I kinda love how Uma Thurman booked such big roles early on, and now she can afford to put on a shitty southern accent and be the president of the United States in a gay gen z romcom. I really love that for her, slay queen 💅
@@XDAliyaXD As a Texan myself, it's off in the kind of way where it lands very close to the uncanny valley but not quite close enough to be uncomfortable. (I have only seen one scene so maybe it's more off in others)
fun fact my 91 year old grandfather asked me to watch this with him the day it came out. he loved it so much that he made me watch it again with him the next day. he is in red white & royal blue fan groups on facebook.
As a gay man born in 1950, I grew up in an era when the Hays movie code prohibited the use of the word "homosexual," any gay characters at best only hinted at (for men, a silent limp wrist gesture by others to indicate his status), were almost always the villain, and typically died at the end, often at their own hands. The first break in this wall of hostile silence was the movie, "Boys In The Band," a landmark in depicting a group of gay men interacting, not just one. Even though they were presented as a band of the most bitchy queens ever. Reading even just the reviews forced me further back in the closet. In my late teens, I did not personally know of any other gay man. I also did not know of one as presented in the media as someone I would want to hang on with, much less date. At the time, I read a newspaper article about a queer mass murderer (NOT John Wayne Gacy). The article contained a postage stamp-sized photo of the guy who appeared attractive enough, which I tore out and carried around in my wallet for several years as my only role model - how sick is that? The Stonewall riots passed me by unnoticed, with the NY Times carrying the story in the far back pages. (For years, official policy at that newspaper forbid their reporters from using the word "gay" instead of the medically-sounding term "homosexual.") My university library contained a total of three books on homosexuality, all of which condemn it as a sickness. Yet I memorized the spot on the library shelves where the books were, even though I was afraid to even go anywhere near that rack. I imaged everyone knew what was there and would spot me if I ventured toward there. However, a student Gay Liberation Front organization formed, only months after Stonewall, which had to met off campus in the chapel. But I was afraid to attend as I figured the bushes would be filled with straight people trying to catch sight of who was going to the meetings. Shortly after an unsuccessful suicide attempt (the pills were not enough, I merely woke up the next morning and was groggy for hours), I figured what did I have to lose. So I screwed up my courage to go to the local gay community center. This turned out to be a life-changing decision - I soon came out to all my friends, my sister, my parents, and the rest of even my far-flung relatives. I went on speaking engagements with others, lobbied at the state capitol, marched in the pride parade, happily got my picture in the newspaper. While my life changed radically for the better, the changes in the media were glacial. I remember when Time magazine shocked the nation with its 1975 cover of Leonard Matlovich, and the words "I am a homosexual." Positive depiction of gay characters begin to appear as minor characters in film and tv, although always in solo roles without any relationships shown. Brokeback Mountain was a great step forward for straight audiences, but for many of us, its death of the one character was all too familiar a way queer relationships were still being shown - and at what I and others could expect. Skipping forward to today, Red, White & Royal Blue was a light-year advance for its story that I could finally totally relate to - a live-action movie of a Disney fairytale style story, which for others have long been the staple of just about every Hollywood movie dating back to the earliest silent movies. Its cheesiness is perhaps, for me, which touches me so deeply, to the point of obsession. I tear up all through the movie, every time I watch it again (and again and again). I am glad that I can watch something like this for once in my lifetime.
i watched a deep dive on this and there is a social network fanfic with a similar premisse but it‘s not a straight up case of filing off the serial numbers and it‘s debateable whether mcquiston wrote that fanfic. the allegation is that they wrote it as fanfic and then published it as is but that‘s not the case. it‘s absolutely worth looking up tho.
I feel like everyone who hasn't read the book absolutely has to know that in the book alex gets flirted with by zendaya and joe kerry at the new years eve party
I honestly really loved the texting montage. So many shows and movies have no idea how to handle texting and face timing in their media and it ends up feeling clunky and weird. I thought the way they handled it was really interesting and unique
I loved it too! One of the things I love about McQuiston's books especially is you can tell that it's written by an actual person in their 20-30s and it's not written by someone older pretending like they're an adult in their 20s-30s. One of the things that always cracks me up are the texts/group chats. I think it's in one last stop where there's a discourse in the group chat about groceries and someone says to pick up broccoli and another character sarcastically exclaims that they are going to unalive themselves. It's the same vibes as the group chats between myself and my friends and it makes the story feel even more real to me, lol.
The most humbling aspect of my personality is that every single time I thoroughly enjoy a movie I look it up online just to find out that it's universally considered the worst movie of all time
okay i need to explain the sister thing from the book perspective lmaooo. alex does have a sister! her name is june and she was cut from the movie. in the book, june is the one who hooks up w the reporter, not alex, so alex has a whole bisexual awakening in the book (he had a v brief flirtation with his best friend liam in high school but like did not compute it, there's a whole scene in the book where alex calls liam and asks "was our friendship a little gay?" and liam is straight up "i cannot believe you are just having this epiphany, we kissed multiple times and watched porn together" ) other fun facts: the reporter does not leak the texts/emails in the book, the republican candidate for president's campaign does (super scandal!!) also, it is heavily implied in the book that june, nora and pez are a throuple.
It's after the karaoke scene in the book when they go back to the hotel! It's mentioned that June, Nora and Pez all go back to the same hotel room and all look disheveled and pleased with themselves the morning after lol@@laowyn4414
@@laowyn4414 its in the Paris super six moments at the bar and the state of the room and there three of them the morning after. in your defense, Alex seems to oblivious to it and it's in his POV so....
Actually, it is implied that the movie isn't set in a world where Hillary won, but instead in an alternative universe where Queen Victoria never existed, as Henry's last name is stated to be Hanover-Stuart. When Victoria became queen, the royal house went from Hanover to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, so in order for Henry's last name to be Hanover-Stuart, not only did Victoria have to never become queen, but Hanover line would have had to married back into the house of Stuart, the deposed Catholic line of the royal family.
@@AnxietyRat unsure if this is the actual reasoning but I kinda just assumed they did it since it's pretty identical to "mountbatten-windsor" (the actual royal family's 'surname')
@@jjpopez Probably. I don't think anyone who is involved with the movie has explicitly explained why they changed Henry's last name but yeah that explanation makes the most sense, for sure.
There's a scene in the movie where the two leads make direct reference to Queen Victoria and her reign, so I don't think this is true, at least for the movie. Can't speak on the book because I can't recall if that dialogue is the same.
