Director: Ryan Murphy
Cast: Meryl Streep , James Corden , Nicole Kidman , Keegan-Michael Key , Andrew Rannells, Ariana Debose , Kerry Washington , Jo Ellen Pellman , Nathaniel J Potvin , Logan Riley Hassel
Plot: Down-on-their-luck Broadway stars shake up a small Indiana town as they rally behind a teen who wants to go to the prom with her girlfriend. In desperate need of a noble cause to revive their public images and bounce back, self-centered Broadway thespians, Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman, the narcissistic stars of Eleanor have come up with a foolproof plan to earn some positive publicity. As a result, to help Emma, a bright-eyed high-school student who has recently come out of the closet, make her dream come true, the flamboyant celebrity activists and their fellow struggling actors, Angie Dickinson and Trent Oliver, head to the small town of Edgewater, Indiana, to right a wrong.
My Movie Review: The movie is a hot mess nothing to add up like too many lesser musicals! The Prom has a please-stop-singing-and-get-the-plot-over-with quality to it as an elongation of narrative that's toe-knuckle-deep characters' that don't deserve attention they seek on the spot! As a film championing the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and anyone faces persecution the film is of course on the right side of history, and will doubtless be embraced by some people! James Corden is often funny the case succeeds mainly by holding his own in the same frame as powerhouse performers like Streep and Rannells despite occasional forays singing roles Nicole Kidman fall into the just-OK category and better during speaking non-singing scenes! Least off-putting piece of casting might be Keegan-Michael Key as Tom, the school’s principal standing with Emma to fight for a prom for everyone which the film treats as little more than him doing his job but what cute and sexy about Keegan-Michael Key his scenes with Dee Dee so romantic such breath of fresh air amid the soggy musical mania filling the rest of the movie:)
Critics Consensus: Through fiery songs and dance breaks, The Prom's bonanza of glitz, glitter, and jazz hands might be enough to whisk audiences away. None of this is to say that The Prom didn't have me, a sap, crying by the end. But it also proves that, no matter how hard notable celebs try bathed in neon light, sometimes a glitzy film can't match the thrill of live theater. There's too much of Corden to ignore in The Prom, but there isn't much to like. There were moments when I simply lost my courage and had to look away, as some people do during the tooth-drilling scene in "Marathon Man." The Prom takes giant leaps in its story progression without earning it. "The Prom" works hard to be a good time, and I hope such good time. The jokes land, the cast is superb, the score is still charming, and fans of the show will have little to complain about. When the movie is over, you feel bad: that so much money was spent on the film. It's a lot to balance as the balance is off. Like many stage musical, the new musical film The Prom can be broken into two acts' its first act is a lot more entertaining than its second act!
