Prince & Me, The

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Quite appealing, thanks to good-humored acting and to Martha Coolidge's quiet directing style. She lets romance and comedy bubble up from the characters instead of imposing gimmicky twists on the story.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

But probably the best thing about The Prince & Me is the way the story doesn't end in the obvious place but keeps going, showing the characters continuing to develop.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

It's all done with such good heart, and Stiles is so perfectly appealing as one of cinema's most grounded Cinderellas.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Stiles is lovely, forthright and believable, so much so that when the scene shifts back to storybook Denmark (actually shot in Prague), she grounds this fluff in recognizable reality.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

This is a smart piece of revisionist fluff that dares to question what happens after the royal honeymoon is over.

Washington Post Sara Gebhardt

Nothing is new about the movie's premise, but it is entertaining all the same.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's a perfect choice for a mother/daughter evening out...decently constructed, solidly performed, and not too naïve.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

To her credit, director Martha Coolidge has crafted a fairy-tale ending that is both old-fashioned and newfangled, allowing her heroine to have it all. But despite a few magic moments, the rest of the film feels stale.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Even its pre-teen audience could use a bit more quirkiness and a little less formula.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The Prince & Me has the materials to be a heartwarming mass-market love story, but it doesn't assemble them convincingly.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

Trashes whatever spirited fun it initially established. Goodnight, Sweet Prince. Dream on.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Coolidge directs as if the characters were believable human beings--at least until she gets to the end, when Hollywood and fairy-tale conventions have to triumph over humanity and common sense.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Director Martha Coolidge attempts to keep the film grounded in reality, but the movie flutters away from her control.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

In a series of endings, she, and the audience, are falsely promised that she can have it all. In other words, The Prince & Me is committed to the controversial American policy of No Fantasy Left Behind.

LA Weekly Ron Stringer

To no one's possible satisfaction -- the non-question of how Paige is to ascend to the throne and retain her personal integrity that The Prince and Me falls, finally and irrevocably, flat.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

A blandly diverting, chastely conceived and grammatically challenged fairy tale for our bland, chaste and grammatically challenged age.

Premiere Laine Ewen

Feels more practical than whimsical, more politically correct than sweep-you-off-your-feet romantic.

Village Voice Ed Park

Their opposites-attract trajectory entertainingly reaches an applause-inducing climax -- but heeding Eddie's exegetical advice, Prince refuses to end on such an easy emotional note.

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

The only thing unpredictable about The Prince and Me is the plot's basic logic. It's unfortunate, because the young leads are appealing and the issues Paige confronts are important. Why couldn't the movie be half as smart as she?

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Silly? Contrived? Vapid? You bet. Put more simply, "The Prince & Me" is . . . cute.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

The trouble with retooling fairy tales to jibe with our more enlightened times is that too often the fun gets stripped along with the offensive parts.

Empire Anna Smith

Disappoints due to poor structure, flimsy characterisation and insufficient wit.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A cream puff with a melted marshmallow inside it. As the temperature rises, the whole gooey thing starts to melt.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

An unremarkable romantic comedy that gives short shrift to both romance and comedy.

Variety Scott Foundas

Totally cliched and nearly two hours long, pic takes forever to get to hopelessly obvious places.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's one of those movies where talented filmmakers waste time with stale, phony material.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

In its nearly two-hour running time, in its always lugubrious pace, in its almost complete absence of laughs, The Prince & Me is a comedy that plays like a tragedy. No stricken bodies, though, unless you count the ones in the audience slumped back in their seats -- perchance they slept.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Few actresses exude restless intelligence as effortlessly as Stiles, which is fortunate, since Martha Coolidge's film relies on that forceful charisma to make it past awful dialogue, contrived situations, and hokey use of Disney-style butterflies.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Even the teens at whom this plodding and predictable romantic comedy is clearly aimed are unlikely to be swept away by its contrivances.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

May not set back Danish-American relations, but it's amusing to imagine how this schlock would have turned out under Denmark's most famous director, the American-hating Lars von Trier.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

A royal mess, a lethally stupid romantic teen comedy.