Queen Victoria is mentioned in the movie. Presumably, the point of divergence is that either she marries a Stuart instead of Prince Albert, OR in 1917 George V decides to combine the names of two prior dynasties instead of making a new one.
I was baffled when she said, and then he goes back to America... what? BACK? We are in the UK? Guns are illegal in the UK... So like how... what... why... what?!
Not to get serious on main but: I can't name a single mainstream queer romcom which focuses on the actual relationship of the main pair and not their fear or struggle, I would say this was very much needed, even if there were really great aspects of the book that i wish were included Like we need gay uncomplicated nonsense too
This is why I consume mainly Japanese media. They have variety there, including for their gay stuff. From the realistic struggles to the wholesome daily life fluff. Also, LGBT x food is a thing there, so many fiction works about LGBT characters who like to cook/eat.
i think a lot of people hate heartstopper because 'its cringe' when its just two teenage boys finding their way together through high school. idk why all queer media has to be serious or sad, we deserve to see happy endings too lmao
@@shizukunoseija8048 I'm sorry for intruding in this discussion but do you have recommendations? I love media around food and I'd love some LGBT x food fiction to broaden my ever growing list of things to check out!
I’m begging you to read the book because it’s the exact same vibes but the characters are so much better it’s truly gold (book Alex does have a sister she’s just not chief of staff and she’s amazing)
@@uncarleyplease do! The characters all had so much more depth in the novel and the lack of that in the movie is probably why it just didn’t click for me. I just skipped past any of the politics bits in the novel because I don’t understand American politics at all (and also don’t care about them too much tbh).
@@uncarley you absolutely have to and then i need you to break down the book coz it's not just like 100000 times better characters, it's also got comic gold. P.S. The president does go to the royal wedding in the book
29:10 "And the press cares" made me laugh. partially because i'm gonna be honest, if i learned hunter biden and prince harry were hooking up, i would 100% tune into that news story. i would want to know the details for sure.
This made me cackle, I am not even a constituent of the UK and the US but I'd tune in for sure. 😳 Because oh my oh my... juicy. 200% supporting them. Reporting that reddit post though.
at least once a day I think to myself “he kissed me in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football". What a wild line!! Also I need people to know that in the original book Henry is a Remus Lupin is gay truther (it was changed in never versions because of JK transphobia).
@@pratikshabaruah3105 "Bram Stoker was gay as the day is long, and that Dracula is essentially a work of queer erotica" which tbh the remus lupin line will always go hard
red white and royal blue is one of my pms movies. nothing like a blanket, a beer and 2 hours of gay nonsense while my uterus is trying to escape my body and i hate everyone and everything
i've never related to anything more in my life. like i felt this on a spiritual level (besides the beer im underaged, but replace it with a good lemonade)
The fact that the "chief of staff" character is actually a combination of two characters from the book, one of which IS Alex's sister, so you were actually right 😂 this book and film are a fever dream
- In the book Alex actually had a sister that they cut out - Alex had a ummm…slightly queer experience in college that he didn’t discuss with the guy and he thinks he couldn’t be gay because “that was how how horny teenage best friends were sometimes” (yes I did go look for it because I have to be right always) -in the book the politics feel a LITTLE more realistic because you hear about Alex’s dreams of being a politician and he doesn’t actually have much power and works with a queer congressman as like a mentor mentee relationship - one thing I love about book Henry is his passion for historical figures and how they either could have been queer and he’s just so gay and himself with Alex (They also pass “queer” they were besties romantic quotes from history and it’s super adorable)
I've read somewhere that the texting montage is supposed to show them getting closer, so that's why there's this gradual transition from texting to being in the same room.
Honestly, registering more voters (and helping people get to the polls) would probably help Texas lean more blue. The state is already surprisingly purple.
19:34 Alex actully had a friends with benifits in highschool in the book but assumed it was just two bros being bro and doing 'stuff' together the friend is replaced with migeal in the movie
My fav part of this movie is a swath of the internet finding out that gays can have sex while facing each other lmao. The people reacting to that sex scene like "wait wtf, doesn't it have to be from behind?" sent me into the stratosphere.
I read the book and I thought it was sooo entertaining and it felt just like reading a very good fic. I think the movie is highly enjoyable too, but they had to cut a few things that could have made it better (like Alex's sister and his obsessive relationship with college). I also wished it was longer because sometimes it felt like there were scenes missing (there were)! At the end of the day you can see that the budget for the movie was not very high, but they were still able to make something cute out of it.
I’m taking a class this semester about foreign politics and we have to read a book, literally any book no matter the genre or subject, and do an essay on it for our final, coincidentally I’m reading this book right now and I have the chance to do the funniest thing…
The whole Alex doing speeches. In the film, he’s given the permission to run a campaign in Texas. For campaigns like a presidential one, there multiple managers for each state. Alex wanted to be assigned campaign manager for Texas. Also he’s the presidents son. So for running a campaign for his mother it’s a great idea for him to be leading rallies and community events. Rallies are for people like him to do big ol speeches to convince Americans why they should vote for their cause.
I told my (now ex) friend that I wasnt gonna watch this movie and she said in a really judgemental tone "....well would you watch it if it was about two WOMEN?" Like yes, Sarah, I would have.
27:22 im sorry but if i told someone i love you and they start SWMMING AWAY while i watch, you will literally never see me again i might as well drown lmaooo that scene is hilarious
it’s especially funny bc Austin DOESNT EVEN HAVE SOUTHERN ACCENTS!! most austinites do not have southern accents, this is known information about Austin specifically! make her from Dallas or something at least 😭😭
I actually woke up in the middle of the night with hot flashes and my heart beating really fast which makes me pretty anxious so when she asked “how are you doing” and I thought to myself “kinda anxious actually” and the response was “yikesss” it made me giggle a lot
One of the funniest parts in the movie is after Henry goes back after Alex tells him that he loves him. When Alex shows up and they're having the fallout in Henry's room. There are butlers and people on the staff who work at this mansion and these two are just yelling at each other openly and it's like they would hear you it's not a secret if the whole staff knows.
in the book it's even more iconic, literally one of the best lines is when alex calls henry an "obtuse fucking asshole" and i kept waiting for that in the movie but they omitted it??
