How Netflix's A Christmas Prince was accidently set in Chicago
30.11.2017, 05:00
Movie Review: A Christmas Prince
In light of the happy news this week of one Meghan Markle and one Prince Henry of Wales announcing their engagement (I’m so happy for those two!) we thought we’d bring you one or two thoughts on the Netflix original movie, A Christmas Prince. After all, tis the season and also the royal engagement makes this so very timely. And we’re not the only ones who have noted the arrival of this direct-to-Netflix original.→
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In the department of Things I've Been Meaning to Post for a While...back in December, I was reading the smartbitches review of A Christmas Prince. As reviewer RedHeadedGirl herself noted, what she wrote was less of a review and more of a gushing about then-recent engagement of Meghan Markle and Prince Henry with bits of review occasionally thrown in. Not that I can really blame her. By the sounds of the review, the movie was the kind of by-the-numbers, disposable time filler that's most associated with Hallmark Channel, but they are also regular fixtures of Ion television network and Fox Family/ABC Family/Freeform. The only difference with this one is that it premiered on Netflix.
As a journalist, a couple of things made me roll my eyes - a magazine sent a copy-editor to cover a royal coronation. A copy editor? Really? That is... not how it works. Like, at all. But, at the same time, those movies are so disposable that I can't really get too worked up about it.
In her review, RedHeadedGirl referred to the protagonist as a copyeditor "for some Chicago-based rag." I didn't pay too much attention to it - it wouldn't be the first movie in recent years to be sort-of set in Chicago. But then, about a week later, I was scrolling from my Twitter feed when another headline showed up.
"'A Christmas Prince' features Chicago, but it shouldn't"
Intrigued, I clicked on it.
Many questions have been raised about the palace-sized plot holes, but let’s focus on the opening sequence. There are several shots of New York City to set the scene of the journalist (played by Rose McIver) getting the assignment to go to Aldovia to cover the prince (played by Ben Lamb).
Here’s what’s shown: The New York Public Library, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, Statue of Liberty, the Michigan Avenue bridge and Illinois Center. Huh?
The movie's director, Alex Zamm, told Chicago Tribune that he just used some stock footage for establishing shots. It was supposed to be a New York City stock footage, and some Chicago stock footage got labeled as NYC stock footage by mistake.
The article noticed that many Chicagoans recognized the buildings. And, looking at the screenshots, I noticed that there were some Chicago flags over Michigan Avenue bridge. Chicago flags, which may well be the best-known city flags in United States.
I mean, RedHeadedGirl noticed and she's a Bostonian.
I suppose it just, once again, shows how disposable the whole thing was. Which is kind of unfortunate. As SmartBitches and other sites show, there is plenty of interested in romance novels. And while I am, at best, a very occasional romance reader, I know there's good stuff out there. And there are plenty of people who would pay to see movie versions of them. And it's not like you'd need movie budgets to adopt them.
I'm just saying - these movies don't have to be bleh.
Especially if they're set in Chicago.