Christmas 2019: The Princess Switch (2018) vs The Christmas Trap (2017)
For our final duo film reviews in December (and my final reviews of 2019), today I'll be looking at The Princess Switch and The Christmas Trap, which both concern two young women switching places to see how the other one lives.
The Princess Switch
The Princess Switch follows Vanessa Hudgens as Stacey De Novo, a newly single baker (because if this month has taught us anything, we need more Christmas romance films about bakers). Stacey runs her own bakery alongside her best friend Kevin (played by Nick Sagar). With encouragement from his daughter, Kevin reveals to Stacey that he's entered them into a royal baking contest in Belgravia.
Once in Belgravia, Stacey bumps into Lady Margaret, (also played by Vanessa Hudgens) who is engaged to the Prince of Belgravia. Shocked by their identical appearances, Lady Margaret asks Stacey if they can swap places, so that she may quietly observe how the people are in this new land she'll be living in. It's only for two days while Prince Edward, Margaret's fiance, is out of town. Stacey agrees. However, Stacey must spend her two days with the Prince, after he cancels his trip to spend time with "Margaret". Will this complicate matters for Stacey?
Meanwhile, Margaret is having a nicer time than she thought as Stacey, and that may largely be thanks to Kevin...
This film was very popular upon its release on Netflix, and a sequel is currently in production (apparently there will be three Vanessa Hudgens' in that one).
I definitely see the appeal of this film. It's cheesy, but fun. It's light and harmless. The plot is fantastical and not at all realistic, yet sweet enough in its delivery not to completely insult its audience's intelligence. It looks like everyone who was involved with it had a great time making it, particularly Vanessa Hudgens. The Princess Switch has romance, friendship and festivity - it's a good, cosy Christmas film.
Sadly, it also has flaws.
Vanessa Hudgens, as Lady Margaret tries -oh, how she tries- to do an English accent, but wow, it's bad. Think Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap, or Anne Hathaway in One Day, but a bit worse.
Hudgens does do this thing where sometimes, as Margaret or Stacey, she'll slip into their real accent (Stacey is American like Hudgens) while pretending to be the other person. It's only a momentary slip up each time, and that's not actually a bad idea, but considering it's never noticed by anyone in the film, I think it was actually just a mistake on Hudgens part.
To make matters worse, I was stunned to discover that Nick Sagar who plays Kevin is actually English, when he plays such a convincing American here. It's bad enough being English and cringing at your screen as someone tries and fails to do your accent, but to act alongside someone who's destroying it, while you're doing a good job at their real accent, must be tough.
On the subject of Sagar, we need to talk about Kevin. He's wonderful. He's such a positive, charming man who seems to really love life. We see him laugh, we see him happy cry, he's a loving father and fantastic friend to Stacey. It also helps that he is rather easy on the eyes (the toothpaste scene does a particularly good job at highlighting this). If anyone knows how to get a Kevin directly to my home address, please bring one to me.
Meanwhile, though the film has Sagar as an asset, Sam Palladio as Prince Edward is a bit underwhelming. He's fine, just a bit bland. You could argue that as a Prince, he's supposed to be a bit stiffer than Kevin, but there's a scene where Stacey lists Edward's wonderful qualities to Kevin's daughter, and it's just a bit hard to believe. He's nice, but that's about it. I laughed when Stacey said she loved him after the two days (not a spoiler - never said they ended up together) because she said she had never loved anyone more, although at the start of the film it's revealed she just got out of a three year relationship, so you wonder how bad that must have been.
There's also a random old man who appears throughout the film to guide the characters when they needed help. I kept waiting for the film to reveal this character as Father Christmas, but we're never told who he is, so it's just a bit weird and awkward. On the subject of random side characters, there's another baker in the same competition as Stacey and Kevin, who acts like a rival, but nothing comes of this, and it feels pointless. Equally pointless was a royal servant who seemed oddly eager to expose Stacey for pretending to be Lady Margaret, yet when things seem to be reaching a good conclusion for her, he's happy about it and doesn't cause a fuss, so why was this even featured? At least he provided a little simple comic relief along the way.
Without wanting to give too much away, there's a part in the film where Lady Margaret says she thinks Stacey is more suited to being a royal than she is. I'm sorry, but this just simply isn't true.
Firstly, both two women have had their hearts swayed in just two days. I don't think that shows great leadership potential.
Additionally, this whole switch was Margaret's idea to begin with, because she wanted to have a better understanding of the people she would be ruling over. That seems (flawed, but) pretty respectable to me. Margaret is used to high society -part of her name is "Lady", for goodness sake. I don't believe she would have struggled in the role, she could have just said it wasn't what she wanted, after she'd seen what she could have with someone like Kevin.
So yes, The Princess Switch has problems, but out of the many problematic films I've seen for this blog, this is one of the nicer ones, and a comfortable, if not a bit silly, Christmas movie to enjoy.
