Across the years, many movies explored the female fantasy of marrying into royalty. 2004’s The Prince & Me gets into that theme, though it does so with a moderate twist.

Paige (Julia Stiles) attends the University of Wisconsin, where she follows a pre-med track. In one of her classes, she gets matched with Eddie (Luke Mably) as a lab partner.

Though she focuses intently on her schoolwork, Paige falls for Eddie and they launch a relationship. Matters take a turn when she learns “Eddie” is actually Edvard, Crown Prince of Denmark, a royal who goes incognito as he avoids his path to the throne.

While this story does offer a curveball on the standard “girl meets prince and love ensues” tale, it doesn’t offer a major shift away from what we expect, and the “Eddie” side has been done to death. His attempt to run away from his regal destiny echoes The Prince and Pauper and many other stories.

Can Me find anything creative to do with this largely well-trodden territory? Not in the least, as it follows a wholly trite progression.

With a $22 million budget, Me only earned a worldwide total of $37 million and yet it spawned two direct-to-video sequels. I would assume the 2004 movie did well enough on video to greenlight inexpensive extensions, albeit without Stiles, as she bailed after the original.

Martha Coolidge directed the well-liked 80s comedies Valley Girl and Real Genius, though her critical peak likely came with 1991’s drama Rambling Rose. Overall, however, it would seem fair to describe her cinematic career as uninspired.

That same sentiment connects to Me. At no point does Coolidge find a way to elevate the predictable material.

Granted, I doubt even a better director could do much with the stale script. Me pursues one genre cliché after another without a hint of creativity.

This means the inevitable “meet cute” in which Paige and Eddie initially dislike each other. They eventually grow close because the screenplay dictates it, not because it makes any sense in terms of story or character development.

Paige offers nothing but a stock achievement-obsessed woman and Eddie gets developed as a lout with a heart of gold. We find abundant “fish out of water” scenes in which the pampered Eddie must adjust to American life, especially when he ends up down on the farm with Paige’s family.

In better hands, perhaps Me could overcome all these clichés. Coolidge just lacks the imagination to make them anything other than trite.

It doesn’t help that Me runs far too long for a movie of this sort. At 111 minutes, we lose the breezy energy that a light rom-com should develop.

Instead, we find ourselves stuck with a slow-moving and predictable tale that no one involve can elevate. Stiles boasts talent but Paige feels like little more than a regurgitation of role from 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You, and Mably seems oddly charmless as the slumming prince.

Boy, does Me drag. When it reaches its natural climax and logical conclusion, it still has nearly 40 minutes left to go!

This means we get an extended and fairly pointless denouement. While a significantly shorter Me still wouldn’t be very entertaining, at least it would feel tighter and more focused.

All of this adds up to a sluggish and borderline interminable stab at a rom-com. The Prince & Me never clicks and never knows when to quit.

The Prince & Me appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a surprisingly mediocre image.

Sharpness varied. Close-ups and some other shots demonstrated reasonable delineation, but anything else leaned mushy.

No issues with jaggies or shimmering emerged, but light edge haloes cropped up through the film. It also appeared a fair amount of noise reduction emerged, and that led to a smeared feeling at times. A handful of speckles popped up as well.

Colors also seemed erratic, as some scenes offered good vivacity whereas other felt pale and flat. Most looked fine but these ups and downs created issues.

Blacks felt decent but crushed, and shadows appeared largely positive. Overall, this wound up as a dull and lackluster presentation.

On the other hand, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 worked better, even within the construct of the rom-com genre. A few action-oriented scenes – like a couple of race segments – boasted a nice sense of movement and involvement.

Those remained in the minority, though, as most of Me stayed with general environmental information. Still, the soundscape seemed appropriate for the story and it kicked to life a bit at times.

Audio quality fared nicely, with speech that remained concise and natural. Effects lacked a lot to do but they remained accurate and without distortion.

Music offered appealing range and punch. The movie delivered a more than adequate soundtrack.

We get a mix of extras here, and these open with an audio commentary from director Martha Coolidge. She delivers a running, screen-specific look at story and characters, cast and performances, music, sets and locations, photography and design choices, editing and connected topics.

Coolidge reminds us that even a trite rom-com like Prince comes from people who still put a lot of effort into their works. She digs into details about the details and decisions that manifested during the shoot and makes this an unusually informative track that really zings.

Three featurettes follow, and The Lawnmower Race goes for six minutes, 39 seconds. It involves remarks from Coolidge, lawn tractor race coordinator Ian McClintock, executive producer Cami Winikoff, editor Steven Cohen, and actor Zachary Knighton.

“Race” brings a look at aspects of one specific movie scene. It offers a few decent notes along with some behind the scenes footage.

The Look of The Prince & Me lasts 14 minutes, 29 seconds. We find notes from Coolidge, production designer James Spencer, costume designer Magali Giudasci, Harry Winston’s Frank Barrone and actors Miranda Richardson and Ben Miller.

Here we cover sets and locations, the myriad of languages spoken by cast and crew, costumes, and cinematography. While it leans a little fluffy, “Look” nonetheless delivers some useful notes about the movie’s visual choices.

Finally, Inside the Fairy Tale spans 13 minutes, 19 seconds. It comes with info from Coolidge, Winikoff, Miller, Richardson, Cohen, producer Mark Amin, screenwriters Katherine Fugate, Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, and actors Julia Stiles, Luke Mably and James Fox.

“Tale” examines story/characters, the project’s roots and development, cast and performances, The show mixes fluff and decent notes.

In addition to an Alternate Ending (1:22), we find seven deleted/extended scenes. All together, these occupy a total of nine minutes, 38 seconds.

Two of the scenes fill most of that running time: “Eddie Watches Paige Dance” (2:56) and “Eddie and Paige in Denmark” (3:08). Both make too already-too-long sequences even less interesting.

The rest tend toward fairly minor expository or character beats. None of them feel especially compelling or necessary.

As for the “Ending”, it would’ve concluded the film on more of a downer note. It feels wrong for this kind of movie.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we finish with a Gag Reel. It runs two minutes, 28 seconds and provides the usual goofs and giggles.

Even with a story that leans heavily on clichés, I hoped The Prince & Me might blossom into an engaging rom-com. Instead, it delivers a slow and tedious flick that boasts neither warm romance nor amusing comedy. The Blu-ray offers solid audio and a pretty positive roster of supplements but picture quality seems surprisingly bland. I find little to like in this stale tale.