red, white & royal blue: an america worth voting for

The bisexual first son of the US and the gay spare prince of the UK fall into a closet...and the rest is history. As part of our pride content (that is getting a late release), we're discussing the movie adaptation of Casey McQuiston's best-selling novel, Red, White & Royal Blue, including differences between the two, the massive cake, and that time Henry yeets himself into the lake. 

Whether you're a big fan of the movie or you've never seen it but are curious (and spoiler-consenting), we'd love to hear your thoughts on any of our socials.

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Transcript

Get home from school turn on my TV who are these friends staring right back at me now that we're older

Hi I'm Amanda

And I'm Jessica and this is 90s babies nostalgia where two 90s babies are having some fun

Just to be clear We're not sponsored by nor affiliated with any of the studios actors brands anything that we are talking about today We just really like talking about Tv and movies and today what we are talking about is red white

And royal blue

Yes the prime movie based on the novel by Casey Mcquten cassie mcquentten

Casey Mcquis Meck quince quiston

Quiston Okay but before we get in to that Jessica it's our pride episode so we must discuss one of your bi slash gay awakenings

Yeah um one of my bi Awakenings This is gonna be like I'll call it a specific person but it's like a general thing is Kate Upton Slash Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition

Oh I remember in college you liking those and I had never met a woman who liked those

Oh my god I was obsessed I think because like to me it did what Playboy does for some men 

Well it's meant to do what Playboy does for men

sure but not in the same way because it's not really like Obviously p0rn0graphic but it is very hot women in swimsuits But I liked that like it had bios on all of them in high school is when I first started like collecting them and I probably have about 12 editions back to back But that's when I started collecting them probably sophomore year of high school but they do like the rookie of the year so you learn a lot about these like up and coming models and their accomplishments and So I think I was intrigued into like the personality part of it but then I kept buying them because it just had a bunch of hot women

I see you so it was the literature for you

That got me in and then I think it's the women that made me stay and then Kate Upton I would say is I don't know if she's on the first if she was the cover of the first one I ever got but she's up there as like probably 1 of my favorite Non-rookies of sports illustrated and when I went and saw the Ellen show She was the guest and I literally lost my mind I was like this is not okay

Ah I had heard that name but I couldn't remember what she looked like and I just googled and Yeah yeah I I get it

Yeah it's my whole thing I Just love like a little sleazy blonde woman like I just can't help myself

We talked about this We Both realize we have like very specific types with women that I don't think either of us I mean like I've said that I know I have a type but that's like the last year I've realized that and I generally don't think that it impacts much of Of who I'm attracted to but like making this list It was like these are all the same person

Yeah I think in general I can find many people attractive But yes when making this list I was like oh they're all different versions of the same thing like

Yeah yeah it was the same for me

Um what is your gay awakening sash bi awakening
 
So I'm going to go with a bi awakening and say um sorry I guess there's something nervously a nerveracking about saying something for the first time Um

okay

Jade and beck from victorious 

Do I know who that is

from victorious jade and beck they were the main couple of the group Avan Jogia plays beck Liz Gillies plays Jade Jade is like The tough brunette girl with the eyebrow piercing 

I Do know who they are

yeah and then beck is like the he's just like a nice guy He doesn't really have much of a personality but he has great hair 

Mhmm

It's just like both of them 

you will love a wooshy hair like that 

I love good hair on a man and I love a brunette a bitchy brunette woman and like the 2 of them together like that's that's it That's my type 

Okay I like it I like it a lot

Thanks That's another what I didn't realize when I was watching it in high school but making this list I was like um at first I was just going to put Jade and then I was like no but beck too

Yeah you're like actually both of them That's awesome

And you know what Avan Jogia is just a beautiful human being who is currently dating halsey and that also makes sense in my brain

Mhmm It does I feel like any man that day Halsey I'm like yeah this checks out like

that said You want to get into red white and Royal blue

Yes so red white and royal blue was based on the book red white and royal blue imagine that by Casey Mcquiston quiston but I think it's quittin I don't know guys Um which came out in 2019 They came up with the idea during the 2016 presidential election and then in 2023 last summer it was added to the library of congress's lgbtq+ collection for preservation so it had like a pretty big Impact as a novel and then it premiered as a movie last year in July July of 2023 in London but there was no one really there that was involved with the cast or the production at all because of the strikes going on And then it was released in ah on August 11th of 2023 on prime

I looked it up and Casey's last name is mcquiston I don't know if it's pronounced that way because they're from like baton rouge or something So maybe it's like french but that it's spelled the way that we're saying it

okay cool The movie was directed by Matthew Lopez and the screenplay was also by Matthew Lopez and Ted malawer Um this was his first feature film and directorial debut but he is really well known for his plays the inheritance and the musical Adaptation of some like it hot So between those 2 he's received 24 Tony Award nominations and has won 8 

woah 

yeah and then again the producers of this film are like huge producers like they both hold records for like the most films produced Or Tv shows produced in 1 year like they are really really big Producers So I'm just going to shout out a couple things but Greg Berlanti who was on Dawson's Creek Riverdale you and love simon and Sarah Schechter who worked on Superman and Lois Riverdale gotham Knights Batwoman super girl the flash moonshot very very very Ah well-known producers

But this also makes sense that they mostly have worked on like teenage dramas It's very CW and that's that makes sense for the tone of the film

Teenage dramas and weirdly they both actually have a lot of Marvel credits 

Those are DC baby

Oh Dc just kidding 

Well moon I think moonshot might be Marvel I think that's a a Marvel original but Superman and the flash and supergirl and batwoman gotham Those are all Dc yeah but I think a lot of those still air on like the CW so I feel like they're not Super serious

Kay That's fair I Just when I saw I'm like this makes sense but also is confusing to me 

Supergirl is like very popular with the queers

makes sense

Getting into our actors and main characters

We have Alex Claremont-Diaz who is the first son of the United States yeah that's right the United States gave birth to a baby boy It would be a boy except he's half Mexican and it wouldn't be that no he's the Son of the female president of the United States and he's very politically minded

Alex is played by Taylor Zakhar Perez who is known for the kissing booth kissing booth and kissing booth 2 and 3 as Marco and in the streaming series Minx as Shane Brody I also saw that he was on an episode of icarly in 2012

I saw that as well then we have Prince Henry who is like the prince harry parody in that he is the spare of their family Although he's 2 generations removed from the crown at this point and he is just a like closeted homos3xual who's shy and likes literature

Prince Henry is played by Nicholas Galitzine Galitzine I should know I know he's all rage I Don't know 

I think it's glitzing but I also don't know that I've ever heard it pronounced

he started in the musical film Cinderella Purple hearts bottoms and then very recently the idea of you

