‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ Is Uma Thurman’s Most Vexing Role Yet
There’s nothing about Red, White & Royal Blue—a movie about the president’s son falling for the Prince of England—that particularly rings of realism. From the film’s glaring green-screen work to the American public unanimously supporting the First Son’s journey out of the closet, this is a work of pure fantasy. Well, that may not necessarily be true; it does track that the pouty-lipped and arrogant Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) would be a bossy bottom. But beyond nailing down favorite sex positions, Red, White & Royal Blue is about as uncanny as they come.
The film’s most eerily unnatural aspects come courtesy of those on the American side of the pond, where President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman) and her son, Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez), are trying to navigate the implications of their political dynasty mingling with the British monarchy. The concern is not because Alex is bisexual, but because the president would prefer not to be fraternizing with the Brits beyond their impending trade deal. After all, she wouldn’t want to alienate her Southern constituency. President Claremont hails from Texas, a plot point that you will never forget, because it is repeated 100 times—as all the most refined scripts make a point to do! But perhaps that repetition is a good thing, since you wouldn’t exactly be able to pinpoint her origins from Thurman’s strange accent alone.
President Claremont’s suspicious accent is just one of the many peculiar things about Thurman’s character, who is saddled with—or, depending on who you ask, gifted—some of the film’s wildest lines. The president seems as keen on getting her son’s dick wet as she is winning reelection, and she treats both things with a puzzlingly grave, equal importance. Maybe she’s the mom of the year, or perhaps she’s just some idealistic vision of American political progression. Either way, this mystifying character isn’t standing in the way of Thurman having a ball.