As far as the texting/emails/facetime: in the book, one of the most notable things is the amount of emails and text messages they exchange the months leading up to New Years and then see their relationship evolve, after. Honestly, the movies portrayed maybe 10% of what they wrote to each other. Loved your review! It’s my comfort watch where I get to travel to an alternate reality where reason doesn’t exist haha
I love love love this movie! For me the magical realism works well in the face time scene, really shows how comfortable they are getting around each other 😊
I am not kidding, there are not enough words in the English language to express the pure, unadulterated joy I feel when I watch this movie. I love it so much. It was the movie we, as a society, deserved. Rom Coms used to make me feel something, and this movie showed me that I will feel again.
carley please i'm begging for you to read the book! It's just like the movie except a lot more scenes! Also, in the books Alex had hooked up with a classmate in high school and then thought nothing of it so when he's having his bi panic he calls up that friend just to confirm whether what they did was gay or not (it was definitely very gay, and the classmate is not very impressed with Alex for not having caught that). Also in the books he's literally begging his mother to be more involved in the election campaign and he's doing a degree in some sort of political thing so it's very relevant for his degree, which kind of excuses his involvement a little bit. (Also also his mother makes a powerpoint when she finds out about him and Henry and that scene lives rentfree in my head)
"A human being makes mistakes, and it is those mistakes that make us beautiful." That is the best recovery I have seen on UA-cam. Thank you, and thanks for a truly funny video about a film I love. "We still have to flip Texas, baby!" So true, so damn true, today and every day. BTW, a couple references to Dallas in the video should be to Austin, TX.
the first time i came in contact with this story was when i was sick with the flu and sat around home all day with nothing to do, so i got the german version audiobook from the library and listened to it and not only reading but *listening* to the sex scenes in my mother language permanently scarred me
you are the personification of internet culture and I mean that with all its facades and stuff, but it's a compliment. you are an unhinged queen, and I wholeheartedly agree with your statement: fucking entertain us, we don't need yet another quirky, 'different', independent film that's so artsy, raising awareness on issues we have all heard about. GIVE ME EYE CANDY AND A MID PLOT AND AN UNCARLEY VIDEO DISSECTING IT
The irony of this dystopian book/movie is that in recent years, people from California and New York are moving to red states. So, in the present or near future, Texas could be purple or blue. This is mindblowing, but it would not be the first time that fiction (book, movie, tv show, reality tv, etc) becomes reality.
in all seriousness i appreciate this video so much bc it finally made me realize that so much of the changes from the book were a mistake and probably just confused people 😭
here's the deal. I absolutely love the book, for no other reason that it makes me happy, the characters are actually worth investing time in, and that if it were biologically possible to create a perfect blend of (book) henry and alex's dna then the product would be me. (also yes i am a basic bitch. sue me) so on first watch i hated the movie with a burning passion coz they pretty much took anything of substance from the book and went "NOPE!" while making the movie. so it's all romp and no brain (which is fine but yeah) but i rewatched it recently and it is honestly one of the best things to watch if you 1. don't wanna use your brain to "absorb" cinema (coz let's be real no one wants to do that 24/7) 2. are also feeling a little bit frisky but don't wanna go through the physical labour of masturbating.
this is exactly my thoughts on this movie. as someone who absolutely loves the book, any kind of media that they will give me I will eat up just because the book is so good. was the movie great - on the typical cinematic standards, not really - but it was so fun and it brought back the feelings I had when I first read the book
the rwrb book has its quirks and a general fanfictiony vibe but it's genuinely an incredible and moving book. the movie... we all know what the movie is
for the record the book actually addresses the whole stolen artifacts thing and it's a whole thing where henry's mom when he was a kid was like "i think we should give these back, but your gran says no" and it's very deep and meaningful about how the grandparents are keeping henry trapped etc etc
The one party scene you liked because they actually had extras in it had me so mad when I was watching it because you would think that the White House has multiple ballrooms and grand rooms for hosting parties instead of having a sad little pavilion on the lawn in the middle of a Washington DC winter 😭like they coulda reused the Radison room from the other scene but added an American flag
The way people talk about this movie on god I thought it was something serious like Saving Private Ryan or Shawshank Redemption but gay. I swear I have heard it made people cry. Finding out that it’s basically gay Christmas Prince has shaken me to my core.
As someone who works at an embassy and is somewhat familiar to the way governments and protocol works, sending the son of the president without him being an ACTIVE part of the government IS NOT something that would happen (unless he's there WITH the president). If the president, or vice-president could not be there, the minister of foreign affairs (that's the department of State in the US, I think) would be the best next person, and then the country's ACTUAL ambassador. It is not out of the question to have Alex and Nora invited, but they would have had to be invited as friends of the couple (or someone there) rather than representatives of the US.
i cannot believe you watched the whole movie thinking the chief of staff was alex's sister, but i love that we're stuck with that fact being sprinkled throughout this whole video. also love the implications that the whole world WOULDN'T be invested in the cake disaster or reveal of their relationship, like are you insane? (with love). that would be all over the news and every single one of my social media apps for weeks if not months
Thanks for letting me vicariously consume content through you. Saved me from the mid day existential crisis that usually follows consuming this level of camp.
I feel the lore and logic of the movie would work better in a fantasy world with two kingdoms with a tentative alliance, that would explain why the son of the leader would go to represent them in a ceremony instead of the leader, and why they would be desperate to fix things so it doesn't reflect badly on either kingdom.
the first 10-20 minutes of this movie feel like a low budget parody fever dream in which you don't understand if the movie's REALLY that weird or if it's just you. Eventually it gets it together and becomes a lot more serious though but boy does it give you some serious tonal whiplash.
I want bad gay movies. I want cheesy stories and romcoms with silly plots. I'm so tired of gay movies always being too heavy or too cult, most of the time made to be Oscarbait. I need dramatic movies like All of Us Strangers (which you should check out if you're looking for a quality movie), but I also need more light and fun like RWRB.
also, they don't really touch on this in the movie, but alex is like really into politics in the book and wants to be a politician. it's still kinda weird in the world building aspect that the son of the president would be helping with the campaign, but it makes a little more sense
this movie was so funbad that after i finished it for the first time i read the book and that was the first book i’d managed to finish in like 2 years. i NEED to stop trying to read house of leaves in the middle of a reading slump.
this movie is so special to me as a homosexual from Texas I was so giddy to see mentions of it and I was really distressed when they got forced outed. my gf had to reassure me it was okay quickly
The mention of this movie having constant lack of background extras now really makes me curious what's the budget for this movie. Like they can afford Uma Thurman, so I reckon they should be able to at least afford background extras too. They're not that expensive.
