Netflix's holiday movie 'A Christmas Prince' is good dumb fun - but its portrayal of journalism is outrageous

Netflix

• Netflix's "A Christmas Prince" is the streaming service's attempt at a Christmas movie like those you see on Lifetime and Hallmark.
• It is silly, but fun.
• The most absurd aspect is the way journalists are portrayed, so we pointed out all the times when the protagonist violates the most basic ethical standards of journalism.
• Don't assume that journalism is what you see in "A Christmas Prince," please.

"A Christmas Prince" is Netflix's fun (and dumb) attempt at a Lifetime Christmas movie, but it represents journalism in a ridiculous way.

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"A Christmas Prince" follows Amber, a young journalist in a dead-end job at a publication called Now Beat that is some sort of mix between Vice, Vogue, and Us Weekly. Amber, who loves Christmas, is sent to the fictional country of Aldovia the week of Christmas to report on the playboy Prince Richard, who looks a bit like Patrick Wilson.

Prince Richard must be coronated as king on Christmas Eve in place of his deceased father, but there are rumors that he will abdicate. You can figure out the rest.

"A Christmas Prince" is a terrible movie, but it's also great. It is so bad, and so predictable, yet impossible to stop watching. At a certain point you might wonder if "A Christmas Prince" is satirizing itself.

Sappy Christmas movies like those on Lifetime and Hallmark (and now on Netflix) follow a similar formula: A female protagonist (probably blonde) is really focused on her career. It's Christmas time, and she's working overtime despite the fact that it is Christmas! Then a man, whether he is an angel, an elf, Santa Claus, or a prince, saves the day, which is Christmas.

These admirably lazy movies always have a protagonist with a big-city career: journalism, advertising, personal shopper. I can't tell you if the portrayal of personal shoppers in these movies is accurate, but I can tell you that the portrayal of journalists is wrong, especially in "A Christmas Prince."

At a time when the President of the United States calls journalism "fake news" quite routinely, it's a bit disheartening to see such a misrepresentation of the profession from Netflix. But it's also funny.

As a guide for non-journalists, we highlighted all the instances in "A Christmas Prince" when its protagonist, Amber, who stresses that she wants to be a "real" journalist, lacks journalistic integrity. We also pointed out some other flaws in its portrayal of journalism.

Here are all of the problems with journalistic integrity in Netflix's "A Christmas Prince":