The Reel Rejects - RED, WHITE, & ROYAL BLUE (2023) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

SO MUCH CHEMISTRY!! Red, White, & Royal Blue Full Movie Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Just in time for the last week of Pride Month, Roxy Striar & Andrew Gordon are back to give their First Time Reaction, Commentary, Analysis, Breakdown, & Spoiler Review for Netflix's Movie adaptation of Casey McQuiston's Best Selling Novel. The Queer Romantic Comedy tells a tale of acceptance across class & countries with a cast featuring Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine, Jemma Redgrave, Sarah Shahi, as well as Uma Thurman as The President of the United States!   Roxy & Andrew React to all the Best Scenes & Most Romantic Moments including THAT Closet Scene with Prince Henry and Alex, Alex Comes Out to Prince Henry, Cornetto vs Kensington Palace, Alex Comes Out to His Mom, Prince Henry and Alex Go to Paris, Prince Henry and Alex's Fireside Chat, & MORE! Follow Roxy Striar YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TheWhirlGirls Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roxystriar/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/roxystriar Follow Andrew Gordon on Socials:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MovieSource Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/agor711/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Agor711 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So ready. Let's do it. Okay. Red, white, and royal blue. Here we go. Really cute. Playing handsies with them. It's just like their connection, man.

Okay. Dang. By the way, if you are listening to us on Apple or Spotify, if you don't mind giving us a rating or voting. Giving us a rating. We'd appreciate it. Five stars. Come on.

I was waiting for you to say that. Five stars. Yeah, no, really, really good film. I love the message and theme about accepting yourself, especially when it came to Henry. Like, he had quite an arc to go through, especially coming from royalty because it's such a traditional, you know,

there, I mean, we obviously saw, like, in that great scene at the end, like how the country had finally come to the times. But, like, you know, what was expected of him in terms of tradition and his grandfather had put on him and what he had learned throughout his life, you can't be yourself, at least not to the public.

And what you do in private is your own business, but in terms of public perception. And I just love this arc. that he goes through and that Alex was able to help him venture through that because he was in uncharted territories. It was he was afraid like of just like being himself and like how he'd be perceived not only from the public but from his grandfather and it's like I just want to be myself and I'm glad that it took love for him to be able to be himself and I think there's a special message in that and these were not stereotypical characters and I really was invested and that was

the, obviously, the crux of this film is these two. And they're so well casted. They have such electric chemistry on screen and they were so good together. I was immediate, even when they were like going at each other in the very beginning and that when they were just, yeah, with the cake scene, I was already invested. I just love their pack and forth with each other. I know. But obviously then when the romance started, you know, with the emails and stuff, I was really getting, I was very invested, but what did you think? You know, when you mentioned uncharted territory, I think it's really cool is that while Alex is more willing to come forward to his family and the world and say, I'm queer, we don't have that same thing from Henry,

but Henry is the one who has been exploring his gay relationships for way longer and has been hooking up with guys. You know, there's that line where he's like, oh, I went to like a guy's boarding school or whatever it is. He's like, I'm more experienced. And so they both had a lot to kind of learn from each other, which is cool. like Alex is the one who's more like we have to fight for who we want to be and who we are. And Henry can kind of like help him explore what it's like to be in a queer relationship,

even like the scene where it's like who's going to top, who's going to bottom, how do we do this? I've never had sex before. Like, what is this like? And so I do think there was a lot for them to learn from each other. Their chemistry was so, so good. So on fire that it's just like the rest of the movie could, it didn't suck, but the rest of the movie could have sucked. and it wouldn't have mattered because these two were like on fire. Yeah, it was just bonus that the rest of the movie was great.

Yeah, exactly. And there really was bonus. Like between all of the locations we had that were really cool, the cool music that was going on, the side characters, like the sister or the best friend of the... Alex's best friend. She was great. Some of those conversations.

She was awesome. And also, too, like the first scene we got with Uma Thurman, the president. like I really thought like the way they were setting her up like okay yeah she does love her son but she is so locked in and focused on her job understandly so she's the president of the United States I get that right but it just felt like okay I'm locked in on my job and what my son does it is what it is and then we have that heart wrenching scene for him where he's like I got to come out to my mom and let her know like that I'm I'm infatuated and dating Henry and I love how she reacted to it like

all right tell the kitchen or whatever we got to order in pizza and like she reacted like a mother like how she should have and I just thought that was just such a heartfelt moment and I love you know I just appreciated that it was yeah it was very um like I said it was heartfelt and I also love how the dad reacted he had very um you know emphasize empathetic we didn't even hear him tell the dad but we know that he must yeah yeah he knew but just he had very empathetic and just loving and supporting parents and I appreciated that And just, yeah, there was such great supporting characters. And on the flip side, you have a character, like, you see what the contrast of jealousy, what that can do.

