That Stiles is convincing as a smart and serious young woman helps convince us when the Queen (Miranda Richardson) is eventually won over by her prospective daughter-in- law. Julia Stiles does not exude a lot of sensuality but fits the role of a brainy American college student, with ambitions to become a doctor. The physical casting of the two leads is very good. To her credit, Eliza brings a lot of much needed charm to the production. By casting Eliza Bennett (with apologies to Jane Austen) as the Prince's adoring little sister, Princess Arabella, they created a nice fantasy for this younger demographic. The most interesting thing about 'The Prince and Me' is the inspired way they successfully expanded their target audience to include pre-teen girls. The story obviously satisfies some basic yearning in the human psyche, or at least the teenage female psyche. Unfortunately they failed to follow its example and create a fictional monarchy, choosing instead to subject Denmark to the indignity of this silly story. I'm sure that the producers of 'The Prince and Me' drew considerable inspiration from the box office popularity of 'Coming to America. I think it is most like 'Coming to America', although it does not capture the humor and social commentary of that film. Others compare it to 1954's 'The Student Prince' and its 1997 television remake, although not unfavorably as both productions are considered barely competent. She begins to struggle with the tedious real-life demands of what she thought would be a glamorous life. Ebert compares it unfavorably with 'Win a Date With Tad Hamilton' where the same type of small town girl wins a date with a big Hollywood star, who then falls in love with her freshness and sincerity.

Unfortunately they are saddled with a somewhat weak and completely predictable screenplay, and a premise that has been used and reused. Roger Ebert actually gave 'The Prince and Me' zero stars which seems a little harsh, as it does have a few universally enjoyable scenes and decent performances from almost the entire cast.

The prince and me online