Yes which is currently all over the place because it's one direction fan fiction acted out by Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway honestly Slay then we have Ellen Claremont who is the female president from the south Of the United States and Alex's mom and she's played by freaking uma thurman which just like I don't recognize that as Uma Thurman in my brain and and both times I've watched this film It's like 2 thirds of the way film through the film that I was like wait a second That's f*cking Uma Thurman

Yeah well when I was writing um these out I was like she's uma thurman like what else am I supposed to say here 

I mean if you don't know hugely hugely successful actress

super super successful just a few things that I'm going to call out but literally there's so many Um she played Mia Wallace in pulp fiction was nominated for the academy award bafta and golden globe Um as well as the screen actors guild award for best supporting actress Um she was in kill Bill volume 1 and 2 Batman and Robin the 1998 Les Mis Percy Jackson and then she's recently starring in more Tv series as well including smash the slap and chambers

our next character is Zahra Bankston who is the deputy chief of staff for Ellen Claremont she's sassy and runs her campaign

and zahra is played by Sarah Shahi she starred in a couple episodes of Dawson's Creek ER and supernatural she's most well known for her recurring role of carmen on the L world-on the L word As well as Danni Reese in life and Kate Reed and fairly legal um and then most recently she's been on s3x/life as Billie Connelly

Yeah and then we have Shaan Shrivistava played by Akshay Khanna who is Prince Henry's equerry which is like a personal assistant But fancier

Yeah nora holleran is Alex's best friend and granddaughter of the vp of the us she's chill

yeah Nora is played by Rachel Hilson who was nisa on the good wife and then she's had recurring roles on rise and this is us she also played Mia in Love Victor and Jamie Howard in American Horror Story double feature then we have Percy Okonjo played by Malcolm Atobrah who is like Prince Harry's best friend he develops a crush on Nora we'll get into it He's there

Princess Beatrice is Prince Henry's younger sister and that's it

Beatrice is played by Ellie Bamber who was in the les mis bbc series the trial of Christine Keeler the serpent and Disney+ series willow

We have senator oscar Diaz I thought he was a congressman

Ah no I think he's a senator

There's a joke in the movie where ah he says don't call me Sir call me congressman

Maybe he's a congressman He is the senator of Texas in the film but in the book he's the senator of California so he is a senator

Then that line is extra weird because that is a line that I wrote down it's not in our anyway Um he's Alex's dad and he's a mexican man and was working class

senator Oscar Dias is played by Clifton Collins Jr who's another like he's in a lot of things I didn't personally recognize his face but when I was reading through his IMdb I was like holy crap but some of those things include the last castle capote Star trek pacific rim and westworld

Miguel Ramos is a political journalist but not of major note and also one of Alex's past fling

migual is played by Juan Castano who is in encanto but also is just like really really known for Broadway as well as Off Broadway and plays in New York and LA Um including having the lead role in inheritance which is Matthew Lopez the director and writer of the screenplay's like main work

Got it got it we have Jeffrey Richards played by Donald Sage Mackay he's the republican nominee facing Ellen Claremont in her reelection

And then last but certainly not least we have Amy who is the us secret service agent She basically is there to travel with Alex everywhere she is played by Aneesh Sheth who is a transgender indian actress Um this is important because the character was transgender in the book so they kept that true She's known for playing kami sutra in outsourced which was like super well received but only got a few episodes and then was taken off air as well as Jessica Jones and the walking dead

And then we have some cameos Stephen fry plays King James the third casey mcquiston is in as Ellen Claremont's speechwriter briefly and then Rachel Maddow and joy Reid appear as themselves During clips of Msnbc Okay summary This is a 2 hour movie so we're going to try to fly through it but there is a lot kind of

Yeah there's a lot but also at the same time Not a lot

But also not a lot Yeah I definitely was watching it this morning like it did not need to be 2 hours anyway we open up with it's the royal wedding and Alex and Nora are going to Said wedding and then Buckingham Palace for this like exclusive reception after and we know that he hates Prince Henry and Prince Henry snubs him at the hand shaking so then Alex decides to get really really drunk and come call him out and be like what's your f*cking problem with me But then he gets his hand like in this massive wedding cake frosting and then he gets the frosting on Henry's suit and then they start like physically fighting a little bit and then they fall into the cake which falls all over the floor Um which then makes headlines and nobody's happy about it

Yeah so after the incident zahrah's like you are getting your ass on a plane back to england right now to do damage control and so Prince Henry welcomes him they do press interviews in the entire time Alex is like Completely unserious and it's frustrating henry they go to the children's hospital together and read books and while they're at the hospital There's like a loud bang and they're shoved into a closet literally on top of each other Um while they're making sure there was no threat during this moment Alex shares that he doesn't really like Prince Henry because the first time they ever met he basically ignored him and said he had to get out of there and so that is the reason that Alex kind of has this like hatred towards him they end up leaving like Closet

Ah sorry important important then Henry says I said I need to get out of there because my dad had just died and I was in a really bad place mentally

yeah he explains why he did that and he also is like you can't judge me based on 1 interaction So they leave the closet Alex sees Henry Interact with the children in the hospital rooms and you kind of see him be like ooh Maybe I could have a crush on this guy and then he invites Prince Henry to the new year's eve party

Then Henry starts messaging him like through Whatsapp or something which kind of surprises me but whatever and they start like basically exchanging memes of each other through these texts which then become more about other things and then they're on the phone What in this very weird scene where um Alex has the white house turkey in his room for the night okay and they are like laying in bed talking together It's a cute montage and they're learning more about each other They're clearly starting to like each other Also Alex is asking Zahra if anyone on the team has read his Texas strategy memo which he gave to the campaign team um completely unsolicited and she's like no but if the prince goes to your new Year's eve party maybe I will so ah What happens the prince comes to the new year's eve party and he brings Percy to hang out with Nora and they immediately go off and hang out and Henry is pretty awkward at this party whereas Alex is a social butterfly He's drinking a lot He's dancing with lots of girls He's kissing girls and when the countdown happens 2 girls kiss him and Henry leaves goes outside and then Alex follows him and he's like what is your problem and Henry's like I'm not like other princes and then he kisses him in the snow and then just leaves back to the party like Henry kisses Alex and then leaves back to the party and Alex doesn't snow like what just happened

It's now fast forward to February and Alex hasn't heard from Henry since the party and he's ignoring all of his texts And so Alex ends up telling Nora what happened and how the kiss caught him by surprise and Nora's like yeah I suspected this all along and There is the prime minister's dinner and he's like he's supposed to be my date but I still haven't heard from him so while he's waiting for Prince Henry to show up at this dinner Miguel Approaches Alex and shares that he read his memo about Texas and that there's great ideas in there and Alex then sees Prince Henry so he kind of brushes Miguel off and is like yeah yeah we're going to win Texas and like moves on he goes to Amy and is like I need you to get me some alone time with Prince Henry please and thank you Um so she gives them a few minutes in this red room and they start kissing but then she like immediately interrupts 2 minutes later and Alex tells Henry to meet him in his room at midnight and he shows up They hook up and Alex is like Just in case you wanted to know I'm bis3xual and Prince Henry's like I'm super gay they're like okay great and then he's like we can continue this but we got to keep it super casual because I'm a prince and he invites Alex to the charity polo match the next month

