ION Television has made some good Christmas movies over the years, for example, Best Christmas Ball Ever (a very good Christmas movie), A Christmas Kiss, A Christmas Kiss II, and The Spruces & the Pines. Unfortunately, this movie is not one of them. The writer here draws on a very popular plot device: deception and mistaken identity. This year alone, we have seen make-believe relationships (in, e.g., Holidate, Midnight at the Magnolia, and Happiest Season), princess switches (in The Princess Switch: Switched Again), fake five-star bed and breakfast staff (in Five Star Christmas), and fake company executives (in If I Only Had Christmas). This movie uses the classic 'incognito royals': the royal (usually a prince) pretends to be a 'commoner' and ends up falling in love with one of them, they find out, they break-up, they make-up and live happily ever after. The story in this one is your classic version of this. It is quite ordinary and predictable. The lines and dialogue too are quite dull, and at times, aren't great. The scenes where the Prince (aka Prince Edward) explains why he wants to go to the US (to find himself/ to be himself) and the scene at the end (where the commoner, aka Lauren, confronts the Princes with his deception) are examples of very ordinary, run of the mill dialogue. The acting is not that much better, I'm afraid. Paige Bach (playing Lauren) had a decent performance overall. However, at times, her performance was a bit stiff and flat. Her co-lead did not help in this regard. I simply did not connect with James Nitti's (as Prince Edward) performance, it did not pull me in, at all. There was something off, at times, with his expressions and dialogue (a bit stiff and flat, as well). You could see this clearly in, for example, the scene about 30 minutes in where he is chatting with Laruen and her parents (some awkward acting here). The final scenes - the one where Lauren finds out the deception and confronts Edward - is another perfect example of what I am referring to regarding both of their performances: the scene was stiff and flat (and it looked like they were acting, which is never good for an actor) and lacked convincing chemistry between the two. The supporting cast was fairly good. Mariah Robinson (playing Chelsea) stood out for me; she had a strong performance. Finally, what is up with the title of the film? It had nothing to do with an engagement; this consisted of one scene (of a few seconds) at the end where Edward simply puts a ring on Lauren's finger. That is the engagement in A Royal Christmas Engagement.
19 Reviews
Lack of Chemistry
nmartin-755755 December 2020
I always think that the sign of a good movie is the chemistry between the actors. There is no chemistry whatsoever in this movie. And the main female character is so unappealing that it's annoying. She's like a cold fish. I'm sorry to be so harsh but this could have been a decent movie had better actors been cast.
The best Christmas movie of them all!!
kathrynashe8 December 2020
Just joking. Not the worst, but certainly not the best. Cringiness at its finest. Don't really get why they got engaged in the end when she clearly just saw him as a friend and nothing more. But hey, he's rich so I don't blame her.
Falls flat
CHTO764 December 2020
Overused storyline made worse by having the lead narrate and give away the ending right at the beginning. It's not like as if anyone watching this don't already know how it's going to end (man gets woman / woman gets man), but the writers for some reason just had to confirm 2 minutes into the movie that we're getting that predictable ending.
There were some passable scenes throughout (when the dialogues were not awful), and the acting was actually ok, but the movie just felt too long at nearly 90 minutes. And some of the secondary characters were redundant and badly written.
This is one Christmas movie you should avoid for 2020. If you're bored and have nothing else to do, please call or facetime someone you haven't spoken to this year, feed your pet or spend that time looking up something better to watch. Do anything else but waste your time with this dud.
There were some passable scenes throughout (when the dialogues were not awful), and the acting was actually ok, but the movie just felt too long at nearly 90 minutes. And some of the secondary characters were redundant and badly written.
This is one Christmas movie you should avoid for 2020. If you're bored and have nothing else to do, please call or facetime someone you haven't spoken to this year, feed your pet or spend that time looking up something better to watch. Do anything else but waste your time with this dud.
Poorly written
amamuana19 June 2021
The script is so poorly written. I cannot begin to describe how cringy the whole storyline is. The leading actress character was so snobby and egoistic. The actors weren't good either. I would definitely not suggest it to anyone.
One of the Worse Female Lead Characters EVER
rezza630 April 2021
The main lead character is simply icky. She is not polite, charming or cute. Plus, she reacts at everything with a smirk or a frown. She is just not someone I would like to watch for 1 1/2 hours, which is why I didn't.
