Dora Gilreath
Entertainment Editor
As Valentine’s Day rolls around, so too do the by-the-numbers romantic comedies. Netflix decided to start rolling out the romance movies a bit early, releasing the currently film The Royal Treatment on Jan. 20. The movie is directed by Rick Jacobson and stars Laura Morano (Austin and Ally) and Mena Massoud (Aladdin). While the plot seems promising at first, the movie suffers from a cliche, predictable story and a cornucopia of cringe-inducing moments.
The main character is Izzy (Morano), a sassy-yet-sweet New York salon owner and hair stylist, who, in a turn of events, becomes the hair stylist for the wedding of Prince Thomas (Massoud). The two of them have chemistry and a romance that sparks from a shared love of helping those less fortunate. However, Prince Thomas is in an arranged marriage, so tensions begin to rise.
While the movie tries to create an original tale, the truth is, we’ve seen this story done numerous times before. A royal person falls in love with a non royal person, the royal person has differences with their parents and wants to marry for “true love,” not because of an arrangement. Many movies have this exact plot and are executed much better. Because of this, The Royal Treatment has a predictable story and ending.
In addition, several of the characters and scenes were obnoxious. Izzy and her friends, Lola and Destiny, all spoke in exaggerated New York accents. Lola and Destiny were most certainly the most annoying additions to the movie, and the scenes that featured them were unneeded filler and could have easily been removed from the movie entirely.
However, there were a few scenes that were sentimental and were a nice touch among the more juvenile parts of the movie. The scenes where Izzy and Prince Thomas took the time to help others, such as the children and the castle staff, as well as several of the interactions with the butler Walter (one of the more likable characters in the movie) were more tolerable moments.
Unfortunately, a few cute and sentimental scenes could not salvage this cliche ridden royal disaster. If silly romantic comedies with predictable plots are your thing, give this movie a watch, but if you’re looking for a story that subverts expectations and intelligent dialogue, flush this one down the throne.
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