And obviously we see at the beginning that him and Miguel, there was, I think they said that they had some kind of an intercourse or some kind of a relationship back in the day. Yeah, they said they hooked up. Yeah, they did hook up. And then obviously he leaked the whole Texas thing. And then just going back, staying on the mom and the dad for a second. because I just think that that was a really, I think that was a really key part of this movie, right? Like the whole movie,

you and I are kind of guessing and thinking about when are they going to come out to their parents? I was worried about that. And therefore, when are they going to come out to the world? Right. And so I think we're sitting there and anticipation is built up so much, but we know that from what we've heard from Alex

and from what we know from the film, that he comes from a liberal family because obviously she's running as a Democrat. Correct. We've seen what they're fighting for in Texas and certain little hints of things that they're getting at. So it's like you're worried, but you're like, should I really be worried right now

because you're your scream? What? Oh. No. Let them eat cake. I did something happen with you guys? That's funny. That's cute.

I would never be expected an end credit scene like that. Yeah, no, no, you made a good point. Yeah, that they were Democrats. So I'm like, why were we worried? Well, we were worried, I think, because the movie is hyping up. You know, they're going to come out. He was like, don't tell my mom. Don't tell my mom.

You know, he says that to Sarah Shahi's character. But then I think what's really cool is that while when we saw them be outed, unfortunately we see that Henry's family doesn't react perfectly well, especially the little prick of a brother. Philip. Is he a cousin or something? No, he might have been the cousin. He did say grandpa, but, you know.

He's either a brother or cousin. But anyway, they didn't react well. But it's really important for movies like this because we've seen so many times coming out stories, TV, movie, where they come out and everybody is pissed and while this is maybe not a fair part of art or might sound really pretentious, I do think it is movie and TV.

and arts job in general to show how things can be and an idealistic moment or future and kind of give people ideas of what they can do. And so I think that because this movie shows that Uma Thurman as the president, even though she has an election on the line, her son comes to her and he says, I'm in love. I found I met somebody. And yeah, at this point, I don't know whether he said love or not. He said, I met somebody, and they're special, and it's this, and it's the prince. And she puts aside everything else to not just accept it, but be actively in support

and loving towards them. And I think that it's so crucial that we see art put that out into the world instead of continuing to see all of these queer storylines coming out storylines where people just bash on them for coming out. And then it's like that that just goes around and around where art imitates life and life imitates art so I love that they showed like you could even if you have something on the line like the presidency you can still choose to love somebody more for who they are yeah and support them more for who they are than to either be an absolute ass about it or just uh even show indifference

you know absolutely and this is not uh i mean it's not uh queer related but just to add to your point i've told this story before i don't know if i've told it to you but i'll try and do this really quickly. There was a movie I watched when I was five years old at Teenage Mead Ninja Trills 3. I saw a scene in the movie of a character giving CPR and obviously I'm only five, five and a half at the time and I saw my mother was running out of breath and I was imitating art what I had seen on the screen and I did the same thing to my mother. So I agree with you that that is very prevalent. That happened in your life? Yes. Did you save her life? I did. Yes. At five and a half years old because of what I saw on the TV. Are you being serious? Scouts on.

Yes. Absolutely. So I'm just like that's, again, not relevant. Yeah, not relevant to, you know, in terms of talking about what you were talking about. No, it is because what we show matters. Yeah, it does. Because if I hadn't seen that, I would have had no idea what to do. I know, I'm glad you brought that up because especially at age five, it matters. For people who have already have their minds made up, maybe art doesn't change their thoughts if you're so set in stone in your ways. But for people who are developing thoughts, patterns, opinions, behaviors, What you see affects who you become. Yeah. That's a really, that's a crazy story. Oh, no, I know. In my mother, once the ambulance and everyone came and she was like, they gave her the oxygen and everything, she, first thing she did, she took the master for a little quick and said, how did you know how to do that? I said, from Teenage Women Ninja Bros. 3. Okay.

