A salute for "Red, White, and Royal Blue"

Of course I watched Red, White, and Royal Blue --- fresh from Amazon Studios and released Friday on  Prime. It felt deliciously subversive, wallowing in an in-your-face gay romantic comedy based on Casey McQuiston's New York Times best-seller of the same name, now banned from the libraries of schools across Iowa.

My buddy Randy Roberts Potts reviewed it succinctly this way: "Ok I watched Red, White, and Royal Blue and yes the acting, the script, all of it is awful and yet --- and yet --- yes I cried, it was great. I will ofc be watching this tripe again, prolly soon."

Mr. Potts, gay grandson of deceased Bible-thumper Oral Roberts, actually is not my buddy --- but I do follow him on Twitter. And I didn't cry. But I did watch it again.

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Neither the acting nor the script is that bad --- Mr. Potts sometimes exaggerates. He says he doesn't like Pete Buttigieg either and I consider Mr. Buttigieg a god.

On one level the film is very Hallmarkish --- every rom-com trope and cliche deployed. But imagine a fairytale in which the principal characters are gay and there's a happy ending.

Alex Claremont-Dias (portrayed by Taylor Zakhar Perez) is the son of Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), first woman to win the presidency of the United States. Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is the "spare," brother to the heir apparent to the British throne. The irrepressible Stephen Fry portrays his grandfather, the king, in a too brief appearance.

The glorious Rachel Maddow is there, too.

President Claremont dispatches son Alex to represent her at the royal wedding of Henry's brother and the two young men get into a fight after the wedding that ends when a massive cake topples over on top of them.

Ordered after that by their families to behave in a civil manner toward each other, Alex and Henry, naturally, fall in love. Alex says he's bi. Henry is gay. Neither is out.

Moments of considerable hilarity ensue before it all ends happily. There is sex, but it's vanilla. And a fleeting glance of the first son's butt. And that's all I'm going to say. Watch it for yourself.