Which he goes to they make out in the closet then they are like let's we're hungry Let's go get food and go to Paris and Henry opens up that Beatrice is the only one that knows about his s3xuality and he feels like he could never truly belong to anyone because he belongs to Britain and then Henry's like let's make love and Alex says I've never done it in the butt before And they have a very sensual lovemaking scene where they they do butt stuff in Paris

then Miguel Ramos we're back in the states Miguel releases a statement about Ellen Claremont's New Texas strategy and Ellen is upset with Her son because she's like Alex I know nothing about a Texas Strategy we do not have a Texas strategy and she's like you cannot be talking to the press anymore and Ellen ends up reading the strategy memo She loves it and decides to send Alex to Texas to put his strategy into action and while he's there Henry and Alex Exchange a ton of emails back and forth

Yeah it's a whole montage this movie loves a montage Alex addresses the crowd at the democratic convention and Miguel catches him at the bar afterwards and like tries to hit on him but Alex is like this is never happening ever again then Prince Henry shows up which Miguel does see they sneak away and immediately start just violently making out as soon as the door is halfway closed which is a big trend of theirs and in the morning zahra is like you better get your pretty little booty up And hears someone and uses her room key to get into Alex's room and is like where is she where is she where is she I know you didn't never sign an nda where is she and storms around the room until she finds Henry at which point she starts hyperventilating and is like um you're going to get your pretty little behind back to merry old england asap it's just a whole It's very funny because that happened Alex goes back to the white house We do a lot of country hopping without showing travel 

Yeah

He is back at the white house telling his mom That he's bis3xual and in love with the prince Basically like it's a whole coming out plus the relationship reveal and his mom says let's have pizza and are you practicing safe s3x and also make sure that you feel forever about him Before you move forward with this

Alex invites Henry and Percy to Texas on labor day weekend They all go out to like a karaoke bar and party and Henry is like letting loose He's singing karaoke and in the morning Um Alex's dad is making them all breakfast while they're hung over and he kind of like I don't want to use the term come out because he doesn't formally come out but he's kind of like dad What do you think of Henry and he's like this is great and then they move on Alex and Henry are lying on a dock in the water And Alex is like I can't wait for all of my work in Texas in this election to be over like I want to be able to spend more time with you Hopefully we can spend a few weeks together and he starts to tell Henry that he loves him And Henry launches his ass into the water to swim away as fast as humanly possible and he packs his stuff and leaves while Alex is sleeping 

Yeet yeet motherf*cker 

yeah literally

back in merry old England Henry and Beatrice are wandering through the gardens talking about it and how he broke up with Alex and she tries to cheer him up and says hey at least you'll never be king Then we get this like montage of him ignoring all of Alex's messages and calls and so Nora suggests that Alex get his booty on a plane and go get his man back So what does he do he storms Buckingham Palace and Henry is understandably upset but Alex is like no we're going to fight this out so they do we have like the scene of them fighting various ways and then Henry takes Alex to a museum after Hours to show that he likes being there as a thing from his dad because people aren't around and they dance together and then they exchange like Henry gives him a ring and Alex gives him the key to his house So like they They're going to try

they go their separate ways Alex goes back home and the next morning beatrice or what I assume is next morning I don't know Beatrice grabs Henry and shares that Alex and Henry's emails were leaked on Reddit And Henry immediately is like I need to talk to Alex but all the phones have been confiscated They cannot contact each other and Alex realizes really quickly He's like Miguel f*cking did this and so Alex addresses the public about the emails but also about Them losing the opportunity to come out on their own terms and zahra congratulates him for job Well done on his statement to the public and she calls Sean who's the Prince Henry's equery to get Henry on the phone so they can finally talk and They're going to London again because of course while Alex is there the king demands to see them both and while they're meeting with the king he kind of suggests at the beginning that the statements have been fabricated And that they are gonna release denials of the accusations they then ask they're like well have you read the emails and the king's like yeah I've read them and I can't deny that you guys are in love But also you need to maintain a traditional royal image and this is not a traditional royal image the Conversation is cut short because there's a crowd in support forming outside so they're trying to safely get them out of the building through the back entrance and they're told not to go out not to address the crowd but Prince Henry and Alex do not listen and they go out anyway

Well Beatrice is like guys you have to come see this 

Yeah yeah she does encourage it

and then it's election night because you thought the plot was over No it's election night and we're all back in DC I guess some were watching it And it all comes down to Texas

I think they're in Texas actually

oh I would assume they're in DC but they might be in Texas so I guess I don't know I guess because of the last scene you think that it really I don't know But anyway um Alex walks in and Ellen's like Practicing her concession speech and then Texas flips and the room cheers and she was reelected and Henry and Alex bike to his family to Alex's family house in Austin To celebrate together I don't they just were like what do you want to do I want to show you something and they walk through the house and the movie ends and that's red white and royal blue guys Yeah overall thoughts

every time I I think this is my third time watching it and every time I watch it I appreciate it more like it takes me less time to feel like locked in Like I feel like the first time I was like eh and the second time I was like okay this kind of good and then this one like 30 minutes in I was like yeah I like this movie like it's so cute

The second time was it before or after you read the book

Bo- I read the book before I watched the movie even the first time

Oh interesting I've never read the book I always struggle a bit in the beginning because I'm not a romance Girlie I Love a romcom I will say that I love a cheesy romcom I Love to all the boys and like that Style I love notting hill I love ten things I hate about you how to lose guy in ten days I need to stop listing romcoms But I'm not a romance novel girlie and that to me is like a very specific brand of cheese I like romance in my novels but I don't Typically like novels written in the romance genre and so like the beginning of this and because this this movie is based on a romance novel It has a lot of those same hallmarks where it almost feels like 1 of those like Netflix Christmas movies like the Vanessa Hudgens Princess switch movies Where it's just like this would never happen So I'm watching it like ok no one would care this much about the president's son and also the like the bigger issue here would be the cake falling on the prince like he looks super improper and like I was like Criticizing it and then I was like okay relax and then once we get to like the Texas Montage That's when I'm won over that's when I'm like okay I'm in it like I know I need to suspend the disbelief I just struggle with it at first because it's like so much cheese 

It is easy but like that's kind of the point

and like Texas I do I do flip halfway through also the shooting is really beautiful to the point where sometimes it looks fake I don't know why

yeah especially the England scene like that garden scene that you shouted out looks so gorgeous I was like I want to be walking through that garden and right now 