In the book, Alex had hooked up w the journalist and some guy named Liam. Agreed that the movie is very Riverdale-core, the acting and visuals seemed so bleh imo but the story is so fun.
@@uncarley no there’s no journalist in the book, just Liam who was his high school best friend. In the movie he’s pretty sure of his being bi already but in the book he was figuring it out in real time
I remember you mentioning this in another video but I never thought I’d actually get to see it, so thank you for bringing us RWRB (Carley’s Version) (From the Vault)! This movie was mindless fun and Alex and Henry were cute, but I watched it for the first time as part of a virtual group watch and me and one friend of mine know just enough about international and national (we’re American) politics that we found those subplots annoying, cuz they weren’t even somewhat plausible most of the time. 😅 Relatedly, as a token American I can answer the DNC question for you lol. You were right - like you said, presidents’ children will sometimes announce them/give a small speech prior to them coming up to speak (Chelsea Clinton did this in 2016!) but the actual speeches are generally left to the candidate and, earlier in the proceedings, another politician. I don’t know how the other politician gets chosen but it’s a solid way to get a lot of exposure - Obama’s speech at the 2004 DNC basically softlaunched his future campaign, and Cory Booker was originally one of the many contenders for the 2020 nomination after he got a lot of attention from his 2016 DNC speech and his strong stances against Trump. So Alex getting that slot doesn’t make a ton of sense unless he was explicitly trying to get involved in electoral politics. That said, I have no idea if the Trumps have done that for the RNC, so maybe it’s not entirely without precedent. 🤷♀️ Haven’t read the book so idk if things make more sense there.
the book goes into Alex’s political ambitions in more depth, he’s def super involved in electoral politics! but the movie kinda puts that on the backburner
I kinda love how Uma Thurman booked such big roles early on, and now she can afford to put on a shitty southern accent and be the president of the United States in a gay gen z romcom. I really love that for her, slay queen 💅
You have a really valid point, amazing couldn’t have word it out better 👏🏻
She’s just having fun and making coin, we love her ❤
I'm not a native speaker and I thought her accent was off. Glad to see it's confirmed 😅
@@XDAliyaXD fr, never set foot in America (though I am a native English speaker) and I could tell it was kinda funky ahhahah
@@XDAliyaXD As a Texan myself, it's off in the kind of way where it lands very close to the uncanny valley but not quite close enough to be uncomfortable. (I have only seen one scene so maybe it's more off in others)
fun fact my 91 year old grandfather asked me to watch this with him the day it came out. he loved it so much that he made me watch it again with him the next day. he is in red white & royal blue fan groups on facebook.
This is my favorite comment 🥹 your grandpa is a gem!
That’s so cute😭
I love this!
That is so cute oh my god
this is so wholesome omg
As a gay man born in 1950, I grew up in an era when the Hays movie code prohibited the use of the word "homosexual," any gay characters at best only hinted at (for men, a silent limp wrist gesture by others to indicate his status), were almost always the villain, and typically died at the end, often at their own hands.
The first break in this wall of hostile silence was the movie, "Boys In The Band," a landmark in depicting a group of gay men interacting, not just one. Even though they were presented as a band of the most bitchy queens ever. Reading even just the reviews forced me further back in the closet.
In my late teens, I did not personally know of any other gay man. I also did not know of one as presented in the media as someone I would want to hang on with, much less date. At the time, I read a newspaper article about a queer mass murderer (NOT John Wayne Gacy). The article contained a postage stamp-sized photo of the guy who appeared attractive enough, which I tore out and carried around in my wallet for several years as my only role model - how sick is that?
The Stonewall riots passed me by unnoticed, with the NY Times carrying the story in the far back pages. (For years, official policy at that newspaper forbid their reporters from using the word "gay" instead of the medically-sounding term "homosexual.")
My university library contained a total of three books on homosexuality, all of which condemn it as a sickness. Yet I memorized the spot on the library shelves where the books were, even though I was afraid to even go anywhere near that rack. I imaged everyone knew what was there and would spot me if I ventured toward there. However, a student Gay Liberation Front organization formed, only months after Stonewall, which had to met off campus in the chapel. But I was afraid to attend as I figured the bushes would be filled with straight people trying to catch sight of who was going to the meetings.
Shortly after an unsuccessful suicide attempt (the pills were not enough, I merely woke up the next morning and was groggy for hours), I figured what did I have to lose. So I screwed up my courage to go to the local gay community center. This turned out to be a life-changing decision - I soon came out to all my friends, my sister, my parents, and the rest of even my far-flung relatives. I went on speaking engagements with others, lobbied at the state capitol, marched in the pride parade, happily got my picture in the newspaper.
While my life changed radically for the better, the changes in the media were glacial. I remember when Time magazine shocked the nation with its 1975 cover of Leonard Matlovich, and the words "I am a homosexual." Positive depiction of gay characters begin to appear as minor characters in film and tv, although always in solo roles without any relationships shown. Brokeback Mountain was a great step forward for straight audiences, but for many of us, its death of the one character was all too familiar a way queer relationships were still being shown - and at what I and others could expect.
Skipping forward to today, Red, White & Royal Blue was a light-year advance for its story that I could finally totally relate to - a live-action movie of a Disney fairytale style story, which for others have long been the staple of just about every Hollywood movie dating back to the earliest silent movies. Its cheesiness is perhaps, for me, which touches me so deeply, to the point of obsession. I tear up all through the movie, every time I watch it again (and again and again). I am glad that I can watch something like this for once in my lifetime.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and THANK YOU for sticking around and not giving up!!!!
You are a very brave person ❤️
Thank you for sharing your story, it made me tear up ❤️
💙💙💙
❤❤❤
Thank you so so much for sharing your story, and I’m happy you are able to see media that proudly represents being queer
Never forget the rumour that this was based on a Social Network fanfic, even if it’s not true it means a lot to me
i will NEVER forget
Another Newsies fan who also knows/enjoys RWRB??? Amazing. I love your pfp
i'm pretty sure i've watched like an HOUR long video that deep dives into this rumour and this is why i love the internet
i watched a deep dive on this and there is a social network fanfic with a similar premisse but it‘s not a straight up case of filing off the serial numbers and it‘s debateable whether mcquiston wrote that fanfic. the allegation is that they wrote it as fanfic and then published it as is but that‘s not the case. it‘s absolutely worth looking up tho.