Is this a chick flick or romance film for all? Chick flick
Would I recommend this film? Yes, but only as a guilty pleasure and fun Christmas film, not as an actual good movie
Rating: 5/10
The Christmas Trap
I chose the above poster for two reasons: the first being that this is one of the few posters for this film I could find that had the title from the version I saw (this film is also known as Christmas in the Heartlands). The second reason is that it is so ghastly, and so hideously photoshopped that I knew it would fit right in with this blog. Also, that bottom image of the girl, the guy and the horse? Yeah, that's a shot from a montage sequence, and that male character barely matters to this plot - refreshingly, this isn't a romance based chick flick. There were other shots they could have used to sell the film with a more accurate idea of what it is, but to use that shot with the guy seems manipulative, as if they put it there to entice a potential audience with the idea of romance. Or horses. There aren't many of those featured either.
You may already have an idea of what I think about this film from my analysis of the poster alone, but let me give you a quick plot summary.
Kara is a rich girl living with her father. Her grandparents -who Kara has never known- have suddenly reached out to ask that she spends Christmas with them. Kara doesn't want to go, because she has a bad idea of who her grandparents are, as they cut her father out of their lives for marrying Kara's late mother, who was of a lower social class.
Meanwhile, Jessie is also a teenage girl who's about to be sent to stay with a grandparent she has never met. Her mother recently died, which lead to the revelation that Jessie actually has a grandmother who wants to meet her and spend Christmas with her.
When Jessie and Kara sit next to each other on the same flight to meet both of their grandparents, they think the other one's situation is better - Kara envies Jessie for going to spend Christmas with someone who loves her already, while Jessie envies Kara for having rich grandparents- so they decide to swap places and spend the week pretending to be each other. Jessie stays with Kara's grandparents, pretending to be Kara and Kara stays with Jessie's grandmother, pretending she is Jessie. But wouldn't you know it, carrying off this scheme isn't as simple as the girls thought.
Both of the films in today's post are currently on Netflix, and let me just tell you now, if you're going to watch one, watch The Princess Switch. These are both cheesy films with ridiculous plots, but The Princess Switch is so much more likeable than this film.
Before I get into it, let me say that believe it or not, I don't actually hate this film. Much.
It's just something I never would have chosen to watch by myself, if it weren't for this blog and the fact that it has a similar premise to The Princess Switch (although the girls in this one aren't identical). While it's remarkably stupid in The Princess Switch that the two main characters fell in love in just two days, this film is more problematic.
For a start, I can't get my head around why Jessie wouldn't want to spend Christmas with her grandmother. I understand Kara's situation, as she sees her grandparents as the people who disowned her parents, so her idea of them is horrible. But Jessie's mother just died, and she doesn't really have any other family. If my mother died, and it turned out I had a female relative who wanted to welcome me into her home with open arms, in my grief I'd probably leap at the chance to connect with some kind of loving family member.
Additionally, both of these grandparents have invited the girls into their lives because they want to get to know them - how does it not occur to either girl that the grandparents would probably want to stay in touch and see each other more, after that? It seems like the whole point of both of their trips is to try and build an initial bond so that they will want to be a family again. It feels stupid that this was never even considered.
Also, the two girls switch suitcases so that they will have the other one's clothing, so that they may fit in with the other one's grandparents and their lifestyle. That seems kind of fair, but how are they both the same size? Does this mean they have to wear each others bras and underpants? Bras rarely fit properly when you try to buy them in your own size, let alone swapping with a strangers. There's also the good, solid point that wearing someone else's clothing, particularly underwear, is disgusting.
Let's look at the two different subplots, starting with Kara staying with Jessie's grandmother, father, cousins and uncle. This subplot was the better developed one, and actually somewhat enjoyable. Kara is the more likeable of the two leads, and part of me thinks that's down to character development, but honestly, I think Sierra McCormick is the better actress out of the two (they both have room for improvement, but a little less so for McCormick). She actually makes Kara a very sweet and well-rounded character, whether or not she's pretending to be Jessie. Her scenes in the film were more enjoyable, and this was aided by the fact that Jessie's family were nicer to spend time with than Kara's. While the acting and dialogue didn't often feel natural, this family seemed a bit closer to real people than Kara's grandparents did.
The second subplot, belonging to Jessie, is the real mess here. It's given less screentime (for the right reasons in many respects) but this part is so much worse.
Jessie has been sent to stay with Kara's grandmother and grandfather. She spends most of her time with Kara's controlling, snobbish grandmother, who is determined to turn "Kara" into a lady. The grandfather is supposed to be a good man, and blames his wife for driving Kara's father away, yet seems to make almost no effort to save Jessie as Kara from her, even as she suggests "Kara" is getting fat and that she isn't enough of a lady. All of these scenes were just a bit cringe-inducing.