Oh for me it's really the shot over the lake during that confession I also am a sucker for a good like drone or crane shot because that's just like a view that we as humans can't have

yeah

And it's really lovely and like the saturation is up kay things we gotta talk about

Okay I wrote so many things about this cake because it really y'all the cake

all of your notes were about the cake or the very end of the film There was nothing on the middle and it was cracking me up

Sure I feel like a lot of my notes are related to book versus movie comparison though which I saved for the end So I do have a lot of notes throughout but it's just not in this section of like our favorite moments or what we have to talk about so first I want to say this cake was 75,000 pounds as in cost um was £75000 

could have also been seventy five thousand as in weight honestly it was a big f*cking cake

yeah truly truly and like cakes aren't cheap like that is it always costs more than people expect when they're planning their wedding budget But like that's crazy like Even if you are feeding 500 people like you're not paying that much for a cake even if you are the royal family like it's just so outrageous that it's like not even believable at all 

what do you think with conversion that's like 100k

Yeah probably a little less right now probably closer to 90/95

Yeah

But still

Yeah no yeah for sure like how much does a normal like three tier wedding cake cost

Like are we saying to feed like 150 people 

Yeah

yeah you're probably looking at a couple thousand Yeah like 1500 to 2k if you're like on the lower end if you're like getting a high quality custom designed probably like 3 to 4k But like an expensive wedding cake would be someone who spent like $8000 on a wedding cake like 75,000 is really crazy 

£75000 yeah 

Yeah it's crazy

and you know what I do like is that the prince does point that out

Yeah okay I'm just going to jump into the rest my cake comments So then we can move past cake so Alex gets He sets his whiskey glass down That's how he gets the frosting everywhere because it's he pulls his whiskey glass away from the cake Why he set it so close to the cake in the first place doesn't make any sense but he gets frosting all over his hands then him and Prince Henry are arguing and he puts his hand on his shoulder and That's how the frosting gets everywhere but then he like doesn't know what to do You can see this moment of panic or he's like oh sh*t I just got a sh*t ton of frosting on the prince and he just starts like rubbing it in and that would be me I'd be like panicking me like I don't know how to make this situation better So I'm gonna make it worse

Yeah I can't decide if I would do that or completely step aside to be like um one of your people probably knows how to clean this better than I do because like your suit probably costs more money than I've ever had

yeah

But also that frosting was meant to be butter cream but it it looks and spreads like a shaving cream It was very very fluffy

Yeah it definitely They were not using actual cake for this shot then when the cake comes falling down on top of them This is a huge cake like huge and it comes crashing down but it Breaks into chunks before it hits the ground and I just feel like cake wouldn't do that like it splits apart before it has hit them and the floor like midair and I'm like I don't think Cake functions that way I'm also not a scientist and I don't understand the physics of a cake falling at that velocity and speed but still

I don't know how the cake would break I do know cakes fall because they're or like they break into pieces because they're too big You know like you need a structural support system tiered cakes always have structure in them 

Yeah

I doubt that they had actual physicist type work on this They probably just built the prop and said make it fall and also probably told the actors we have 1 take with this cake so don't f*ck it up

yeah true yeah because they're like 1 and done That's all we got I don't know why it took me reading the book and watching this 3 times to connect this Um So maybe I'm the problem but like Are we really to believe this is an enemies to lovers storyline because I don't believe that like it It doesn't feel like they're true enemies but I feel like they set up like this tension between them

It's it definitely is supposed to be at the beginning I don't know if I would call it a true enemies to lovers because they become lovers so quickly in the story That's really not the main 

Focus

Yeah it's not the main conflict within the story The beginning did make me laugh because they're very much giving like like men fighting over whose d1ck is bigger kind of energy when they're like going back and forth like okay just pull out the swords My guy But then they do I don't know are like do you see people applauding this as like a big enemies to lovers romance

No I Just I think in this watch through I was like wait are is this what they're setting it up as because it just clicked in my brain I was like I guess they are telling us that they really don't like each other but it just I don't know None of it feels super validated to me that I'm like I don't know if we need this tension at all like it could just be that they both exist in these positions of powers and then found each other

Ah I see what you're saying interesting 

I Guess what I'm saying is I feel that it's unnecessary like the setup of them disliking each other 

Yeah like you didn't need that trope because we already have like the main trope is like the secret dating

Yeah we can't be together It's Forbidden 

Forbidden romance 

Yeah

I see I don't mind that they don't like each other in the beginning it does resolve itself rather quickly and I did kind of find myself wishing that I had seen them like Initially not liking each other you know like what that what happened but I don't know I guess I'm neutral 

Yeah fair um I Love zahra 

Same

She is so fiery and hilarious But she's good at her job like she knows what's going On She knows how to get sh*t handled She does not take no for an answer like She clearly is in this position for a reason and I would not envy her at all but she is just hilarious in the way that she just like handles problems with like sass and fire like everything that comes to her She is just A bolt of energy and I love it

Yeah I love her She has some really great lines She has some overwritten lines She's also one of the few people that really puts Alex in his place which I enjoy 

Yeah it's needed

oh yeah because that man is So critical and has such a big ego and she's like and sorry I'm sorry what official position do you have first son did anyone ask you your opinion you think that though we don't we can't do our jobs like you're just a Pr nightmare

Yeah literally

There is also the great reveal that zahra's been hooking up with the equerry which is at the end of the film and is quite hilarious because she uses it as blackmail I like that the female Democrat president Is also a Southern woman worried about like little people midwestern issues and stuff There's just like layer upon layer of unlikely

Yeah it definitely is like yeah they said it I like I like that too I appreciate that it's a Texas woman she has a like a southern accent like she has a drawl It's very cool to see because you're like This is maybe something we would dream of happening but it also feels so far from reality also knowing this was written in the aftermath of the 2016 election It even feels more far from reality

maybe that's what we need to get a woman in office or to get Texas to flip is to get someone from Texas 

Yeah 

they do have democratic hubs in Texas but

Yeah and they're from Austin which is like a huge democratic hub It's like the democratic hub of Texas I appreciate that we see this a couple times when there's text messages or I think it's mostly when there's phone calls but in the pardoning the turkey scene and the turkey is in Alex's room and he's on the phone with Henry we see Henry in his room like they're talking to one another even though Henry is really on the phone I Just like that choice I think
 
Yeah it's really cool They have them both lay in bed together So it's not 2 shots in 2 different rooms just spliced It is both of them laying on the bed together pretending That they're laying in a bed in another room talking to each other on the phone 

Yeah

It's really cool and like it

also in that scene Alex is like why the hell are you awake It's three am and Henry's like I'm a world class insomniac and I was like me too me

