Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9407310005
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by LYNN ECKMAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Suppose that the Princess of Wales fell in love with an American writer and escaped to California with him, taking her two sons along.
Implausible? Preposterous?
Well, Peter Lefcourt posits her doing exactly that, and furthermore he has the unlikely couple operating a Mcdonald's franchise where the Lady Di happily flips hamburgers before going home to suburbia with Leonard Schecter.
Leonard has his own marital problems, which he forgets the moment he glimpses Diana at the Tongolese Embassy during a visit to London. Hired to write a film script about the world's most beautiful woman, he turns instead to an epic poem, which he uses to ingratiate himself with the Windsors and to woo the lovely princess. An unlikely Lothario, so unsophisticated he thinks a morning suit may be pajamas, Leonard gallumps his way through the royal box at Ascot, a poetry reading at the home of Princess Margaret, and a weekend with all the family at Balmoral.
Hounded by the press - particularly one colorful journalist named Rupert Makepeace - and thwarted by Diana's unblinking bodyguard Donald, the lovers arrange private trysts and their daring flight with the help of Tongolese staff members.
From a deserted airstrip in Florida to Rancho Cucamunga near Los Angeles, they evade international dragnets and settle down to being "disgustingly happy."
"Di and I" begins and ends with conversations between Prince Charles, who is naturally concerned for his children, and Leonard. Between those two talks is an uproariously funny story that is frivolous but touching. We all know how a good fairy tale must end, and this one will not disappoint.
Peter Lefcourt has a genius for comedy and a talent for making us believe the impossible.
- Lynn Eckman teaches at Roanoke College.
by CNB