A Royal Christmas Copycat
Moonicas16 December 2020
Another generic royal movie ION seems to be making every year now. Sure we all know how it's going to end, but this one tells you right at the beginning just in case you had some doubts. Let's put in some average unknown actors and give them funny surnames like Luck, Holiday, or Charles for the prince. Then show bird's eye shots of Neuschwanstein Castle and Lake Bled (not sure why the second one was there besides it being pretty to look at) and some indoor scenes that could be shot pretty much anywhere. The prince wants to do something meaningful with his life, which in this case means giving advice about chocolate to a female marketer in New York while being incognito... And what's up with those sappy telenovela flashback montages? I've seen two ION movies recently, and they both had them. They even used the same song as in A Prince for Christmas/Small Town Prince in this movie. The engagement part was also totally out of place and seemed like it was there only for them to have something to put into the title behind the standard "Royal Christmas". Not the worst movie, but no aspiration for originality. It's just the same as all others.
Familiar plot with predictable ending.
jpragasam16 January 2022
A typical Hallmark/Lifetime genre movie. The extras in the office scenes are irritating. As office workers, they seem to have little to do except walk around continuously often holding files or coffee mugs. Very distracting and annoying.
Not developed
princessrjl12 December 2020
A bad knock off of the movie "The Prince and Me" from 2004 but with a Christmas twist. Underdeveloped characters with such cheesy acting. The constant twinkle music in the background made it seem more like a cartoon like Tom & Jerry. Very far reaching to create drama in scenes were it just doesn't make sense. I feel bad for the actors and actresses getting stuck in a mediocre film.
Terrible acting
claireeatough5 December 2020
Really wanted to like this film but the acting is so very bad. There is no connection between any of the actors let alone the leads. As another review said, if you've nothing else to do...find something. No one can give you back the wasted time from watching this.
A royal Christmas mess
TheLittleSongbird2 November 2021
Watched 'A Royal Christmas Engagement' with not the highest of expectations, fairly mixed actually. While loving Christmas for as long as can be remembered and having seen some surprisingly good Christmas films recently, films mixing Christmas and royalty have always varied with most ranging between mediocre and decent (with also some good and bad ones). The title sounded sweet but the concept sounded so been there, done that and flimsy.
The execution is even flimsier and actually turned out to be worse than expected, making for a right royal mess of a Christmas engagement (which turned out to not be much of one) and film. As much as it pains me to say it, as someone who is often generous-striving and who has always tried to see the good in the bad. With 'A Royal Christmas Engagement', it was actually quite hard to find any redeeming merits in a film with so many flaws and most of them awfully executed. Of all the films mixing Christmas and royalty, 'A Royal Engagement Engagement' for me is easily among the worst.
Only the beautiful looking castle stops the film from being a complete and utter disaster. And perhaps also an engaging turn from Mariah Robinson.
A beautiful looking castle however that was done no favours by the drab and poorly framed photography and the editing could have done with a tightening up. The direction is some of the most disorganised and leaden for any film seen recently and of all the recently seen Christmas films, clearly having no idea what to do with the story and the direction of the actors. The music is not particularly memorable and could have been used more subtly in placement and tone.
Furthermore one does expect cheese and schmaltz and allows some leeway, but both are so excessive quantity wise here (especially the cheese) that it was hard to take. And even more so when balanced so amateurishly. The story does absolutely nothing new with a premise that has been done to death and the formula is pretty much exactly what is expected. Emotionally, 'A Royal Christmas Engagement' falls completely flat and is barely existent. Everything is so disconnected and awkward and the charm and heart are just not there.
Neither is the character development, with the film overdoing it with the character flaws (especially Lauren's) and the characters don't grow. Neither does the inconsistently paced romance, that is under-utilised, barely there most of the time and then shows a little development abruptly for convenience sake. There is no tension, with the obligatory mis-understanding being so contrived and silly in execution, and the ending is too neat and rushed. Other than Robinson, the acting is really not good. Paige Bach has no warmth and plays her cold fish role too stiffly and coldly. James Nitti is even stiffer and overdoes the uptight-ness and awkwardness, coming over as too much of an introvert. There is no chemistry between them at all, which made everything after the deception discovery completely unbelievable.
Concluding, very bad and pretty much a mess. 2/10.
The execution is even flimsier and actually turned out to be worse than expected, making for a right royal mess of a Christmas engagement (which turned out to not be much of one) and film. As much as it pains me to say it, as someone who is often generous-striving and who has always tried to see the good in the bad. With 'A Royal Christmas Engagement', it was actually quite hard to find any redeeming merits in a film with so many flaws and most of them awfully executed. Of all the films mixing Christmas and royalty, 'A Royal Engagement Engagement' for me is easily among the worst.
Only the beautiful looking castle stops the film from being a complete and utter disaster. And perhaps also an engaging turn from Mariah Robinson.