Yeah I feel for you in your sleepless nights

Yeah it's been okay lately But Amanda knows I go through periods where I really don't sleep much Unfortunately I felt seen though I was like let's let's shout it out louder for the insomniacs The other thing that I wrote down Because I was like this is ridiculous 

Yeah okay for context

yes 

they're they're at the New Year's eve party and get low starts playing and Alex goes oh my god this is the song of my childhood and starts just f*cking dancing

Yeah and he gets Henry to go out on the dance floor with him and like Henry's been sitting on the couch the whole time So this is like a big moment and he's like did he just say sweat drop down my balls and I was like is this realistic that Henry would not know get low by lil jon because I am also in a UK to us relationship and there are times that I shout out things and I'm like this was a huge hit like how do you not know it and my husband Chris is like that No and I look it up and I'm like oh yeah I didn't chart in the UK like Of course you don't know it or he'll shout out things I'm like I've never heard of that in my entire life and he knows all the words So like there is some of that cultural difference where things that are popular there maybe aren't popular here and vice versa so I was like maybe this is realistic so I was like I need to look it up No it's not realistic get low Peaked number 10 on the uk singles charts and number four on the hip hop charts Also I didn't write down here but it peaked number 2 on the indie charts which why it was included under indie doesn't make sense to me but 

No sense

and it went certified gold So prince Henry Would f*cking know get low by lil Jon stop pretending You would know it

Especially this Prince Henry who knows pop culture 

Yes

Yeah also Alex was me earlier this week I went dancing with my friend for her birthday At a lesbian night at a bar And they have a couple djs and the djs were primarily playing like 2000s hits for some reason there were also some more current ones It was like a mix of a lot of hip hop But when get low came on I was like oh a hell yeah I was like this is my song oh my god they played low by flo rida I have not had to actually get low like that since Seventh grade and my knees are not the same but I did it every single time

Yeah yeah there's something about like hip hop and rap songs of that era that it just makes you want to shake your ass (absolutely) like you are just ready 

also small Note when they're like Exchanging texts and stuff I enjoy that Montage because they're just like exchanging memes of each other making fun of each other and like memes are also my love language I Love a good meme and I love teasing people as a form of flirting

Yeah I do like that they highlight that like how they get into their more serious conversations stems from them just like poking fun at 1 another but always very playfully

I am curious in the books is it the same word like Henry just reaches out one day because that kind of surprised me that he just like randomly Texts Alex

Yes but instead of saying that he like sneaked around and got the number from like I dunno he says he got it from something he just straight straight up asks Alex for his number in the books

I thought it was interesting this constant juxtaposition between their 2 places of privilege because Alex the entire time has this like working class chip on his shoulder

Yeah

And is very snobby about how Henry is very privileged and he was just born into his life He didn't earn anything and all kinds of stuff and then we see people check Alex because he's the Son of the president of the United States and everything he has is because his mom earned it I just I don't know I thought that it was quite interesting like he's still flying in jets and sh*t like that and he gets handed that campaign while he's still in law school I Just thought it was interesting and I think the working class chip is very real I've been guilty of that sometimes of like I get frustrated when friends talk about their difficulty with money if they feel like they have it when like they actually come from a place of higher privilege than I do and like Their money problems seem inconsequential So it feels very real But yeah I don't know I don't know I just I don't know that I have more to say on that other than I thought it was really interesting

Yeah I feel like it is really realistic and I appreciate that people check him on it because you're like okay this makes sense you have this chip but also like you live in the white house you get like escorted everywhere you go like this is not your reality anymore

the thing that I thought was interesting that they didn't point out is that when they go out for memorial day weekend They're staying in the family's vacation home which they bought after his mom finished her first book But that's before becoming president They owned a vacation home and it's a nice one

I do feel like we we are viewing this from people who grew up in California like I think the reality of a Texas vacation home is a lot more achievable But yes still valid

sure but I'm also growing like we are both also from a perspective of parents who didn't own their homes most of our lives 

I do I mentioned this I really like the Texas montage Campaign There's a lot of montages in this movie as I mentioned and I think that one is my favorite because it grounds the character more than anything and like what they're trying to do also the like letter writing being read out over top of it Is giving dear John vibes like soft romance but also kind of horny 

Yeah

It's touching

I would agree probably in the movie that is also my favorite montage because yeah you really get to see like Alex in his element

Mhmm

And so it makes the character feel more real instead of this guy who like didn't like the prince and now is falling for the prince like which doesn't really give you anything more than that So this kind of makes him feel more well rounded and like an actual person

Yeah the coming out scene is really cute

yeah I agree I like this because it reminds me like in young royals One of the things we constantly brought up is like the balance between the Queen being a queen and the Queen being a mom Um And I like we see this in this movie a lot too where Ellen sometimes needs to be the president and other times when she needs to be his mom and when he comes out to her and she like gets on the phone and you can tell he's like oh my god why are we going She's like we're going to need some pizzas and you're like oh my God Yes you are going to need some pizzas like

And then she asks if he's using a condom if he's had the HPV vaccine if he's going to go on to it It's not prep but it's like a similar one and she's like Going through all of the different safe s3x stuff graphically and if you're bottoming we need to blah blah blah and he's like Mom please I can't believe they give you the red buttons

it's very cute I Also like how she apologizes and she's like sorry for me thinking traditionally when we had the talk but now I need to expand on it like

I also just think that the um the point when Henry yeets himself into the lake is so funny like it's so dramatic up until then because Alex is just behind him pouring out his soul And Henry is like looking like he's about to vomit like he's having the worst time of his life and then he just dramatically jumps into the lake and I was dying I was like this is me afraid of commitment like this is so funny

yeah

I'm not afraid of commitment but it felt there's something in my soul that really resonated with it

Yeah I feel like it's a true representation representation of flight or fight response and Henry chose flight

yeah he did and then he chose a flight to England

Yeah literally what do you think about the king reading all of their leaked emails at first when he said because they ask Prince Philip who's like the prince who's doing everything correctly Um and he's first in line as the heir and he's like no of course I didn't read them Why would I read them and then the king's like well I read them and I was like oh that's kind of cute and then I thought further and I'm like actually I don't know if I like this

I think he has to I think it's his job 

Fair

because it's a security issue 

Yeah

to know exactly what it is especially because I'm sure that the King's equerry would be Talking to him about like damage control and stuff and he needs to know what exactly needs to happen 

Yeah fair

I definitely thought like okay and this is partially my fault because I had the movie playing while I was making breakfast and it was on my Tv and I wasn't like watching watching but you can hear most of the time and there was a Moment where he says like my mom's the president and her mom's only a duchess or his mom's only a duchess So my mom outranks her Whatever But I guess I thought that was like her title before queen I spent this whole movie thinking that his mom was queen until suddenly there was a king when I saw this note Before the movie was done I was like what do you mean the king reads the emails The king's dead because Henry's dad is dead and I was confused but that's fine