Not a good movie, but obviously there's, it served a purpose in that sense. When people say like that movie saved my life, like about a movie, like that. Oh, my God. Yeah, literally. So really quickly, does that look like the actor who, I can't tell if that looks like him or not. I don't know. It looks like Hayden Christensen to me, but I don't know. Which one?

On the left. Does that look like Henry? That is Henry. Yeah, I know, but it doesn't look like him to me. I don't know. I'm kind of blind as a bat. Oh, okay. Anyway, yeah.

But it was a beautiful film, though. Do you want to pull up some trivia? Tell me some fun facts. Really, really, really quick. I'll just like three or four facts. I'll just throw out here with red white ends. While you're looking them up. Royal Blue.

I really loved also how sexy this movie was. I think a lot of queer movies, they decide not to show us things and it's more tell-don't-show. And this movie was like, no, let's show them staring at each other's eyes, touching each other's waist,

having full-blown intimate moments. Like, it was really cool to see a queer couple have sex that was like this sexy, even like jumping on each other on the couch, fun, flirty relationship. And I was glad for that. Okay, tell me what three years.

I agree with what you said, too. In the film... I can't believe you saved your mom's life. Yeah, no, it was crazy. I had five and a half, right? But in the film, Alex's parents, President Ellen, Claremont, and Senator and First Gentleman, Oscar Diaz,

are still together and happily married in the novel. They are divorced. Alex's mother remarried and his stepfather, Leo Casta Lazalee, is the first gentleman. Naturally, due to the changes in the film,

the character of Leo is eliminated. course. Alex says at one point in the novel that when he annoys one of his parents, he is referred to by the last name of the other parent. Okay. Casey McQuiston as President Ellen Claremont's speechwriter, McQuistent is the author of the novel of which the film is based. Oh, it's for Christie at the end. I thought that might be the author. Who's Christy? That I don't know. Yeah. This is the second time where Nicholas Galistine, Galistine, sorry if I mispronounced plays a prince he previously played prince robert and cinderella i saw that and i didn't remember that yeah i saw him in bottoms i believe is the only other thing i've seen me he's the

football star oh i saw that and then umma thurmond and nicholas galazine uh previously co-starred together in the film chambers okay didn't see that never saw that either um did that da da da da da i'll do like what hit me one more it's got to be a really good one more time yeah but with a really good Yeah, let's see. It's got to be amazing. It's got to be amazing. A plus, you have no other choice. You can't just be the savior of your mom's life.

You have to save all of our lives with this trivia right now. All right, let me just find one that has got a lot of people found interesting. Let's see, 62. And five. Okay, here, I think I found one. So the incident in the plot in which Alex and Henry's phone messages and emails are hacked is based on a real scandal from the early 2000s. The News International Phone Hacking Scandals in which it was described.

that the news of the world since folded and other newspapers in Robert Murdoch's media empire had hacked the phones of dozens of celebrities and private citizens. Victims of this hacking campaign included actors including Sienna Miller and Steve Coogan. I do remember that actually. Sports figures including Andy Gray and Sky Andrew and most relevant to the plot of this movie, members of the royal family including Prince William and Prince Harry. The scandal took on new depths in gravity when it was discovered. that the phone of a non-public figure that murdered teenager,

Millie Dowler, had also been hacked, leading the police in her family to hold out false hope that Dowler was still alive. Shit. Oh, my God. And on that lovely note. Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy, though.

This movie was great. Yeah, no, it was phenomenal. Yeah, electric chemistry, and I just, I love the themes, and I love the two actors, phenomenal. And all the other actors, including the actor who played Miguel and Philip, again, you hate those guys, but they did their jobs. Just wonderful locations. And last thing, too, we didn't really talk about it.

But I love, too, a lot of the choices they made when they were communicating when they were not together in scenes. Like they had that one scene where they were in the bed with each other, even though one was in England, one was in D.C. And but you could see in the background that the phone was still on on speaker. I thought that was such a stylistic and interesting choice. I love little details. Yeah, I agree.

They trusted us. They were like, this isn't a stupid audience. They'll understand that they want to go together. It was cool, really, really cool choices. the direction on this was really solid. For sure. I'm with you. You guys red, white, royal

blue. So I'm calling them royal. Ah, they are royal. You're royal rejects. Later.