A beautiful looking castle however that was done no favours by the drab and poorly framed photography and the editing could have done with a tightening up. The direction is some of the most disorganised and leaden for any film seen recently and of all the recently seen Christmas films, clearly having no idea what to do with the story and the direction of the actors. The music is not particularly memorable and could have been used more subtly in placement and tone.
Furthermore one does expect cheese and schmaltz and allows some leeway, but both are so excessive quantity wise here (especially the cheese) that it was hard to take. And even more so when balanced so amateurishly. The story does absolutely nothing new with a premise that has been done to death and the formula is pretty much exactly what is expected. Emotionally, 'A Royal Christmas Engagement' falls completely flat and is barely existent. Everything is so disconnected and awkward and the charm and heart are just not there.
Neither is the character development, with the film overdoing it with the character flaws (especially Lauren's) and the characters don't grow. Neither does the inconsistently paced romance, that is under-utilised, barely there most of the time and then shows a little development abruptly for convenience sake. There is no tension, with the obligatory mis-understanding being so contrived and silly in execution, and the ending is too neat and rushed. Other than Robinson, the acting is really not good. Paige Bach has no warmth and plays her cold fish role too stiffly and coldly. James Nitti is even stiffer and overdoes the uptight-ness and awkwardness, coming over as too much of an introvert. There is no chemistry between them at all, which made everything after the deception discovery completely unbelievable.
Concluding, very bad and pretty much a mess. 2/10.
Horrible
alisapustinja21 December 2021
I wasted 1 hour and 30 minutes for this horrible movie to which i lost my brain cells. A "romance" that is litteraly going on for the whole movie without any chemistry, not even a kiss, (only at the end).
Dont waste ur time on this horrible movie.
Horrible acting, horrible plot and horrible script. Moral of the story: Be a prince and be rich. WORST MOVIE I'VE WATCHED SINCE MY BIRTH.
1/10.
Dont waste ur time on this horrible movie.
Horrible acting, horrible plot and horrible script. Moral of the story: Be a prince and be rich. WORST MOVIE I'VE WATCHED SINCE MY BIRTH.
1/10.
I think this may be someone's cry for help...
skidamerink6 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Just some quick takeaways to give you an idea:
- Buick logo photoshopped into a weird W logo. Phantom "X" logo photoshopped over another car's logo
- Hometown is referred to as "Woodfield" but sports "Aurora" signage (photoshop expert apparently on coffee break).
- Movie description of female lead is a "hard working" advertising executive. Movie depiction of female lead is a high school grad who doesn't have ideas for her campaign, doesn't work on any ideas for her campaign, and tells her special consultant that she doesn't know what she's going to do, but she doesn't need his help.
- "Doing something meaningful" equates to pretending to be someone else while wandering around an office building looking at papers, coercing people to take you out to lunch, and telling someone the clock is ticking.
- Constantly rolling your eyes and sneering at all and sundry will help you to win friends and influence people.
- Either the person in charge of the female lead's wardrobe passed the buck to their intern, or the journey of her clothes throughout the movie is meant to symbolize... something.
- American-not-commoner and prince-in-disguise visit American-not-commoner's parents. Mom calls dad prince-in-disguise's name (editing department on strike).
- Muting the production does not improve the situation; only serves to highlight the impressive range of sneers.
Enough Hallmark with these prince falling for commoner plots
lisafordeay6 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A Royal Christmas Engagement is a 2020 TV festive rom com about an executive named Lauren who wants to do an ad on chocolate,so she meets another executive named Paul who decides to help her out. Of course the two fall in love but Paul turns out to be Prince Edward. So will Lauren and Edward get their happily ever after,you bet.
The title is very misleading as the whole engagement didn't happen until the last 2 minutes of the film. It's like the director went oh shoot I have to shoehorn in this plot device asap.
Go watch A Timeless Christmas or One Special Night instead.
The title is very misleading as the whole engagement didn't happen until the last 2 minutes of the film. It's like the director went oh shoot I have to shoehorn in this plot device asap.
Go watch A Timeless Christmas or One Special Night instead.
Don't bother
Karmicsamadi8627 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I've watched some doozies of bad Christmas movies before. I can get past all the campiness if the story is decent or the acting is good. I can't say either for this. The storyline is lame at best and there's zero chemistry between the actors. Also, the female lead is wholly unlikeable. She's rude and snobby and doesn't show any romantic interest in the prince so the whole engagement seems completely out of the blue. It doesn't even make sense why he would like her. The male lead though a little daft for being a royal, is at least kind and unless he's a masochist, she'd not be his type. Also, he does all the work and she takes the credit for it. Here was an opportunity to show a woman as an exec and they cheapened it by having her act like she did everything all while refusing the very help that got her the account.
