At last, Christmastide is upon us, for it is decreed that it may only commence when Netflix drops its worst festive movie – and, as last week saw the release of The Princess Switch, it is now OK to start decking the halls. The film stars Vanessa Hudgens as Stacy De Novo (just a normal baker from Chicago) and Lady Margaret Delacourt, Duchess of Montenaro (just go with it), who swap identities for a bit, just to see. Seasonal shenanigans of course ensue.
The most notable thing about The Princess Switch, which is otherwise hilariously unChristmassy in spirit, is the way it plays on ye olde Christmas tradition of the switcheroo, as pioneered by Charles Dickens and subsequently elevated to art form by, erm, Nancy Meyers’ The Holiday. Of course, the switch-up as originally envisioned by Dickens gave Scrooge a glimpse into the lives of less fortunate others, thereby filling him with the true spirit of Christmas. So, too, up to a point, with Trading Places, based on Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. In these cases, abandoning your social station for a while (and specifically your wealth) in order to understand compassion, affords characters a lesson in the meaning of Chrimbo.
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