A new Roman empire 🫢
I feel like everyone who hasn't read the book absolutely has to know that in the book alex gets flirted with by zendaya and joe kerry at the new years eve party
LMAO i forgot about this
so lucky
God I wish I was him
i remember the zendaya scene but joe keery??
@@a_gnuest iirc it's something like "the girl from the new spiderman movie" and "the guy from stranger things"
"Im a hater, not a homophobe" is my new favorite quote
a t-shirt for carley with "I'm Just A Hater" on it would be great, it would go with her "they don't build statues to critics" t shirt :)
It’s just so true
@@auntyamelia6906 I think if you got a tshirt that said Im a hater, you would have to be more specific on the back.
I honestly really loved the texting montage. So many shows and movies have no idea how to handle texting and face timing in their media and it ends up feeling clunky and weird. I thought the way they handled it was really interesting and unique
I loved it too! One of the things I love about McQuiston's books especially is you can tell that it's written by an actual person in their 20-30s and it's not written by someone older pretending like they're an adult in their 20s-30s. One of the things that always cracks me up are the texts/group chats. I think it's in one last stop where there's a discourse in the group chat about groceries and someone says to pick up broccoli and another character sarcastically exclaims that they are going to unalive themselves. It's the same vibes as the group chats between myself and my friends and it makes the story feel even more real to me, lol.
honestly I miss watching cinemas just for fun, like no girl I don't need an Oscar worthy performance from u
i just need a fun time!
right? i hate when i say i like a movie and someone is like "that movie is terrible." okay and????????? i don't care 😭
@@maximumbees exactly not everything has to be Martin Scorsese-esque, just let me have my brain rot in peace 😭
The most humbling aspect of my personality is that every single time I thoroughly enjoy a movie I look it up online just to find out that it's universally considered the worst movie of all time
@@taylorg2320me w sucker punch smh
red white and royal blue is to cinema what mamma mia 2 was to culture
like yayy fun!! but why r we here yk
EXACTLY
this is such a good analogy omg
bc queer people need silly movies like straight people have been getting for years. it's about damn time.
We are here to have fun?
To look at the pretty boy leads?
That man JUMPED INTO THE WATER while he was confessing his love I would simply die on the spot
okay i need to explain the sister thing from the book perspective lmaooo. alex does have a sister! her name is june and she was cut from the movie. in the book, june is the one who hooks up w the reporter, not alex, so alex has a whole bisexual awakening in the book (he had a v brief flirtation with his best friend liam in high school but like did not compute it, there's a whole scene in the book where alex calls liam and asks "was our friendship a little gay?" and liam is straight up "i cannot believe you are just having this epiphany, we kissed multiple times and watched porn together" ) other fun facts: the reporter does not leak the texts/emails in the book, the republican candidate for president's campaign does (super scandal!!) also, it is heavily implied in the book that june, nora and pez are a throuple.
Wait how did I miss the bit about the throuple???
It's after the karaoke scene in the book when they go back to the hotel! It's mentioned that June, Nora and Pez all go back to the same hotel room and all look disheveled and pleased with themselves the morning after lol@@laowyn4414
@@laowyn4414 its in the Paris super six moments at the bar and the state of the room and there three of them the morning after. in your defense, Alex seems to oblivious to it and it's in his POV so....
@@deyneediariesi interpreted that as a casual threesome hookup rather than a throuple but it could work either work
@@laowyn4414also if you’ve ever read the bonus chapter from henry’s pov june and nora literally kiss but alex is clearly oblivious to it
Sensed a shift in the universe, opened the app, saw this. Thx queen
i got u
@@uncarley and you're an icon for that
Actually, it is implied that the movie isn't set in a world where Hillary won, but instead in an alternative universe where Queen Victoria never existed, as Henry's last name is stated to be Hanover-Stuart. When Victoria became queen, the royal house went from Hanover to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, so in order for Henry's last name to be Hanover-Stuart, not only did Victoria have to never become queen, but Hanover line would have had to married back into the house of Stuart, the deposed Catholic line of the royal family.
His last name is actually slightly different in the book. I honestly don't really know why they changed it in the movie... but they did. 🤷♀️
@@AnxietyRat unsure if this is the actual reasoning but I kinda just assumed they did it since it's pretty identical to "mountbatten-windsor" (the actual royal family's 'surname')
@@jjpopez Probably. I don't think anyone who is involved with the movie has explicitly explained why they changed Henry's last name but yeah that explanation makes the most sense, for sure.
There's a scene in the movie where the two leads make direct reference to Queen Victoria and her reign, so I don't think this is true, at least for the movie. Can't speak on the book because I can't recall if that dialogue is the same.
Queen Victoria is mentioned in the movie. Presumably, the point of divergence is that either she marries a Stuart instead of Prince Albert, OR in 1917 George V decides to combine the names of two prior dynasties instead of making a new one.
15:45 carley not telling us how the children’s hospital active shooter transpired or concluded is so americacore
OH its not an shooter lol 😂 just an idiotic kid with like a firework
ended up just being fireworks!
I was baffled when she said, and then he goes back to America... what? BACK? We are in the UK? Guns are illegal in the UK... So like how... what... why... what?!
It’s the fact that it’s a hospital in England that makes this whole scenario even more like wtf is going on
They did tell us how it inspired, kinda lol it was fireworks.
Not to get serious on main but: I can't name a single mainstream queer romcom which focuses on the actual relationship of the main pair and not their fear or struggle, I would say this was very much needed, even if there were really great aspects of the book that i wish were included
Like we need gay uncomplicated nonsense too
This is why I consume mainly Japanese media. They have variety there, including for their gay stuff. From the realistic struggles to the wholesome daily life fluff. Also, LGBT x food is a thing there, so many fiction works about LGBT characters who like to cook/eat.
@@shizukunoseija8048 I just read fanfiction for my needs lol
i think a lot of people hate heartstopper because 'its cringe' when its just two teenage boys finding their way together through high school. idk why all queer media has to be serious or sad, we deserve to see happy endings too lmao
@@shizukunoseija8048 I'm sorry for intruding in this discussion but do you have recommendations? I love media around food and I'd love some LGBT x food fiction to broaden my ever growing list of things to check out!