No that's what makes them the next in line because his dad is dead So his dad would have been the next in line

I do think that Stephen fry playing the king is not giving King he's giving prime minister He's giving Churchill that's fine but his delivery of homos3xual is A+

Yeah

And I appreciate that he is that person that just like pops into things to be an authority figure in gay media now there's this and he is the Principal and heartstopper and he just like is around being gay being homos3xual

He talks a lot about how he thinks queer media representation is like super important and he when he found out that Matthew Lopez was directing this film He actually reached out and was like I don't have a ton of time But if you have any small parts I would love to be a part of it so he actually reached out and was like please write me a part like put me in 

Slay

Yeah

I do like Alex's speech from just as the he addresses the leak of the emails He gives a full on speech which is dramatic and 

I said public statement like

I guess yeah it kind of It was wishy washy It was like you could you I mean you could issue a public statement That's like a text or something 

Sure

he he is giving a full speech to the press and I do and don't like it like it's the dramatic moment culmination right And like on the one hand the speech is a slay because queer people do have the right to come out or the right to not come out and should have the right to come out when they want if they ever want which is all stuff he says but I'm also like he has no access to Henry at this point and should he even be saying things like I fell in love with Prince Henry to the press without his consent because that's further detailing things I didn't love that part

Yeah I guess on the other end like everyone knows because all the emails were leaked and a lot of this stuff is included in the emails So I would say he's not really sharing anything that the public does not know already

I get that there's no deniability anymore though and he is showing like a vulnerability I don't know it just felt a little a little too personal for me 

Yeah

but it's a Romance 

Mhmm super small note but I thought it was funny during the republican debate is what I'm guessing It was Nora and like All of the people working on the campaign are sitting in the office and they're playing like a drinking game So every time they say a certain word They're all drinking and I just I thought it was I liked it It was fun My last note is

And then our last note in the things we have to talk about our last note is 

Some of these lines are so f*cking horny like I knew it was horny But it's horny

yeah I remember having that shock The first time I watched it being like whoah Ok also because very early on They start making out violently and then the first time they hook up Prince Henry goes down on him and like I remember texting people and being like I was not expecting like ten fifteen minutes into this movie to watch a like Mimicked version of Prince Harry give a blowjob to another man 

Well it's what you got

Yeah it really like it's a horny film 

It's horny

but like same sometimes

yeah I don't think it's unrealistic to romance especially knowing that they're in in the books they're 21 22 in the film They say they aged them up for the film so people guess they're more like 24 25 for the film So especially that At that age I'm like yeah this all checks out

I don't know I think it checks out more 22 

Sure

because I feel like once you're when you're 25 you have a little more decorum 

Yeah yeah fair fair

okay some things that we don't love as much a lot of this is gonna be Jess's like distinction with the book but go ahead

Yeah so first before we get into the distinction of the book I Want to talk about and Amanda and I have discussed this before especially with heartstopper because we talk that up So so much and A huge reason we talk it up is because of Alice Oseman's involvement in the production and their involvement is what makes that series so wonderful to consume and unfortunately Casey was not involved It was sold and then it was hands off and I think this is very obvious Matthew Lopez has said in interviews and articles that he had to make a lot of changes to obviously turn this into a film versus the Book which is all fair but he took the strong line of if it does not involve Alex and Henry then it doesn't belong in the movie and so The beautiful thing about this book is there are a lot of subplots that develop these characters into like well-rounded characters and you really like them plus their extended friends and family and you just don't get that at all in the movie And so it loses a lot of charm that the book has

and you'd and think that with 2 hours he'd be able to include a little more I I I do think like the friends like Nora and what's his name Percy I felt like that Gets thrown in there early on and then just dropped and there there are definitely Nora feels way more important in the beginning than she does halfway through the film or the whole latter half there's definitely things that you can tell Were more prominent in the books that just isn't

Yeah like he kind of had to find ways to include the things that like drove the plotline of Alex and Henry forward But then that means that they felt kind of half assed like the inclusion of Nora Amanda wrote that she feels like she got more Alex than Henry which to me I'm like yes that makes sense and I think that was a purposeful choice because Alex narrates the book Okay I didn't know that I think when Henry Yeets in the lake and then goes back and talks to Beatrice that felt like the first real time I was seeing Henry without Alex and that's 2 thirds of the way through the movie 

Yeah even further maybe yeah

Yeah and I had wished at that point if we were getting it like that it was like refreshing and I thought maybe it would have been nice to have that even more so further earlier in the the movie

Yeah agreed the other thing I wanted to touch on is the r rating of this film it has gotten a lot of criticism because even though we said the lines are horny things are horny it is horny But it's not super graphic Um and the s3x scenes are very tame and they're way more similar to what you'd find in a pg thirteen film So this r rating has been called out as like perceived homophobia as well as in the uk it was given an a 12 rating which is the equivalent of a pg 13 rating and there's a lot of things wrong with the way Our movie system is rated here in the Us and so this was just a call out to that that like it probably didn't need to be given an r rating Um and both the actors spoke out about being kind of upset that it was given that

Yeah because when I say that they do butt stuff You don't see it like you see them on top of each other in bed in what is very similar to how you would shoot to straight people having s3x 

Yes

and Also when you see him give felatio It is just like you see his head go down Those are all things you would see in a straight romance That's pg 13 there's no butts shown There's also obviously no female nipples shown which I think I feel like you can And show women's boobs once and still get a pg 13 rating like you know like there's limits like you you can say f*ck once and still get a pg 13 rating but like say it more than once you get an r I think yeah

Yeah yeah there are like loose rules like that But again it's just a panel of people who decide this um and so you know there's a lot of criticism over the years like for over a decade now on how the System is unclear in how movies are ranked as unclear and there seems to be a lot of like Homophobia racism s3xism in the decision making of like what's okay and what's not okay Um so I just thought it was important to call out because the film really did not need to be rated r

No it didn't Okay so the the scene where they have Penetrative s3x for the first time they're just standing in front of a window and Henry says I think we should make love which is like very not romantic

No

It's it's something that is kind of normal I guess But it's it feels very artificial the way that he started it Alex does call him out as like who says make love 

Yeah

when he first said I think we should make love I was like I think it would be more normal to be like I think we should have s3x and then also it just feels like okay he says that and then they start kissing and like That's not natural like normally you like get into the mood Also they have a good conversation where Alex is like I've never done that before and I appreciated that because that's a very real thing but that would have come a lot earlier typically like that would have Been a conversation already because you're like both doing things and you're like in the mood and you know and then you get to like oh I haven't done that and like we can wait until you're ready but but you know

yeah I agree the timing of the conversation was weird and I do agree that it is like kind of unromantic for how like sweet and sensual the scene is and like what it's supposed to represent in their relationship That maybe like the language that was Chosen was like not the best 

