Red, White and Royal Blue: Enjoyable if somewhat anodyne, occasionally forced, gay rom-com.

https://youtu.be/pt56IC8gDZ4

 Well, after getting halfway through this, I was, tbh, not madly impressed. The comedy seemed heavy handed with rather effortful performances form the two leads relying on dreary cliches and there was something about their screen interactions, which did not really ring true – and this is not because to was meant to be initially combative.  

 But once in the central section, it got markedly better (although Una Thurman's Texas drawl is both irritating and, possibly, inauthentic...or do I just dislike the Southern drawl?). The drama was more involving and the focus was on the characters and their growing affection for each other. The heavy-handed underlining of differences character and temperament had gone and we could focus on them and they had an endearing quality about them. The dialogue between them now seemed much more convincing (even allowing for the fact that it is a rom-com which is not the genre for perceptive and revealing dialogue.). Even the occasionally over-emphatic discussions about 'roles' and 'issues' just about ‘worked’ although it did have something of a sense of duty about it as if the writers needed to emphasize that they were both good liberal young people, in spite of their upbringings and differences.

 However, the (expected) ending again seemed forced – and definitely implausible even by the standard of rom-coms. But it delivered a dose of the warn fuzzies which is the main, (only?) essential dramatic requirement of this genre. So, enjoyable but not near Heartstopper standard.

 

Fanfic: Thoughtful and involving Polish YA gay drama with refreshing lack of sentimentality.

Little Women. An elegantly faithful version of the classic.