There may be spoilers…
It may be the tropiest trope of all: A fair young woman falls for a rich handsome prince.
The Commoner – a limited series released on Prime in February 2025 – is a real-life version of that trope.
The series is based on the true story of Sonja Haraldsen and Prince Harald of Norway and their nine-year struggle to get permission to marry – from the King of Norway and from the Norwegian government.
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You better watch out... for spoilers!
Does the Grinch have a catch-phrase?
Because Bah Humbug! seems overdone.
But that’s the mood I was in early in November when contemplating the upcoming Christmas romance movie season.
My mistake was — on a day when I was feeling a little bit down — I tried to watch Hallmark’s A Crown for Christmas, now available on Netflix. It was a mistake. I hate those cheesy ‘royal’ themed romances, where the woman acts as a nanny (or a tutor, or a hairdresser, or even a baker!) in some highly fictitious European kingdom ruled by an insipid prince who far too easily falls at her feet.
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This is a critique, not a review; I assume you’ve either seen this movie, or don’t mind major spoilers.
Once again, I am fully topical – here in November publishing a critique of a movie that came out in February!
But despite being a Netflix subscriber and a romance blogger, I somehow didn’t hear of this movie until a few weeks ago.
Maybe the problem was the terrible title – Players?? Wasn’t that a recent tv show? It doesn’t exactly scream romance, now does it.
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When I was in grade 2, my teacher had our class put on a play in our school’s basement – it was the classic fable, The Little Red Hen.
If you’re not familiar, The Little Red Hen is the story of a hen who sets out to make some bread – from scratch. And at each stage in the process, she calls on the other farm animals to help her out. But, being lazy or otherwise occupied (or perhaps suffering from celiac?), they always refuse.
So, once she finally finishes baking the bread, she refuses to share.
I believe the intended moral of the fable is that if you do nothing, you get nothing.
But my young brain framed things differently. My interpretation was, if you do everything, you get everything.
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This year, a couple of high-profile streaming romances have shared a certain theme: A slightly older woman falls for a younger celebrity, to the displeasure of her young adult daughter.
So, hooray??
Really, I do applaud the older woman representation which is probably long overdue. But, I’m not convinced putting all your eggs in the mother-daughter conflict basket is really the way to go in a romance.
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It’s funny how not-fun the The Idea of You is considering it’s probably the purest wish-fulfillment fantasy I’ve ever seen.
Okay, I hear you wondering, isn’t all romance wish-fulfillment?
Yes, to a degree. It’s not unusual for people to dream of love and a happy ending, and romance provides readers with a way to live and relive that kind of wish.
And I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with that! Escapism really isn’t a problem, unless it’s somehow getting in the way of your real life. (And I don’t think it gets in the way very often.)
So why am I making a big deal about wish-fulfillment in The Idea of You?
I shall explain.
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I didn’t think I’d like this movie.
I disliked the trailers – they featured mostly action scenes, lame action humour (most of which does not appear in the film, btw), with a small side helping of mild, low-conflict romance.
Plus, I think I’ve become suspicious of all A-list action-romances since The Lost City and Shotgun Wedding, which were both pretty ‘mid’ (as my son would say).
But, hey Mikey, I liked it!
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Have you ever read or watched a romance that seemed to have all the right elements in place – the meet cute, the attraction, the conflict, the I love you’s and the happy ending – but it just felt…
Flat?
Of course you have.
The problem with those stories is they lack romantic tension.
You know romantic tension, right?
It’s that feeling of being on the edge of your seat, itching, quaking, shaking while you wait for two characters to FINALLY get together.
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If you haven’t heard, Anyone But You is a rare theatre-released rom-com, that has become a sleeper hit since its December 22 opening. To date, its box office take is over $170M globally.
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Ok, it may be a stretch to say we all love those cheesy Christmas romance movies (think Hallmark). But clearly a lot of us like them, or they wouldn’t make approximately 5 million each calendar year.
So, for you Grinch’s (before he turned nice) out there, here’s my list of 7 reasons why we love those cheesy, horrible movies.
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