Crown for Christmas (2015)

Directed by: Alex Zamm | 83 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Danica McKellar, Rupert Penry-Jones, Ellie Botterill, Pavel Douglas, Colin McFarlane, Amy Marston, Alexandra Evans, Emma Burdon-Sutton, Rose Neville, Rollo Skinner, Deborah Moore, Cristian Bota, Isabela Neamtu, Matei Negrescu, Salvador Morales , Mahaila McKellar, Draco McKellar Verta

You have probably heard of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you have to be able to make a link between the American actor and any other actor or actress in a maximum of six steps. A similar number describes the distance between scientist Paul Erdős and another mathematician. Erdős was so prolific that he was very likely to have published a scientific paper with another colleague. The Erdős-Bacon number is the sum of those two numbers – and there appears to be quite a lot of overlap in these two worlds. Danica McKellar, known to fans of “The Wonder Years” as Winnie Cooper, Kevin Arnold’s love interest and girl next door, has an Erdős Bacon number of six (four plus two).

Funnily enough, you will see more of her mathematical talents than you could have anticipated in ‘Crown for Christmas’ (2015), a sugary Christmas film that does exactly what you would expect from a romantic film set around Christmas. As an actress, she still captivates the viewer as she did when she was young: her Allie Evans is sympathetic, funny and down-to-earth. Not exactly the most suitable candidate for the vacancy of Queen of the fictional kingdom of Winshire, which is supposed to be somewhere near Luxembourg. But it is far from that, although that is what the film is clearly aiming for.

The American Allie is recruited as a governess for the princess of Winshire, a ten-year-old ‘monster’, who on second thought turns out to be not so bad. The two get along in no time and the rest of the staff – except for two – walks away with the new employee. Of course, the charm of the spontaneous Allie does not go unnoticed by the single king, who should actually marry a baroness, because that is good for the kingdom.

‘Crown for Christmas’ is a smooth-looking romantic film, which can best be compared to a Bouquet series novel. Those who have nothing to do with the genre can save themselves the trouble. Anyone who wants to swoon for a while without really putting the brain cells to work will not be disappointed with this film. The events on the screen are in no way believable or surprising, but those characteristics are often required in these kinds of films.