1005. William & Kate: The Movie (2011)

Starring: Camilla Luddington, Nico Evers-Swindell, Samantha Whittaker

Director: Mark Rosman

Running Time: 87 mins

William & Kate: The Movie is an American film about the university years of Prince William and his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton, whose relationship became a hot topic in the media over the years before leading to their marriage in 2011.

Right, I have absolutely no idea why the Americans decided to make this film. Released weeks before the Royal Wedding in 2011, it capitalised on so-called ‘Brit-fever’, but to be honest, this is an atrociously cheesy, poorly-written and dull romantic drama.

In a way, this film almost trivialises the relationship of William & Kate by turning it into such a Cinderella story. Yes, it looks at the ups and the downs of their relationship, but it’s ultimately just a romance that’s meant for the cheesy ending that you’ve seen millions of times before.

It’s also a film that hugely exaggerates everything about the relationship. The timeline of facts is pretty accurate, but it’s on the whole a completely emotionally over-the-top chick flick that doesn’t really resemble the actual story so well.

All of that hugely contradicts one of the film’s only interesting qualities, where it talks about the impact of the media on William and Kate’s relationship and links it to what happened with Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Although that provides something a little more intelligent to think about, it’s still really exaggerated and feels very forceful to watch.

Away from the representation of the story, the whole atmosphere of this film is completely abhorrent. It’s a romantic chick flick sort of thing, but it’s cheesier than anything you’ve seen before, with such terrible character development and dialogue that will make you feel physically sick (one line really did that for me), turning the story of a normal relationship into one that’s just painful to watch.

The only thing that I can really say in favour of this film is that the central performances by the actors portraying William & Kate were fine. And that’s all there really is to say about it.

So, to recap, this film is simply painfully cheesy and dull on a consistent basis throughout, trivialising a real relationship and having its self-contradicting views on the story, so that’s why it gets a 2.7 from me.