This is a highly unrealistic movie, but I also know that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Even if the highly unlikely event of every possible heir to the throne was electrocuted and killed in a freak accident, there would still be many other full English possibilities for the throne before chosing an American so disconnected from the knowledge of any Royal history in his family, that he knew absolutely nothing about any possibility of him becoming king until after the freak accident (nevermind that no one who works for photographing the entire Royal family would be thick enough to leave loads of wires and electrical equipment sitting in pools of water). There was Jon Hurt's character from the House of Steward who was officially a possibility for the throne, which in real life would be chozen without hesitation over an American who knew nothing about royalty and never even been to England.
Anyway, I do realize though that this movie wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and was placed in an entirely fictional world, which is also why maybe it's a good idea that none of the real life members of the Royal family (Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, Diana, etc.) were portrayed as the former members before the accident in this movie.
John Goodman does has some funny scenes as a Fish Out Of Water (FOW) role. I feel though that it would've been even better as a comedy to have made his character more of a common regular blue-collar middle-American than a Vegas lounge singer, and it would've been great if they made his character here even more similar to his character Dan on "Roseanne". However, I did find it kind of funny the way he half watched the football game while playing ("and he's in there") piano at the lounge, that was sort of Dan in his character him doing that. And there was alot of Dan in the way Ralph looked and dressed when first introduced to Sir Cedric Willingham (Peter O'Toole) upon arrival at Buckingham Palace. They did get it right by having Ralph disbelieving Royalty messenger (Richard Griffith) when first coming to Vegas to present the news.
There are some funny scenes with Ralph having difficulty adjusting to the noble eloquent ways of imperial sovereignty which is the norm to most members of Royalty. His lack of refinement was quite funny such as the scenes with his mannerisms when being shown how to dress, walk, pour tea, etc., and when meeting the King of Zambezi (after rehearsing with Sir Cedric the proper way to introduce himself, then blurting out "Yo, whaz happinin holmes?"). And then the king of Zambezi enjoying his time with Ralph. Also funny was Ralph playing cricket more like baseball.
I also liked the sweet romantic interest of Ralph and Miranda, they had a nice chemistry, and the scenes of Ralph having trouble dealing with being told how he wasn't supposed to be getting involved with her, when he was used to living a life where he was free to get involved with anyone where he and her would feel the right chemistry together.
John Hurt as Lord Graves trying to sabatoge Ralph (including the scene with him deliberately encouraging Ralph to make an a** of himself at the Royal ball (and Ralph doing it by acting like a common American just because he innocently thought that it was ok to do it because he was told to)). I still, however, found the scene of Ralph playing "Good golly miss Molly" to be too much, and he should've known better at that point in the movie. The conversation about fox hunting made Ralph look dumb for not realizing that they were talking about the animaI, just because the movie became desperate for a cheap double meaning joke. And the glasses of wine domino effect spilling down the table was also kind of ridiculous.
Sort of a funny moment in this movie was Ralph's would-be future Royal wife turning out to have a deep masculine voice after initially looking quite alluring to Ralph and looking quite pretty. And her also revealing to Ralph a sleazy fantasy of hers, in spite of her Royal parents disliking Ralph for HIS gross lack of refinement.
I did understand the scene of Ralph threatening to quit due to being forced to marry a woman he never met, and Sir Cedric making a point on how Ralph has been quitting things his entire life and that it was time to take a stand and stick something out for a change and that showing that in his Royal duties would be the perfect way to redeem himself.
One other thing that made this movie better was the way Ralph redeemed himself in the scenes following the disasterous ball, with noticable improvements in his behavior and refinement while stumbling upon Lord Graves' deception and in his scene addressing Parliament. However, the very last scene of the movie where the credits began rolling was quite cheesy.
Anyway, I was wanting to give this movie a 6, but because it was meant to be a goofy silly movie, I'll give it a 7.
Anyway, I do realize though that this movie wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and was placed in an entirely fictional world, which is also why maybe it's a good idea that none of the real life members of the Royal family (Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, Diana, etc.) were portrayed as the former members before the accident in this movie.
John Goodman does has some funny scenes as a Fish Out Of Water (FOW) role. I feel though that it would've been even better as a comedy to have made his character more of a common regular blue-collar middle-American than a Vegas lounge singer, and it would've been great if they made his character here even more similar to his character Dan on "Roseanne". However, I did find it kind of funny the way he half watched the football game while playing ("and he's in there") piano at the lounge, that was sort of Dan in his character him doing that. And there was alot of Dan in the way Ralph looked and dressed when first introduced to Sir Cedric Willingham (Peter O'Toole) upon arrival at Buckingham Palace. They did get it right by having Ralph disbelieving Royalty messenger (Richard Griffith) when first coming to Vegas to present the news.
There are some funny scenes with Ralph having difficulty adjusting to the noble eloquent ways of imperial sovereignty which is the norm to most members of Royalty. His lack of refinement was quite funny such as the scenes with his mannerisms when being shown how to dress, walk, pour tea, etc., and when meeting the King of Zambezi (after rehearsing with Sir Cedric the proper way to introduce himself, then blurting out "Yo, whaz happinin holmes?"). And then the king of Zambezi enjoying his time with Ralph. Also funny was Ralph playing cricket more like baseball.
I also liked the sweet romantic interest of Ralph and Miranda, they had a nice chemistry, and the scenes of Ralph having trouble dealing with being told how he wasn't supposed to be getting involved with her, when he was used to living a life where he was free to get involved with anyone where he and her would feel the right chemistry together.
John Hurt as Lord Graves trying to sabatoge Ralph (including the scene with him deliberately encouraging Ralph to make an a** of himself at the Royal ball (and Ralph doing it by acting like a common American just because he innocently thought that it was ok to do it because he was told to)). I still, however, found the scene of Ralph playing "Good golly miss Molly" to be too much, and he should've known better at that point in the movie. The conversation about fox hunting made Ralph look dumb for not realizing that they were talking about the animaI, just because the movie became desperate for a cheap double meaning joke. And the glasses of wine domino effect spilling down the table was also kind of ridiculous.
Sort of a funny moment in this movie was Ralph's would-be future Royal wife turning out to have a deep masculine voice after initially looking quite alluring to Ralph and looking quite pretty. And her also revealing to Ralph a sleazy fantasy of hers, in spite of her Royal parents disliking Ralph for HIS gross lack of refinement.
I did understand the scene of Ralph threatening to quit due to being forced to marry a woman he never met, and Sir Cedric making a point on how Ralph has been quitting things his entire life and that it was time to take a stand and stick something out for a change and that showing that in his Royal duties would be the perfect way to redeem himself.
One other thing that made this movie better was the way Ralph redeemed himself in the scenes following the disasterous ball, with noticable improvements in his behavior and refinement while stumbling upon Lord Graves' deception and in his scene addressing Parliament. However, the very last scene of the movie where the credits began rolling was quite cheesy.
Anyway, I was wanting to give this movie a 6, but because it was meant to be a goofy silly movie, I'll give it a 7.