“The Royal We” (2025) - Hallmark Original

Honestly, I felt almost nothing at this movie, which is extremely sad for my love of Hallmark cheesiness. It seems like it has potential for the usual Hallmark royal movies, but this one just seemed to hit me wrong. The positives were few: parts were set in Boston (which I always enjoy), the quirky best friend was often funny, and the movie showcased choosing happiness over duty.

The plot was simple: one sister doesn’t marry the prince, so he tracks down her sister and they agree to get married to help unite their two kingdoms. First of all, Princess Beatrix (the second choice sister) has been peacefully living her life outside of the spotlight and away from her royal duties for years. Clearly that should mean she doesn’t want to be a part of any of this. But does Prince Desmond care? Nope. He has his royal advisor stalk her until she can be basically kidnapped and brought to meet Desmond. Does that make him seem romantic, safe, or even likable? Not in my opinion. Never mind that she’s the second choice princess because her older sister decided to follow her heart and go off to marry a plumber (which could’ve been a spin-off movie). One of the hallmarks of Hallmark movies is the true love aspect (which this one has at the end), but starting off by having the main male character planning to marry the main female character’s sister just seemed off base to me.

Then there’s the lack of chemistry between the actors. I don’t know if that was just from the lack of script they had to go on or if the two just really weren’t interested in each other. But it made me extremely uncomfortable watching them interact. There were moments that were supposed to be sweet and might have been if they were able to emote more emotion. For example, there was a scene of stargazing that would’ve been perfect for a romantic moment and I think it was supposed to be. But I just found myself wondering why they were so awkwardly staring at each other. The scene ended with a joke that fell so flat that even the actors seemed unsure whether to laugh or cringe and you could tell in their performance.

The ending was also super cliche (even for Hallmark). Running down a long stretch of street in opposite directions to get back to each other and declare their love would’ve worked. However, this one just couldn’t seem to get it right. I get that they’re declaring their independence from their families and trying to be a grand gesture of running back to each other. But it just didn’t work for me because they were too choppy in the back-and-forth videography and the attempts at humor landed flat. The true love’s kiss at the end of the grand declaration was well done and it was cute, but not overly romantic again. He proposes, with a ring she has repeatedly said she doesn’t like, and then the border guards separating their two countries hug and show the peace returning to the two kingdoms. It just seemed too forced and unromantic.

Then there was the attempt at interconnecting this movie with the two next upcoming Saturday premieres. It felt silly and rushed to explain the plot of two future movies in the last ten seconds of the first one. If they were meant to be an interconnected series, it should’ve been mentioned during the movie; not as an afterthought at the end.

Ultimately, I felt this one just fell flat in the humor and romance departments, making it impossible for me to enjoy the way I would normally.