The Princess Switch
Review by Janelle Leonard
Plot
One week before Christmas, a duchess switches places with an ordinary woman from Chicago, who looks exactly like her, and they each fall in love with each other’s beaus. *A twist on The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Featuring
Vanessa Hudgens plays two roles:
- Stacy De Novo, a baker from Chicago
- Lady Margaret Delacourt, Duchess of Montenaro
Sam Palladio (Edward Wyndham, Prince of Belgravia)
Nick Sager (Kevin Richards, Stacy’s best friend and Olivia’s father)
Meet-Cute
Both meet-cutes can be summed up in one word AWKWARD!
Lady Margaret and Kevin: Margaret (pretending to be Stacy) gets back to the house where they are staying and proceeds to try to sound like Stacy. (She’s pretty good at hiding her accent). The conversation is awkward and includes many lies about what happened that day.
Stacy and Prince Edward: Stacy is at the palace still, learning how to be Lady Margaret, when the prince knocks on the door. She knows he’s a prince, and once again, AWKWARDNESS ensues. Stacy (pretending to be Margaret, complete with accent) kind of makes a fool of herself. But the prince is enchanted. He decides not to leave, as was the plan, and instead stays to get to know her (which ruins Lady Margaret’s plan of Stacy just lounging alone at the place for two days).
Reveal Moment
The queen is given photographs, learning that Lady Margaret and Stacy swapped places. She isn’t too upset about it, even pretending to be ill so that Margaret and Edward have to go to the baking contest to hand out the wards in her place.
Lady Margaret (as herself) confesses to Prince Edward that she is in love with someone else. That she is in fact not the woman that he has fallen in love with. They set off to the baking contest to hand out the awards—Edward can’t wait to see Stacy. He was so confused when Margaret wasn’t “in love” with him anymore.
Kevin finds out when everyone at the contest does. “There’s two of you??” He asks Prince Edward if he’s upset about the switch, but Edward says no because he’s in love with Stacy.
My Thoughts
This movie is pure awkward chaos with romance sprinkled throughout. Dancing in gazebos. Snowball fights. A game of Twister. Horseback rides. Cocoa. Baking contests. Secrets. The plot of people pretending to be someone else never gets old (even with all the over-the-top awkwardness). It’s a good reminder to appreciate what we have in our lives as well, even though we think we want someone else’s life. Vanessa Hudgens must have had fun playing both roles—she got two handsome men, two romances, two happy endings.
I watched The Princess Switch on Netflix. I was not required to write a review, and this does not influence my review, positive or otherwise. All opinions expressed are mine alone.