I Think the way they get into it is not the best I would have liked it to be more natural I Do really like this scene for how it's shot and shown I think that s3x and especially probably gay s3x is shown as very like Transactional and hot and like whatnot But this was very sensual and soft and it was more like love making style s3x which I appreciated for the sake of like romantically lighting gay s3x 

Yeah

But I just didn't like the way they got into it

okay y'all I'm gonna go on a little rant prepare yourself It's not really a rant but I'm gonna talk for a little bit Hopefully you don't hate my voice I'm gonna talk about like book versus movie if you haven't read the book and you want to read the book Fast forward a few minutes because there are spoilers So yeah just skip over this next part But I think it's important to call out because a lot of fans read the book first obviously and so these are like important distinctions that kind of make the movie follow a little flat Many characters storylines are like cut out or cut short or they don't exist at all or they're just like completely different I'm not going to cover all of them here because it's so many characters but I'll cover a few 1 of the huge things in the book is that Ellen and Oscar are divorced and Alex has a stepdad and the blended family dynamic is huge in the book and it adds a lot to the character development of Alex as well as that whole family and to have a female president That is divorced with a blended family like it just adds so much more and we're completely missing that

I was going to say a southern woman as president They really decided that the part that was the least realistic was that she was on her second marriage huh that was where they drew the line that was where she was not getting the midwest to vote for her

Yeah 

Interesting

in the book it is queen mary and we swap to King James

For what because of Stephen fry because he wanted a role

I don't know if it's Stephen fry a lot of people speculate that like around the time of filming was around the time that Queen Elizabeth died and so maybe they chose to make the change then I don't fully understand why they made this decision but it was the decision that was made Princess Beatrice has a hu- in general in the book They draw a lot of comparisons to what they call the Washington Trio and the England Trio and The England Trio is Prince Henry his best friend Percy and then his sister princess Beatrice and then the Washington Trio is June who does not exist in the book Nora and Alex and there's a lot of comparisons between them and Like these 2 trios get up to a lot of shenanigans together So that's entirely missing they kind of comboed a lot of these characters into one another to make it work But there's a whole substance abuse Plotline with Princess Beatrice and it really lets you know why her and Henry are so close to begin with and why they confide in each other June Claremont Diaz just doesn't exist at all So Nora is kind of like a combination of who June is in the book And who Nora is in the book They just like put her into 1 in the book The june plotline happens the June and Percy Plotline happens but in the movie they make it Nora 

So June is his sister

June is his sister 

younger

Younger and it's through the blended family so through the stepdad

Oh so stepsister and just saying yeah I I would not have guessed that Princess Bea had any substance abuse issues from the way she is in the film that does not look likely at all and then Alex is very much giving only child So yeah all interesting

Yeah and then the other thing is We completely eliminate a prominent character from the film which is Colorado senator Rafael Luna who's an openly gay senator and Alex really like sees him as a mentor He looks up to him but there's an entire subplot With him and the republican rival Jeffrey Richards and that subplot is what leads to the emails being leaked So the emails are leaked by the republican candidate in the book Not a journalist which I thought was a very interesting thing to not To change

Mmm 

because that character exists the character of kind of loosely the character It's not exactly Miguel but there is a journalist character that he has hooked up with as well as like a friend From his past that he is hooked up with and that's how he's kind of learned he was bi in the books but not to the level that it it is in the film Um and the involvement of the republican party with the emails being leaked as well as his Mentor being involved with the republican party like it's this entire subplot like it takes up a good chunk of the book and he just was like not Prince Henry not Alex let's throw it away But again it adds substance and we're missing it 

I'm not too excited They took that out because it it's a 2 hour film and I think that that would add a lot of time to it because that's all characters and stuff that we don't know but I did feel like Miguel was not A likely solution for the leaked emails I didn't feel like he had that kind of power It makes more sense for a big organization to be behind it But then on the flip side Maybe they didn't want to alienate more viewers by saying the Republican party did it 

Sure sure

yeah that's fair the other things Super super small change but the v and a scene where they're like dancing in the museum 

What is V&A

Victoria and Albert it's the Victoria and Albert Museum

Okay I they never named it in the movie I thought they were in the British museum and then you wrote V and a and I didn't know what that was

yeah it's the Victoria and Albert Museum but it's to your song by Elton John and then they switched it to can't help falling in love it's Fine I thought that was a fine change But um you know Elton John is a gay singer like it makes sense that they would maybe they couldn't get the rights I don't know it just feels like a weird switch Yeah they couldn't afford it 

they could not afford it

but we could afford Uma Thurman and Stephen fry okay 2 last things small the flight that flight the height difference is flipped Which a lot of people seem to be upset about I didn't really care and then Buckingham Palace balcony scene and the book They do not go out Um they go up to the window they look out They see the crowd in support and then they leave through the back entrance which is a More realistic of what would actually happen but I understand the change because it is a really beautiful fun scene in the film that they get to go out to the crowd So um I appreciate the change but it is a huge change from the book

It feels like an ending moment

Yeah it's more of a movie moment You need that like big thing to happen

I had a couple their little notes in the things we didn't love as much I've said it like 3 times already in this recording this movie loves montage I don't mind a montage I love heartstopper heartstopper has a lot of montages I just felt like at some point when it's a 2 hour film which I've also said a lot of times it could have been snappier

yeah 

It could have been more succinct especially if you're cutting out all those storylines And some of it has to do with how many frickin montages there were so like a couple is fine but it was like every changing of the relationship we saw through a montage

And I think maybe it's because Matthew struggled on what to do because the book is done through so so much through emails and texts that like he didn't know how to include that without a montage but like I agree it It does get kind of old and you're like oh no give me substance There's so much substance Give it to me

Yeah I didn't mind it with the emails and the texts But then I think they did it again when it wasn't that and I was like now we're getting gratuitous

Yeah yeah yeah fair

I Also just like didn't love the ending scene I feel like the balcony moment is so sweet that feels like an ending and I'm great with that and then I get that there's the whole reelection storyline So then we go to that which feels like a footnote and she wins And then they go to the house and look at the house and I just did not understand the house part of it all I felt like it could have been the balcony I could have felt I felt like it could have been the reelection I just these 2 people who live in such insane privilege and have Works through these obstacles to be together walking into this 2 story suburban house together just like it didn't feel like it fit the whole rest of the tone of the film and I didn't understand the point of it I get that it's like It's Alex's childhood house and Henry's like I've never owned anything I've never had a key whatever but it just didn't feel that impactful

Yeah I think it's like this was his roots and now he's letting Henry see his roots but I agree that yeah it doesn't feel as like oh my gosh movie move moment as the election scene or the balcony scene feels So it kind of lands flat okay getting into fun facts accolades awards Um for the first three weeks after the release red white and royal blue was the top film watched worldwide on prime video and It still is top 3 in romance on Amazon prime which I think is awesome a sequel is in the works currently with both leading men signed on so that is also exciting They just announced that a few weeks ago So very very exciting