YES sometimes I just want queer fluff !! The struggle is fine to show definetly but sometimes I just want a love story how straight people get theirs.
I’m begging you to read the book because it’s the exact same vibes but the characters are so much better it’s truly gold (book Alex does have a sister she’s just not chief of staff and she’s amazing)
omg maybe i have to
omg book review when
@@uncarleyplease do! The characters all had so much more depth in the novel and the lack of that in the movie is probably why it just didn’t click for me. I just skipped past any of the politics bits in the novel because I don’t understand American politics at all (and also don’t care about them too much tbh).
@@uncarleybook Alex has a sister called June who is queer and Pez, June and Nora are in a relationship. The book is hilarious
@@uncarley you absolutely have to and then i need you to break down the book coz it's not just like 100000 times better characters, it's also got comic gold.
P.S. The president does go to the royal wedding in the book
29:10 "And the press cares" made me laugh. partially because i'm gonna be honest, if i learned hunter biden and prince harry were hooking up, i would 100% tune into that news story. i would want to know the details for sure.
This made me cackle, I am not even a constituent of the UK and the US but I'd tune in for sure. 😳 Because oh my oh my... juicy.
200% supporting them. Reporting that reddit post though.
at least once a day I think to myself “he kissed me in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and football". What a wild line!! Also I need people to know that in the original book Henry is a Remus Lupin is gay truther (it was changed in never versions because of JK transphobia).
wait what? what was it changed to? did they just remove that part?
@@pratikshabaruah3105 "Bram Stoker was gay as the day is long, and that Dracula is essentially a work of queer erotica" which tbh the remus lupin line will always go hard
red white and royal blue is one of my pms movies. nothing like a blanket, a beer and 2 hours of gay nonsense while my uterus is trying to escape my body and i hate everyone and everything
i've never related to anything more in my life. like i felt this on a spiritual level
(besides the beer im underaged, but replace it with a good lemonade)
first day of my period, a gin&tonic in hand and just watched the movie for the first time. i guess it will become a tradition, then
this is so real
The fact that the "chief of staff" character is actually a combination of two characters from the book, one of which IS Alex's sister, so you were actually right 😂 this book and film are a fever dream
A Hallmark-esque movie with camp as an ingredient... never underestimate low-brow
exactly it's the best
@@uncarley I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it😄. Do enjoy the rest of the week
"my job contributes nothing to society" yeah but your Glee recap contributed to my mental health and overall vibes
This is almost as good as Shrek 2 being re-released
YES
“How are you doing?”
“I’m getting ready for therapy”
“…yikes”
Thanks Carley
hahahaha sorry
i said "awful"
I said "Intrusive thoughts" and felt so seen
- In the book Alex actually had a sister that they cut out
- Alex had a ummm…slightly queer experience in college that he didn’t discuss with the guy and he thinks he couldn’t be gay because “that was how how horny teenage best friends were sometimes” (yes I did go look for it because I have to be right always)
-in the book the politics feel a LITTLE more realistic because you hear about Alex’s dreams of being a politician and he doesn’t actually have much power and works with a queer congressman as like a mentor mentee relationship
- one thing I love about book Henry is his passion for historical figures and how they either could have been queer and he’s just so gay and himself with Alex
(They also pass “queer” they were besties romantic quotes from history and it’s super adorable)
I've read somewhere that the texting montage is supposed to show them getting closer, so that's why there's this gradual transition from texting to being in the same room.
Honestly, registering more voters (and helping people get to the polls) would probably help Texas lean more blue. The state is already surprisingly purple.
Yeah, it's been working in Georgia (thank you Stacey Abrams, queen)
Its been red since 1964.Since LBJ.
i legitimately cried when texas flipped blue in the book and again in the movie bc i live in texas lmao
Uma Thurman going full Benoit Blanc gave me life!
i've been on that girl historians grindset and now when i hop on to watch your videos i feel like i'm watching a work presentation
hahahaha fair
The texting sequence was my favorite, absolutely brilliant choice imo
It was reduced from the book, my only disappointment.
19:34 Alex actully had a friends with benifits in highschool in the book but assumed it was just two bros being bro and doing 'stuff' together
the friend is replaced with migeal in the movie
it's so sad they left that out, because the scene in which alex calls him up to ask whether what they did in high school was gay was hysterical
My fav part of this movie is a swath of the internet finding out that gays can have sex while facing each other lmao. The people reacting to that sex scene like "wait wtf, doesn't it have to be from behind?" sent me into the stratosphere.
I read the book and I thought it was sooo entertaining and it felt just like reading a very good fic. I think the movie is highly enjoyable too, but they had to cut a few things that could have made it better (like Alex's sister and his obsessive relationship with college). I also wished it was longer because sometimes it felt like there were scenes missing (there were)! At the end of the day you can see that the budget for the movie was not very high, but they were still able to make something cute out of it.
I’m taking a class this semester about foreign politics and we have to read a book, literally any book no matter the genre or subject, and do an essay on it for our final, coincidentally I’m reading this book right now and I have the chance to do the funniest thing…
Did you do it 👀
@@nepohs I just had to.
@@startlestarfish you're my hero
@@nepohs omg
@@startlestarfish i cant believe no one has asked yet but did ur prof like it lol if ur comfortable can u say what grade u got 👀
what’s great is that the book is even more wild than the movie
The movie had to fly past the polo scene so fast and that made me soooo sad lmao
Red, White, and Royal Blue movie was gay hallmark 🌈 I hoped it would be closer to the book, but it was so much fun.
as a midwestern gay & uma thurman stan you got my attention. *also the song uma thurman by fall out boy honorable mention*
Omg thank you, I think about fob every time I see uma Thurman
I can’t tell if you intentionally said honourable mention in reference to the song but yeah both songs slap
The whole Alex doing speeches. In the film, he’s given the permission to run a campaign in Texas. For campaigns like a presidential one, there multiple managers for each state. Alex wanted to be assigned campaign manager for Texas. Also he’s the presidents son. So for running a campaign for his mother it’s a great idea for him to be leading rallies and community events. Rallies are for people like him to do big ol speeches to convince Americans why they should vote for their cause.
