Leah Donato is a writer and an aspiring screenwriter currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Leah has had an incredibly gigantic passion for film and writing stories since she was a little girl, and she always looks for opportunities to share her love of film with everyone she comes across. Through this, Leah hopes to achieve a sense of connectivity amongst the people around her with the stories she loves and the stories she writes. She wants the work she puts out to the world to be meaningful and provide a sense of comfort, which is what led her to TheHollywood Insider; a media network where she can have a space to share her thoughts and views on the artistic cultural world with a purpose whilst being true to herself and spreading positivity to create a more progressive mindset. When not writing, Leah spends the rest of her spare time watching movies and consuming multiple different types of media such as music and video games.
Jan 22, 2022
Photo: ‘The Royal Treatment’
As the month of January 2022 comes to a close, we welcome the new (and quite affectionate) month of February. Love is constantly in the air, whether it be self-love or spending time with your dear loved ones, and it seems as though a majority of people will be looking forward to spending their days in a month best-known for its fondness and beautiful heart-shaped goodies coupled with gorgeous arrays of gourmet chocolates. However, there’s another tradition in this month of adoration that many others tend to gravitate towards: romantic comedies.
Rom-coms are incredible, and a wonderful cinematic way to escape from the world and just live in fantasy to watch love play out between two characters that we’ll never know. It’s one of the most magical and intimate ways to go about films, and no matter how cheesy they may be there’s something about them that anyone could enjoy; a true lovebirds fan or not. And, based on the newly released rom-com ‘The Royal Treatment’, it’s clear that Netflix is coming out with a great start to the classic loveable and mushy romantic American film.
Filled with in-your-face Italian New Yorkers and absolutely pristine royal company, ‘The Royal Treatment’ tells the story of Izzy; a New York hairdresser. When suddenly given the opportunity to do hair and makeup for a royal wedding, Izzy, along with her two beyond supportive best friends (and co-workers), travels to the beautiful (but fictional) country of Lavania to help the prince and his soon-to-be bride prepare for the big day. But, as Izzy and the prince become closer, sparks begin to fly between them. As the story goes on, the question is plagued with whether or not a romance will blossom between the two; or if they will eventually go their separate ways after Izzy’s time there is over.
At face value, ‘The Royal Treatment’ overall sounds to be like a film that will most likely be cheesy and heartfelt; but in the best way, oddly enough. The story becomes reminiscent of classic films that involve romance within royalty, along with nostalgia of romantic comedies that the majority of us grew up to love. One example that feels really prominent to point out in this sense is that of the similarities with ‘The Princess Diaries’; which is also what the majority of others would deem a prime example in regards to ‘The Royal Treatment’ as well. However, it is fair to say that this film stands as a great and charming blooming romance story on its own; but the ‘The Princess Diaries’ comparison certainly is a great way to sell this film due to it feeling as though the script has been flipped from the woman getting a makeover to now the man getting a makeover.
Tying all of this together, what you truly need to know to prepare to watch ‘The Royal Treatment’ is to feel as though you’ve been taken back to the good ol’ days in the 2000s when the majority of rom-coms had substance; despite how cheesy there were, we were smiling big as we rolled our eyes because deep-down it’s hard to beat how fun it feels to watch two people fall in love. Paired with this, there is also a huge fantastical and Wattpad-esque element with how the story plays out and the way the characters are developed. And, I mean that as a good thing and something to be admired about with the film and how it plays into that reminiscing feeling of classic rom-coms.
‘The Royal Treatment’ – The “Formalities” Of A Royal Film
‘The Royal Treatment’ does an excellent job of following the classic and traditional set-up of a classic rom-com. The camerawork consists of mainly stationary shots, and the color schemes give off that warm and lovey-dovey sensation; overall, this combination showcases the film to be a standard nice and relaxing romantic story. The acting within this film also emphasizes that aspect from the cinematography through how vibrantly each character takes up the screen, and there is never truly a dull moment in the film without them around. Personally, I will admit that the dialogue within ‘The Royal Treatment’ isn’t entirely its best strong suit; but, I found that the actors were able to utilize the script to their advantage and make the dialogue in the film feel as though there’s more substance.
Going back to that ‘The Princess Diaries’ comparison, it’s also funny to point out that the two main lovebirds in this film are played by Disney stars. Laura Marano (who used to play Ally in ‘Austin & Ally’) and Mena Massoud (who made his debut role as Aladdin in the live-action remake of ‘Aladdin’) pair up together to create a wonderful Disney-eqsue romance story without even the production of Disney themselves. The chemistry between Marano and Massoud is astounding, and they make the duo of Izzy the hairdresser and Thomas the prince even more adorable to watch; the beautiful mixture of their talents combusting into an adoring ending to a sweet film. Also, kudos to Marano’s thick New York accent.
The director of the film, Rick Jacobson, and the screenwriter, Holly Hester, seem to be going out of their normal genre of Cinema with ‘The Royal Treatment’. Jacobson has directed more horror-centric media and Hester has mainly written sitcoms, and so on the surface, it seems as though many would be scratching their heads in confusion as to how these two could go about making a rom-com. But, incredibly, they both manage to create a heartfelt romantic comedy as they work in tandem; and that in itself is something to be admired, whether or not you fully enjoy ‘The Royal Treatment’.
Predominantly, ‘The Royal Treatment’ is a fun film to watch with your friends or family; or if you’re like me, with your boyfriend who ends up becoming completely invested in the movie and absolutely wanting to see how it ends (and I will admit, I truly did want to see how it ended as well). With a woman who wants to only do good things in the world, a prince who wants to break free from the precious prestigious norm, and a cute unexpected Italian dance number, ‘The Royal Treatment’ gives its viewers a fairy-tale-esque romance to adore.
While most moments in the film are cheesy, that is what becomes the beauty of the category that this film fits into. Rom-coms are an amazing outlet to be cheesy and let yourself dream a little bit in the realm of falling in love with a prince who just so happens to live in a fancy castle. Anyone who enjoys rom-coms will absolutely love ‘The Royal Treatment’; because that is what the film ultimately is: an enchanting royal treatment.
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Leah Donato is a writer and an aspiring screenwriter currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Leah has had an incredibly gigantic passion for film and writing stories since she was a little girl, and she always looks for opportunities to share her love of film with everyone she comes across. Through this, Leah hopes to achieve a sense of connectivity amongst the people around her with the stories she loves and the stories she writes. She wants the work she puts out to the world to be meaningful and provide a sense of comfort, which is what led her to TheHollywood Insider; a media network where she can have a space to share her thoughts and views on the artistic cultural world with a purpose whilst being true to herself and spreading positivity to create a more progressive mindset. When not writing, Leah spends the rest of her spare time watching movies and consuming multiple different types of media such as music and video games.
Leah Donato is a writer and an aspiring screenwriter currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Leah has had an incredibly gigantic passion for film and writing stories since she was a little girl, and she always looks for opportunities to share her love of film with everyone she comes across. Through this, Leah hopes to achieve a sense of connectivity amongst the people around her with the stories she loves and the stories she writes. She wants the work she puts out to the world to be meaningful and provide a sense of comfort, which is what led her to TheHollywood Insider; a media network where she can have a space to share her thoughts and views on the artistic cultural world with a purpose whilst being true to herself and spreading positivity to create a more progressive mindset. When not writing, Leah spends the rest of her spare time watching movies and consuming multiple different types of media such as music and video games.
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