movies: a royal night out

a royal night out
A Royal Night Out is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. One might even be tempted to go as far as to say it's jolly fun.

On VE Day in 1945, the then Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret went incognito outside the palace to join in the celebrations for the end of World War II. This movie takes that real life fact and... kind of runs away with the idea.

The best way to sum it up is to say that it's one part Roman Holiday and one part farce.

But it's never too over the top or ridiculous... I would say that it's just ridiculous enough.

The cast is tremendous, particularly Sarah Gadon as Elizabeth, Bel Powley as a very ditzy Margaret and Jack Reynor the airman that Elizabeth finds herself thrown together with. Gadon does a fantastic job as the young queen-to-be, she's sufficiently royal when she needs to be, but manages to give a glimpse of the young woman behind the crown.

And I could have sworn that I'd seen Reynor in something before, but none of his credits ring a bell... but there is definitely something slightly hypnotic about his face... those big beautiful eyes. He also manages to give Jack a lot of pathos and real humanity.

It's impossible to discuss too much of the plot without giving things away, which would be a shame, but I will say that I spent the majority of the movie smiling. The story is just fun... it's silly, it's clearly a complete and total invention, but it's incredibly well put together and genuinely charming.

yani's rating: 4 Union Jacks out of 5

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