“We can have a little bit of Stephen Fry as a treat”
I told my (now ex) friend that I wasnt gonna watch this movie and she said in a really judgemental tone "....well would you watch it if it was about two WOMEN?" Like yes, Sarah, I would have.
and i would've enjoyed it more too lmao
27:22 im sorry but if i told someone i love you and they start SWMMING AWAY while i watch, you will literally never see me again i might as well drown lmaooo that scene is hilarious
I love that Ellen is supposed to be from Austin, but she has a full-on tidewater accent instead of anything you'd find in any part of Texas.
it’s especially funny bc Austin DOESNT EVEN HAVE SOUTHERN ACCENTS!! most austinites do not have southern accents, this is known information about Austin specifically! make her from Dallas or something at least 😭😭
I actually woke up in the middle of the night with hot flashes and my heart beating really fast which makes me pretty anxious so when she asked “how are you doing” and I thought to myself “kinda anxious actually” and the response was “yikesss” it made me giggle a lot
“it just feels odd” is just so.. accurate. for so many pieces of media. they just feel --- odd.
nicholas galitzine's queer cinematic universe has better storytelling than marvel idgaf
Fr he went from being homophobic and racist in Purple Hearts to being a gay icon in RWRB
He's straight in real life. It was only after he did a straight role that he felt guilty about it. Ill let it slide.
@@ShamaD274 oh, that's not the start, Handsome Devil was way before that, and it's sooo good!
President Uma Thurman. That’s my reality
MY president
UMA THURMAN FOR PRESIDENT.
@@uncarley Wielding a sword, ala Kill Bill.
society collapsed the moment you said President Uma Thurman
MY PRESIDENT
One of the funniest parts in the movie is after Henry goes back after Alex tells him that he loves him. When Alex shows up and they're having the fallout in Henry's room. There are butlers and people on the staff who work at this mansion and these two are just yelling at each other openly and it's like they would hear you it's not a secret if the whole staff knows.
in the book it's even more iconic, literally one of the best lines is when alex calls henry an "obtuse fucking asshole" and i kept waiting for that in the movie but they omitted it??
rwrb is the queer princess switch movies
YESSS
"i'm a hater, not a homophobe." truly iconic line that had me snorting
As far as the texting/emails/facetime: in the book, one of the most notable things is the amount of emails and text messages they exchange the months leading up to New Years and then see their relationship evolve, after. Honestly, the movies portrayed maybe 10% of what they wrote to each other.
Loved your review! It’s my comfort watch where I get to travel to an alternate reality where reason doesn’t exist haha
you have blessed me like an overlord with this review i'm so stoked
always bestie
I love love love this movie! For me the magical realism works well in the face time scene, really shows how comfortable they are getting around each other 😊
i watched this movie a horrifyingly amount of times, just bc it disconnected me from reality
its PERFECT from disconnecting from reality
just paused my rewatch of ur other videos (my mental health is in the trenches haha) to immediately click on the notification for this 💅
omg so kind
A 9 hour deep dive on RWRB is a beautiful legacy to have.
I am not kidding, there are not enough words in the English language to express the pure, unadulterated joy I feel when I watch this movie. I love it so much. It was the movie we, as a society, deserved. Rom Coms used to make me feel something, and this movie showed me that I will feel again.
carley please i'm begging for you to read the book! It's just like the movie except a lot more scenes! Also, in the books Alex had hooked up with a classmate in high school and then thought nothing of it so when he's having his bi panic he calls up that friend just to confirm whether what they did was gay or not (it was definitely very gay, and the classmate is not very impressed with Alex for not having caught that). Also in the books he's literally begging his mother to be more involved in the election campaign and he's doing a degree in some sort of political thing so it's very relevant for his degree, which kind of excuses his involvement a little bit. (Also also his mother makes a powerpoint when she finds out about him and Henry and that scene lives rentfree in my head)
"A human being makes mistakes, and it is those mistakes that make us beautiful." That is the best recovery I have seen on UA-cam. Thank you, and thanks for a truly funny video about a film I love.
"We still have to flip Texas, baby!" So true, so damn true, today and every day. BTW, a couple references to Dallas in the video should be to Austin, TX.
I think Carley is allowed to make up a sister character once per video just to keep us on our toes
THANK YOU
if fact, Alex have a sister in the book so she's not completely wrong. lol
There was a sister but the movie erased her 😭
@@uncarley fr, only the book babes would notice
Tbf Alex had a sister but they simple “removed” her 👏
the first time i came in contact with this story was when i was sick with the flu and sat around home all day with nothing to do, so i got the german version audiobook from the library and listened to it and not only reading but *listening* to the sex scenes in my mother language permanently scarred me
I liked the way they did the texting. it was unique and I wished it was longer.
you are the personification of internet culture and I mean that with all its facades and stuff, but it's a compliment. you are an unhinged queen, and I wholeheartedly agree with your statement: fucking entertain us, we don't need yet another quirky, 'different', independent film that's so artsy, raising awareness on issues we have all heard about. GIVE ME EYE CANDY AND A MID PLOT AND AN UNCARLEY VIDEO DISSECTING IT
You could tell me literally anything and it won't change my love for this lil joint. It was there for me at my lowest last summer
just woke up while sleeping at work to a new uncarley vid; life is good
omg hi
The irony of this dystopian book/movie is that in recent years, people from California and New York are moving to red states. So, in the present or near future, Texas could be purple or blue. This is mindblowing, but it would not be the first time that fiction (book, movie, tv show, reality tv, etc) becomes reality.
in all seriousness i appreciate this video so much bc it finally made me realize that so much of the changes from the book were a mistake and probably just confused people 😭
here's the deal. I absolutely love the book, for no other reason that it makes me happy, the characters are actually worth investing time in, and that if it were biologically possible to create a perfect blend of (book) henry and alex's dna then the product would be me. (also yes i am a basic bitch. sue me)
so on first watch i hated the movie with a burning passion coz they pretty much took anything of substance from the book and went "NOPE!" while making the movie. so it's all romp and no brain (which is fine but yeah)
but i rewatched it recently and it is honestly one of the best things to watch if you
1. don't wanna use your brain to "absorb" cinema (coz let's be real no one wants to do that 24/7)
2. are also feeling a little bit frisky but don't wanna go through the physical labour of masturbating.
