The Prom (2020) Review

 "You know, meeting you in person has been colossally disappointing."
-Principal Hawkins



In small-town Indiana, Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman) plans to take her girlfriend to prom, but the conservative PTA cancels the prom instead.  When the story makes national headlines, a group of narcissistic Broadway actors head to Indiana to help Emma and clean up their reputations.


What Works:

The best part of The Prom is the musical numbers.  It does a great job of capturing the feeling of a Broadway show and the music is excellent.  The songs are wildly over-the-top and sometimes very emotional.  There isn't a dud among them, but my favorite is probably "Love they Neighbor", a hilarious number that throws religious hypocrisy back into some of the villains' faces.

The set design is also excellent.   We get some early scenes on Broadway, which all looks fantastic.  Broadway itself, a theater, and a bar for the post-show party are all locations used in the opening number and they feel like a Broadway musical is popping out of the TV.  The titular prom also looks fantastic with great use of lighting.  It's way better looking than any prom I've ever been to, I'll tell you that much.

The performances are good across the board.  Kerry Washington is an excellent villain and both Keegan-Michael Key and Andrew Rannells are fun supporting characters.  Meryl Streep, of course, steals the show, as only she can.  She really chews the scenery and it's evident she's having a blast playing this narcissistic Broadway actress.  

Finally, we have James Corden.  There has been some criticism of his casting, which I do agree is questionable.  All of the other queer characters in the film are played by queer actors.  It seems strange that the lead male character is played by a straight actor here.  That said, I think Corden does a great job with what he is given and brings a lot of emotion to the role.


What Sucks:

I love that this movie tries to tackle a bunch of issues in the LGBTQ community and I think the message is important, but I will say it wraps a lot of the conflict way too easily to the point that it feels sloppy.  I get that this is supposed to be a light-hearted film, but I just didn't buy how simply a lot of the sub-plots were resolved.

Finally, I was disappointed with how little we saw of Nicole Kidman.  She's the 3rd billed person in the cast list and I was expecting a lot more of her.  She gets one song and a bare-bones subplot.  She's woefully underused, which is crimes considering how talented she is.


Verdict:

If you like musicals, The Prom is really fun one.  The songs are awesome, the set design is very fun, and the cast is great (even if Kidman doesn't get enough to do).  They plot is wrapped up sloppily at times, but I still say this movie has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good  

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