The Prince & Me Parent Guide

Love, like a lot of good things, can sneak up on a person in the most unexpected way. For Paige Morgan (Julia Stiles), falling in love is the furthest thing from her mind. The down-to-earth, farm girl from Manitowoc, Wisconsin has her sites set on studying at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Then she meets Eddie (Luke Mably).

While working her shift at the local pub, she is approached by the foreign student who (after a few too many beers) asks her to take her top off. Appalled by his request, Paige hoses him down with a good shot of soda water. However, a repentant and more gracious Eddie is soon showing up everywhere she goes.

Frustrated by his casual attitude toward class attendance and his lack of basic life skills, Paige wants little to do with Eddie until she discovers he understands Shakespeare. In need of some help to pass her English class, she agrees to introduce him to the secret workings of a washing machine in exchange for assistance with her homework.

Soon, between sonnets and rinse cycles, Paige finds herself falling in love with the handsome exchange student who unbeknownst to her is really royalty.

Disillusioned with life in the palace, Edvard Valdemar, the Crown Prince of Denmark, had set out for America to find himself after being involved in a number of tabloid-worthy indiscretions at home. Accompanied by his personal secretary, Soren (Ben Miller), he arrived at the University of Wisconsin and assumed the identity of a college student. The truth about his bloodline comes out only after the paparazzi (who have been desperate for photos since his departure) find him and Paige passionately making out in a corner of the library. After the Queen (Miranda Richarson) summons him home to be with his ailing father (James Fox), Paige follows Eddie back to Denmark.

Forced to choose between life on campus or with the courtiers, she is quickly engulfed in the heady commotion of parties, pomp and public appearances. But as the reality of her new lifestyle settles in, Paige begins to question what she really wants.

Both as a farm girl and prospective princess, Julia Stiles brings an element of believability to her role that is complemented by Luke Mably’s earnest portrayal of the errant heir. The chemistry holds as their characters grow from cautious lab partners to sweethearts. Given the number of times teens and young adults are portrayed heading straight for the bedroom, it’s nice to see a couple actually go through the steps of falling in love.

Registering on the higher end of a PG rating, the depiction of campus drinking, censored pictures of girls removing their shirts and some sexual dialogue are concerns parents should be aware of before packing up the family to see this film. Still, sorting out the dilemma between pursuing love or going after personal interests may be a good discussion starter for teens. Can you have it all? Or is that merely a nice fairytale for a girl who could be Queen?

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.