Oh my god. "Feeling a bit frisky but don't want to go through the physical labour of masturbating" is the best sentence I've ever read
I'm laughing pretty hard at #2...but also, point made :D
just carley doing the society a favour by making critical masterpiece reviews
hahahaa thank you
this is exactly my thoughts on this movie. as someone who absolutely loves the book, any kind of media that they will give me I will eat up just because the book is so good. was the movie great - on the typical cinematic standards, not really - but it was so fun and it brought back the feelings I had when I first read the book
the rwrb book has its quirks and a general fanfictiony vibe but it's genuinely an incredible and moving book. the movie... we all know what the movie is
The most unbelievable and offensive part for me was that Texas turned blue but also Minnesota turned red? As a Minnesotan I was fuming
homophobic QUEEN Stephen Fry is the bestest funniest thing about this movie and you should absolutely watch it for this cameo i swear
for the record the book actually addresses the whole stolen artifacts thing and it's a whole thing where henry's mom when he was a kid was like "i think we should give these back, but your gran says no" and it's very deep and meaningful about how the grandparents are keeping henry trapped etc etc
The one party scene you liked because they actually had extras in it had me so mad when I was watching it because you would think that the White House has multiple ballrooms and grand rooms for hosting parties instead of having a sad little pavilion on the lawn in the middle of a Washington DC winter 😭like they coulda reused the Radison room from the other scene but added an American flag
I read that vulture article and cried laughing. I love this movie sm its the purest experience of watching fanfiction
The way people talk about this movie on god I thought it was something serious like Saving Private Ryan or Shawshank Redemption but gay. I swear I have heard it made people cry. Finding out that it’s basically gay Christmas Prince has shaken me to my core.
Well, you seem a bit wobbly to start. Some people react differently than you do. I hate to shock you like that. But is true.
I cried a lot
"go evil gay reporter!" Sent me to space and I'm currently falling back down 🤣
I love watching your videos when I'm tired of thinking too much. It helps me cope w depression thanks
this is officially my favorite romcom of all time. i have watched it 8 times. yass.
As someone who works at an embassy and is somewhat familiar to the way governments and protocol works, sending the son of the president without him being an ACTIVE part of the government IS NOT something that would happen (unless he's there WITH the president). If the president, or vice-president could not be there, the minister of foreign affairs (that's the department of State in the US, I think) would be the best next person, and then the country's ACTUAL ambassador.
It is not out of the question to have Alex and Nora invited, but they would have had to be invited as friends of the couple (or someone there) rather than representatives of the US.
i cannot believe you watched the whole movie thinking the chief of staff was alex's sister, but i love that we're stuck with that fact being sprinkled throughout this whole video. also love the implications that the whole world WOULDN'T be invested in the cake disaster or reveal of their relationship, like are you insane? (with love). that would be all over the news and every single one of my social media apps for weeks if not months
and she's BACK!! (so excited to rewatch what at this point feels like a dreamt up video)
Literally was just rewatching your After series to feel something. Thank you legend 🩷
omg thank u
Thanks for letting me vicariously consume content through you. Saved me from the mid day existential crisis that usually follows consuming this level of camp.
omg this is so kind
Oh the book vids are back when we needed them most 🙌
in a way girly
I stand corrected 💀@@uncarley
"How are you doing"
"You know, got hit by a bike today"
"Yikes"
"My thoughts exactly" 😂
I feel the lore and logic of the movie would work better in a fantasy world with two kingdoms with a tentative alliance, that would explain why the son of the leader would go to represent them in a ceremony instead of the leader, and why they would be desperate to fix things so it doesn't reflect badly on either kingdom.
the first 10-20 minutes of this movie feel like a low budget parody fever dream in which you don't understand if the movie's REALLY that weird or if it's just you. Eventually it gets it together and becomes a lot more serious though but boy does it give you some serious tonal whiplash.
I want bad gay movies. I want cheesy stories and romcoms with silly plots. I'm so tired of gay movies always being too heavy or too cult, most of the time made to be Oscarbait.
I need dramatic movies like All of Us Strangers (which you should check out if you're looking for a quality movie), but I also need more light and fun like RWRB.
also, they don't really touch on this in the movie, but alex is like really into politics in the book and wants to be a politician. it's still kinda weird in the world building aspect that the son of the president would be helping with the campaign, but it makes a little more sense
Bedtime got delayed by 33 minutes
this movie was so funbad that after i finished it for the first time i read the book and that was the first book i’d managed to finish in like 2 years. i NEED to stop trying to read house of leaves in the middle of a reading slump.
this movie is so special to me as a homosexual from Texas I was so giddy to see mentions of it and I was really distressed when they got forced outed. my gf had to reassure me it was okay quickly
it's such a treat to see how non-book nerds react to adaptations missing half the context. love it.
The mention of this movie having constant lack of background extras now really makes me curious what's the budget for this movie. Like they can afford Uma Thurman, so I reckon they should be able to at least afford background extras too. They're not that expensive.
In the book, Alex had hooked up w the journalist and some guy named Liam. Agreed that the movie is very Riverdale-core, the acting and visuals seemed so bleh imo but the story is so fun.
omg what??
@@uncarley no there’s no journalist in the book, just Liam who was his high school best friend. In the movie he’s pretty sure of his being bi already but in the book he was figuring it out in real time
"How are you doing"
"My mom just left me in the Costco parking lot and im waiting for my dad to pick me up."
"Yikes"
Smh carley
I remember you mentioning this in another video but I never thought I’d actually get to see it, so thank you for bringing us RWRB (Carley’s Version) (From the Vault)!
This movie was mindless fun and Alex and Henry were cute, but I watched it for the first time as part of a virtual group watch and me and one friend of mine know just enough about international and national (we’re American) politics that we found those subplots annoying, cuz they weren’t even somewhat plausible most of the time. 😅
Relatedly, as a token American I can answer the DNC question for you lol. You were right - like you said, presidents’ children will sometimes announce them/give a small speech prior to them coming up to speak (Chelsea Clinton did this in 2016!) but the actual speeches are generally left to the candidate and, earlier in the proceedings, another politician. I don’t know how the other politician gets chosen but it’s a solid way to get a lot of exposure - Obama’s speech at the 2004 DNC basically softlaunched his future campaign, and Cory Booker was originally one of the many contenders for the 2020 nomination after he got a lot of attention from his 2016 DNC speech and his strong stances against Trump. So Alex getting that slot doesn’t make a ton of sense unless he was explicitly trying to get involved in electoral politics. That said, I have no idea if the Trumps have done that for the RNC, so maybe it’s not entirely without precedent. 🤷♀️ Haven’t read the book so idk if things make more sense there.
the book goes into Alex’s political ambitions in more depth, he’s def super involved in electoral politics! but the movie kinda puts that on the backburner