer, Jennie Muskett - Composer (Music Score), Robin Urdang - Musical Direction/Supervision, James Spencer - Production Designer, Alex Nepomniaschy - Cinematographer, Mark Amin - Producer, Peter P. Nicolakakos - Set Designer, Andrew Hull - Set Designer, Greg Chapman - Sound/Sound Designer, Mark Amin - Screen Story, Katherine Fugate - Screen Story, Katherine Fugate - Screenwriter, Jack Amiel - Screenwriter, Michael Begler - Screenwriter, David Perrault - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Ervin Sanders - Second Unit Director Of Photography, David Hankins - Supervising Sound Editor, Blackbox Digital - Visual Effects, Marie Raskova - Set Decorator, Howard A. Anderson Company - Title Design
In the plot, a Wisconsin student meets a Danish prince, who persuades his Royal family to accept a commoner bride.
The film marks the return of Martha Coolidge to the big screen after a 7 year absence, and her service as the first female president of the Directors Guild of America.
The movie chronicles the story of Paige Morgan (Stiles) and Eddie (Mably), who happens to be the prince of Denmark. They have a romance with predictable ups and downs that end happily. Paige graduates and goes on to medical school, while Prince Edvard declares that he will wait until she is able to marry him.
Critics gave the film mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes rated it 27% (rotten). Metacritic reported the movie had an average score of 47 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.[1] The Christian Science Monitor's David Sterritt gave the film a good review, stating that the movie was "quite appealing, thanks to good-humored acting and to Martha Coolidge's quiet directing style." Meanwhile, Manohla Dargis of The Los Angeles Times criticised the movie, calling it "a blandly diverting, chastely conceived and grammatically challenged fairy tale"[2]USA Today commented that The Prince and Me was overall "well-meaning, cute, sweet" but that the film could have been improved with "a bit more quirkiness and a little less formula."[3]
York University was where the bar scene was filmed. The bar at York University is named The Underground.
Discrepancies between the movie and reality
Though the plot revolves around the Danish royal family, very little information provided in the film seems to be factual, and places such as Folketinget and Amalienborg look nothing like they do in reality.
Denmark does not currently have a king. Denmark is ruled by Queen Margrethe II, and her husband is the French-born Prince Consort of Denmark.
The name, King Haraald, is not a real name. Harald V is the name of the king of neighbouring Norway. Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England in the 11th century. Harold is the name of the fictional king in Shrek 2.
The names of Danish crown princes, and hence kings, have by tradition alternated between Frederik and Christian ever since the 15th century.
As opposed to what the plot claims, Denmark did not have a parliament in the 13th century.
The film depicts the Royal Family as having a substantial political influence. In reality, Denmark is a constitutional monarchy where the Queen and the Royal Family are above party politics. Instead, the role of the monarchy is mainly to represent Denmark abroad while serving as a unifying institution at home. However, the Queen does have a constitutional role in appointing the Prime Minister of Denmark and members of the Cabinet, as well as giving royal assent to bills passed by Parliament.