That's interesting because there's nothing left in the book right

Yeah and Casey has always said like oh maybe I'll write a sequel I don't know it was so well received we'll see but they never have written a sequel So don't this is kind of like uncharted territory So I'm curious to see where they take it

Yeah I wonder how Casey feels about that because then I'm thinking as a writer how much would like what they write for the sequel impact What I could potentially write for a sequel

Yeah I also as am like a logistics person like the way my brain works I'm like if if they own the ip to this but there's technically not a second book How do they buy the rights because it technically is Casey's ip still So like yeah I just logistically I'm like I don't understand how the business deal of this worked

Oh well Amazon licensed the rights for the film adaptation and that would include their own story like you know they could have done whatever with this So It could have been accurate to the book or not but the source material really the IP is really like the characters and what and their situation anything that is recognizable so they can create a second sequel and they can Still pay royalties on it to Casey even if it's not based on their own actual because it's based on their characters and their story

Mkay fair awards it was nominated for outstanding producer at the producers guild of America awards and it got runner up for best comedy movie at the queertys And it was nominated for outstanding film and 1 queer fan favorite at the glaad media awards

I have the most unhinged comment in our fun fact section is that nick galitzine has said that he is straight and that man has the most d1ck sucking looking lips that I have ever seen

I'm actually shocked to he's straight he doesn't give me that that energy

It's them d1ck sucking lips they're so like plump and you just like you watch him and you're like that is a homos3xual

Yes yes

But he did say that in an interview and that he he has mixed feelings about playing queer roles because he feels like he he doesn't want to take up space but also he sees these characters as more than just their s3xuality and in another interview Taylor the guy that plays Alex he has said that he doesn't like that actors are asked to disclose their s3xuality He didn't like that Nick had ever been asked if he was straight or not And that Kate Blanchet has said we must fight to the death to suspend disbelief and that stuck with him because as long as like you're watching a film and there's nothing outside of that room that matters the actors are doing their jobs and like it's no one's business 

True

So he hasn't stated his s3xuality

Yeah which right like actress don't owe that and we talked about this during our heartstopper episodes too I think there is a level that it's Nice if the actor can personally identify with what the character is going through but I understand not always casting based on s3xuality

Yeah because it also in order to do that It requires the actors to disclose that to the casting directors 

Yeah

My personal take is usually I don't care too much about things like s3xuality I care about Physical visible changes differences like obviously a white person cannot play a person of color 

Sure

an able bodied person should not play someone with a visible disability and also A cisgendered person should not play a trans person 

Yeah

That's how I feel about it But when it comes to like s3xuality I think that's so fluid and also like when I walk around people don't know that I'm a homo a homos3xual 

Yeah sure sure okay do want to get into quotes 

Yeah

Okay I have a few zahra is talking about how they've worked so hard to build this relationship up with the prime minister and this trade deal with England And then Alex f*cked it all up by the cake crashing down on him and Henry and she goes thousands of hours gallons of tea and as an event planer I'm like yeah dude that probably sucked she probably was oh my god oh my hard work where did it go Alex is given a fact sheet on henry to study before he is to fly to London for damage control And Alex goes does he have a fact sheet on me and zahra goes Yeah and I can tell you that making it was one of the most depressing moments of my life of my career 

Valid

Yeah I don't remember who says this but it's Alex has very strong opinions and he shares them loudly I think it might be Henry Um and it's me

yeah yeah I saw you write that and I was like yeah that's you 

Yeah yup

because anything that you say guys the jess disagrees with she like she will eventually come around because you've heard us do this in the podcast a million times but like over text Immediately It will be all caps No no that is not true

Uh huh yeah I'm also very stubborn So 

Yeah we both are oops

oops um another one which is Nora to Alex and she goes Oh honey princes aren't allowed to be gay You should know that 

And he should and he should

he should but the way she says it is just like so sincere but also like are you f*cking kidding bro like I just appreciated it

you wrote this down but I also wanted to write it down when zahra Finds Henry in Alex's hotel room for the first time she says Every time I see you it takes another year off of my life Another 1 you wrote down that I wanted to write down

yes Ellen during the coming out scene She goes to Alex because they're talking about You know how does he identify and he says bis3xual and she goes Well you know the b in lgbtq is not a silent letter and I was like yes say it louder Yeah

Hell yeah Ellen 

Yeah

Alex has his little not coming out scene with his dad where he's just like what how do you feel about Henry and he's like do you have some like catholic guilt You need to put on me and his dad says You are after all talking to the patron saint of gender neutral bathrooms in Austin you little sh*t He's like give me more credit than that

Yeah yeah 

one of the good line like most of these are quips but there is a good line that a few good ones that Henry has that are a little more grounding And in the the moment when he is fighting with Alex which I honestly wish have feelings about the resolution of this film Um and that storyline But 1 of the good ones he has is my life is the crown and yours is politics and I will not trade one prison for another I really liked that sentiment I really like that scene I didn't like that It's like irrelevant because They end up together and also that they get outed so like he never really gets to make a choice I don't know I just

Yeah yeah the decision is taken from them But yes ah even the resolution of that scene is like okay I guess you are trading one prison for another because you just don't care because you want to be together but they don't really discuss it further than that line

Yeah and he says like I'm not hiding I just have a shred of self-preservation But no you don't baby But no you don't 

No he doesn't 

but also another funny scene is later He's they're talking It's post The email leak and they're like at the piano and something Oh I think they're talking about the speech and Henry says it made me proud to be your boyfriend and Alex is like I was always proud to be your boyfriend and Henry says well I'm white and upper class So my affection comes with strings

yeah 

okay any final thoughts Jess

it's not my favorite book ever It's not my favorite movie ever But I do enjoy both I'm glad it was made you know

Yeah and I will say as much as I have knocked it for being cheesy I Enjoy it and I think that people get really hung up on representation and what it looks like because Everyone wants it to be perfect but there's no such thing as perfect representation What is most important is a prolific amount of It You want all kinds of representation of people and stories and we deserve to have chweese chweesy hehehehe

chweesy

chweesy which was supposed to be cheesy and queer um chweesy ah cheesy queer romcoms you know 

Yeah we do

so Slay 

up next I don't really know when we're going to release this so we may have one more pride month episode for you That's a fun one We're trying something new or we may be on to life with Derek season 2 you'll know before I know that's fine Um it's one of those in the meantime please please please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify it really really helps us out Go give us a Follow on all our social media nineties babies and nostalgia on Youtube and Instagram spell out the word nineties on Tiktok use the numericals there and with that we'll see you in the next one

Stay Gay 

Bye

Nineties babies nostalgia