By Joylynn Lee
Arts Editor
The new Netflix film “The Royal Treatment” fails to capture the audience’s attention with an unmemorable and monotonous storyline.
“The Royal Treatment,” released on Jan. 22, stars Laura Marano as Isabella and Mena Massoud as Prince Thomas. It’s directed by Rick Jacobson.This movie consists of a well-known cast that gave the cast the opportunity to capitalize on each role with their personalities. However, the cast members seemed to fill their roles in a half-hearted manner, making the film a disappointment.
“The Royal Treatment” follows the adventure of a young hairstylist, Isabella, who helps her mom in the hair salon. Through an accidental hair booking, she eventually meets Marano. Throughout the film, Isabella learns to get to know the prince, eventually creating their own love story.
Isabella first starts her story with Prince Thomas when he invites her and some employees at her salon to style hair at his arranged marriage. Isabella eagerly accepts the job due to the pay and starts to develop a friendship with him due to their similarities, yet being part of such different worlds. However, plans start to hinder when sparks begin to fly.
The entire storyline of a small-town girl falling in love with a prince from the start is already an unoriginal plot, allowing the audience to immediately put things together piece by piece to predict what will happen next. The movie lacks an interesting plot line and any possible storyline twists.
The prince in this film is shown to be substantially unlikeable and ignorantly living as a prince without knowing anything about the country he lives in and the people there, since he finds zero interest in partaking any responsibilities as a prince. The prince’s personality develops too abruptly throughout the movie from an ignorant prince to just a regular person wanting to live a regular life.
Another truly unoriginal aspect of the movie was when the prince decides that he wants to stop the arranged marriage to be with Isabella instead. Like other movies, the dictator-like royal parents abhor the idea of him doing so. So, just like another coming-of-age movie, the prince still persists on the idea of him getting to choose who to marry.
Overall, this movie is a “basic” coming-of-age story while being a corny yet chemistry-lacking romance movie. “The Royal Treatment” disappoints the audience and fans of the cast with an unmemorable movie.
Isabella is portrayed to be a cultured woman living in New York, but when Marano begins to talk with her, she stumbles on several words, leaving the audience questioning if Isabella is putting on a fake persona.
The film lacks any originality from a small-town girl falling in love with a prince. There is a certain aspect of this film that can be seen as offensive, from a phony dialect to a modern feminist issue.
“The Royal Treatment” was released on Jan. 22 and can be streamed only on Netflix.
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