Yahoo Movies Is Aladdin star Mena Massoud's new Netflix rom-com worth watching?
As we near Valentine's Day, it's no surprise to see Netflix beginning its annual churn of rom-coms. And without further movie instalments for both To All The Boys I've Loved Before and The Kissing Booth, what are fans to watch?
Well, your answer is Mena Massoud. Uh, we mean, The Royal Treatment. But really, it's all about Mena Massoud.
The story follows exactly the kind of narrative you'd expect. Prince Thomas (Massoud) is all set for his arranged marriage when he meets a down-to-earth Italian-American New York City hairdresser named Izzy (Laura Marano). It features star crossed lovers, royal duty, and a conniving mother in law — or as Elaine from Seinfeld would say, "Yada, yada, yada."
It isn't the story you come for with these kinds of rom-coms, it's the fuzzy 'anything is possible' feeling that romance is meant to elicit. The growing problem with these movies is that they try to take place in reality, while also creating a plethora of still functioning monarchies in fantastical countries, and the cognitive dissonance is at its peak in The Royal Treatment.
We expect a certain level of gilding in these kinds of films, even of the downtrodden, but in The Royal Treatment, the plight of the peasants is entirely cannon fodder for the star crossed lovers, and they are just as soon forgotten when the prince and Izzy find their happily ever after (spoiler alert?). It is this callousness that leaves us not with that warm fuzzy feeling, but with a strange kind of nausea — like gorging on one too many sweets.
The Royal Treatment also feels a bit like it went through a Twitter bot that churned out every possible Italian-American New Yorker stereotype for Izzy and her family. From Rosemary Clooney's 'Batch-A-Me' to the line "I have to feed everyone, I'm Italian," (said without an iota of self-aware irony), any character or background work is supplanted by meatball-fisted stereotypes.
Speaking of the bad lines of dialogue, they're full of hammy winks and on-the-nose eye rolls (like "Izzy and her injustices!" so you know she's into 'social justice' and "you have to be the change you want to see in the world" — no, we're not kidding). And yet, somehow, Massoud sells every single one with charisma that outshines the rest of the cast.
What The Royal Treatment proves most of all is that Massoud should be taken seriously as a leading man — and not just in romantic films. He can imbue a glance with a true depth of meaning, and take dialogue that would otherwise make you groan, and instead make you warmly sigh.
It helps that he is handsome — but his charm comes from an understatedness, a sense that he can see the character as a real person, and the world as a real place, even when it is so over the top as to be laughed at. Whenever he's on-screen, you find yourself believing it too, and this is The Royal Treatment's greatest strength.
We have to spare a thought for the supporting characters: the over-the-top BFFs who scream a lot, the tragic gay storyline of the butler, and the swathes 'staff' who at least get names, but that's about it. They're all window dressings; at least in The Princess Switch, all attention is divvied up equally.
Speaking of The Princess Switch, Netflix handily winks at its shared romantic comedy universe by looping in Genovia and Aldovia. If those films are to be taken as templates, this isn't the last we've seen of Prince Thomas and Izzy.
Despite not being won over by the film, a sequel might be a good thing. So much was left unaddressed (the entire peasant town in Lavania about to be bulldozed? The bankrupt royal family? The bride-to-be's dog-purse business?) that a sequel feels like it could actually have more plot to plunder.
There is a scene in which Thomas asks Izzy why she's "just" a hairdresser, to which Izzy rightly replies "Just?". He says "I didn't mean it like that." With that in mind, what we can only hope is that this is 'just' the start of Manoud's ascent into stardom — long overdue since his breakout role as Aladdin.
The fact he creates a character of any nuance within The Royal Treatment is a testament to his talent. He could do so much more with a script that offers more than veneer, in fact, he could well and truly rule.
The Royal Treatment is now available on Netflix.
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