Something that made me wince a bit is that they have a maid, who is black. Now, maybe there still are rich white folk who happen have black people amongst their staff, but they MAKE HER WEAR A UNIFORM. A proper 1960s style grey maids outfit with a white apron, that makes her look like a cast member of The Help.
It's their own home! Where do you even get a uniform for someone to wear in your own home? It's not a company. Let the lady wear what she wants - she's most likely an intelligent enough human to deduce what she should and shouldn't wear in this kind of environment.
Having said that, this maid is probably my favourite character in the whole thing. There's a scene where the family is having a big argument, and she just takes a glass of whisky into a corner, which she drinks while she watches the drama unfold. It's pretty funny.
The chemistry between the two girls is good, to the point where it's actually a problem. They never have any arguments between them, and forgive each other before they even realise there's anything to forgive. Real teenage girls are rarely so kind.
From the moment they first sit next to each other on their plane ride, they chat away with ease and great confidence. It doesn't feel at all natural, and this scene highlights that both girls have a little way to go in terms of acting skills. The main thing it brought to my attention is that the film is unaware about how real teenage girls would act in any of these circumstances. For the plane ride, at least one of them should be a bit awkward or shy, if only to begin with. As they talk on the plane, we find they have a ridiculous amount in common, but this doesn't amount to much, it just feels like a lazy tactic to show the audience how they were destined to meet and how well they get on with each other.
For the rest of the film, even when they're in trouble or they don't like something, they're too carefree about it, particularly Jessie. Kara does cry and stand up for herself and her family at times, whereas Kara is a rather bland slate.
Speaking of lazy writing, there were a couple of things that were mentioned in the film that were expected to come back again, but never did. Kara's grandmother buys "Kara" a gown to wear to a party, but after the ball, the grandmother donates it to a charity shop. Jessie's grandmother then buys the gown from the shop for Kara as Jessie to wear to the pageant that both Jessie and Kara are signed up for (sorry if this is confusing to read, I'm trying). Knowing that both girls and both sets of grandparents will be at the pageant, you would think that Kara's mean grandmother would spot "Jessie" in the ballgown. Both grandmother's despise each other, so you think it would be a good excuse for Kara's grandmother to humiliate Kara, and Jessie's grandmother for being so poor that they had to buy a secondhand dress. I was waiting for this major conflict to strike, but it never does. No one notices it, or calls any attention to it, so it's odd that they keep they bring back the dress in this way, for no reason.
The ending to this film has one of the most ridiculous plot twists I've seen, and I've watched Last Christmas. The first plot twist is easy to guess, but then the film gives us a second twist that is rather stunningly bad.
It ties everything up far too neatly, yet feels very cheap, making all of the grandparents look like horrible, stupid people and making everyone else look like naive, stupid people for keeping the grandparents in their lives afterwards. As an audience member, it's insulting to watch, particularly because we've endured almost two hours of this already.
To make it worse, the real ending of the film is a music video. Which brings me to a rather prominent, problematic feature of this film:
Both Kara and Jessie are supposed to be good singers, and they sing a few times throughout this film. I don't think they are though, because a ridiculous amount of autotune is drowning them out.
If you want a teenage girl who can act and sing, then fine, they're out there. So why cast actors you can't fully offer what the role requires of them?
To make things even weirder, they then get both of the dads to sing the rest of the song (they're both country singers apparently, in real life) but they have their voices autotuned to death too! EVEN WORSE, they mix in bloopers from the making of the film in with the daft, cringey music video, and the whole things just makes you go... why? So at what point did any belief we were supposed to have in this movie end, for us to cut directly to bloopers? Even the horrific mess that was The Kissing Booth knew that bloopers (even scripted ones) belong in the end credits, because as soon as names appear on the screen, you know the fictional world you've been in is over.
Also, I don't know if this is entirely down to the complete butchering of Christmas songs, but I didn't feel festive with this film at all. They should have just called it The Grandparent Trap and be done with it.
If you enjoy low budget, teen films with soap opera style twists, bad acting and autotuned country music, then maybe this is for you? Otherwise, there are a lot of other Christmas chick flicks out there - good ones and bad ones, but despite how rough this viewing was, this film is one I'm sure I'll thankfully forget.
Is this a chick flick or romance film for all? Pre-teen chick flick
Would I recommend this film? No
Rating: 2/10
Before you go, I want to give one last charity shoutout to end this series on a positive note. This weeks charity is The Little Princess Trust.
The Little Princess Trust is a charity that takes hair donations, and turns them into wigs for children and young adults with cancer, who have lost their hair through chemotherapy. They also make wigs to give children with hair loss conditions such as alopecia, and the funds they receive go towards research into stopping children from getting cancer. It's a great charity, and I recently donated some of my own hair to them:
Obviously, not everyone wants to give their hair away, but if you do happen to want a haircut, check the hair submission guidelines to see if your hair could help someone who needs it. Thank you.
