Royal romances are the best kind. Directed and cowritten by Tony-winning scribe Matthew López, Red, White & Royal Blue adapts Casey McQuiston’s immensely popular New York Times best-selling novel in fabulous fashion. Red, White & Royal Blue follows two men with incredible family pedigrees—British prince Henry (Cinderella’s Nicholas Galitzine) and American first son Alex Claremont-Diaz (The Kissing Booth’s Taylor Zakhar Perez)—who must engage in a crisis-PR truce even though they get on each other’s nerves. But the more they talk, the more Henry and Alex discover that the line between love and hate is quite thin. “There are a lot of projects that have come and gone in my career that I have had the ability to let go of,” López told VF, “but if I wasn’t able to make this movie, it would’ve cost me something.” He got his wish as the helmer of this feel-good, fizzy romance, which also features none other than Uma Thurman as the president of the United States. You can paint yourself Red, White & Royal Blue when the film hits Amazon Prime August 11.
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
But I’m a Cheerleader© Lions Gate/Everett Collection.
Some feel-good queer romances also double as camp classics. Look no further than But I’m a Cheerleader, the ’90s satirical rom-com which stars a young Natasha Lyonne as Megan Bloomfield, a lesbian cheerleader who gets sent to conversion therapy camp. Yes, that may not sound like the grounds for a feel-good queer love story—but in the hands of Lyonne, director Jamie Babbit, and screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson, But I’m a Cheerleader becomes a romp about the queer experience, with Lyonne’s sexually confused cheerleader falling pom-poms-over-heels for Clea DuVall’s Graham, a cool, confident college student also at the camp. Along with DuVall and Lyonne, the cast includes once and future stars like Melanie Lynskey, Michelle Williams, and RuPaul, who does his darndest to butch it up as counselor Mike. RuPaul as an ex-gay? That’s even funnier than the hilarious Ross Mathews.
The Birdcage (1996)
The Birdcage© United Artists/Everett Collection.