Flat, flat and more flat
denise-8815224 December 2021
I thought I'd enjoy this movie more...but i didn't. It just fell flat to me... much like Paige's hair. Geez...don't these sets have better stylists?? Plus i didn't "feel" any chemistry between the stars. There needs to be that in order to have a believable story line. Finally, Paige needed to be less stumbly, stuttery and just plain un-executive like. I wouldn't have chosen her for my rep had i been the Boss.
Better writing and casting, guys...Please!!!
Better writing and casting, guys...Please!!!
Copycat
quentindq28 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Copycat of The Christmas Princess starring Shein Mompremier. Amazing that they would even try to do this. I'm not amused in the least. Btw? Your version is 2020. The other 2019. My public needs an explanation. Plus it was a shammockery of a movie. 👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾
A poorly executed "love story."
summercramer17 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Need something to edge to? Not this. The ending is so unsatisfying that I think I'd rather fish out my liver and eat it than have to watch this movie a second time. For a movie that's only an hour and a half long, it felt like a three hour run. The amount of reused clips is absolutely atrocious as well.
The main character, Lauren Luck (the most stereotypical low budget name, don't even get me started on JOHN HOLIDAY), is RUDE and SNOBBY for someone who isn't even her own boss. She lacks basic common sense and tolerable social skills, and she just seems like a b*%#$. Not once did I see her try to work on her own project by herself. She's got a horrible work ethic and doesn't take criticism seriously until her job is at stake. I don't know if the character was written this way or if it was just horrible acting, but I literally hated her.
The actual "engagement" was a clip AT THE END OF THE MOVIE, LESS THAN TEN SECONDS of Edward putting a ring on Lauren's finger. No down on one knee, no "will you marry me," NOTHING. Literally within the last six minutes.
The entire cast is Hollywood dupes. I mean, it looks like you tried getting Adam Driver, Leo DiCaprio, and Drew Barrymore, but you contacted the wrong agencies and got a dropship of doppelgängers.
I also cannot find ANY information about the budget or box office report for this movie, but considering a few scenes were used up to three times... I'm not very confident that it was a 6 figure budget.
Don't waste your time watching this low budget knockoff.
The main character, Lauren Luck (the most stereotypical low budget name, don't even get me started on JOHN HOLIDAY), is RUDE and SNOBBY for someone who isn't even her own boss. She lacks basic common sense and tolerable social skills, and she just seems like a b*%#$. Not once did I see her try to work on her own project by herself. She's got a horrible work ethic and doesn't take criticism seriously until her job is at stake. I don't know if the character was written this way or if it was just horrible acting, but I literally hated her.
The actual "engagement" was a clip AT THE END OF THE MOVIE, LESS THAN TEN SECONDS of Edward putting a ring on Lauren's finger. No down on one knee, no "will you marry me," NOTHING. Literally within the last six minutes.
The entire cast is Hollywood dupes. I mean, it looks like you tried getting Adam Driver, Leo DiCaprio, and Drew Barrymore, but you contacted the wrong agencies and got a dropship of doppelgängers.
I also cannot find ANY information about the budget or box office report for this movie, but considering a few scenes were used up to three times... I'm not very confident that it was a 6 figure budget.
Don't waste your time watching this low budget knockoff.
Oh yikes
heatheremarsh20 September 2022
Don't get your hopes up.
Where's the chemistry? Where's the depth of character?
I found the female lead to be unlikable. She's cold and one dimensional. Where's the warmth?
Where's the passion? Any kind of emotion would have been appreciated. Her character seemed vacant.
And where's the intelligence?!?! There was an opportunity to showcase a strong, smart, capable woman in business, but they give us this waffling wallflower who doesn't even have a single idea for a week! Good or bad! Simply nothing!
I'm not sure if the movie would have been any better with a different female lead or if it needed a better script.
Considering the plot and execution, the production value is really high. It's the kind of movie you expect to be made with minimal crew and clearly lower quality filming.
Where's the chemistry? Where's the depth of character?
I found the female lead to be unlikable. She's cold and one dimensional. Where's the warmth?
Where's the passion? Any kind of emotion would have been appreciated. Her character seemed vacant.
And where's the intelligence?!?! There was an opportunity to showcase a strong, smart, capable woman in business, but they give us this waffling wallflower who doesn't even have a single idea for a week! Good or bad! Simply nothing!
I'm not sure if the movie would have been any better with a different female lead or if it needed a better script.
Considering the plot and execution, the production value is really high. It's the kind of movie you expect to be made with minimal crew and clearly lower quality filming.
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