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Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story <\/i>is another soft and heavily curated Netflix puff piece that pushes the idea of an earnest, unconventional romance without ever daring to examine the evidence to the contrary thoroughly.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n You always run a bit of a risk laughing at something like Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story<\/i>. It touches on subjects that are very serious, including abhorrent racism, health issues, and a sad stretch about suicide. And there\u2019s always a chance that the unlikely romance at its centre might be genuine, and its subjects might be earnestly and sincerely in love. But I can only work with what I\u2019ve got, and when you present me with a \u201csoul-sexual\u201d shaman who claimed medallions could cure Covid-19 and married a Norwegian princess who herself believes she has psychic powers, I\u2019m pretty much guaranteed to see the funny side.<\/p>\n I think we\u2019re supposed to, at least for the most part. The documentary film, which is directed by <\/i>Tiger King<\/b><\/i><\/a>\u2019s Rebecca Chaiklin and is similarly streaming on Netflix, leans heavily into the absurdity of some of the claims being made and the reality-TV gloss of picky wedding planning, exuberant outfit choices, and a general flamboyant fish-out-of-water sensibility that is explicitly played for laughs. But it\u2019s also sadly reluctant to really explore any of the shadier implications or accusations on the story\u2019s periphery. It doesn\u2019t make its subjects the butt of the joke as determinedly as <\/i>Untold: The Liver King<\/b><\/i><\/a> did, and it\u2019s far removed from some of the streaming platform\u2019s more searing documentary fare, like <\/i>Grenfell: Uncovered<\/b><\/i><\/a> or <\/i>Apocalypse in the Tropics<\/b><\/i><\/a>. Instead, it feels more like a carefully curated puff piece, not dissimilar from <\/i>WWE: Unreal<\/b><\/i><\/a>, full of gushing praise and happy-clappy idealism that deliberately ignores all the spikier angles that would have been significantly more interesting than what is, essentially, a gossip magazine that takes 90 minutes to be read aloud. <\/i><\/p>\n On the surface, Durek Verrett and Norway\u2019s Princess M\u00e4rtha Louise seem an unlikely couple. He\u2019s a Black American sixth-generation shaman who everyone \u2013 including himself \u2013 believed to be gay, and she\u2019s\u2026 well, a princess. Part of the overall arc of Rebel Royals<\/i> is trying to convince us that they had much more in common than anyone realised, but what they have in common \u2013 stuff like magical powers and facilities for woo-woo nonsense like \u201cenergy\u201d and astrology \u2013 seems to be garbage. The implication, though it\u2019s not one that the film seems very interested in making with conviction, is that what they both really<\/i> share is a desire for attention.<\/p>\n