Review: “The Prom” misses its cues
By: Mary Mckeon
Tags: Film, Netflix, Musicals, Film Reviews, The Prom

Allow me to begin with a disclaimer: I haven’t seen any Ryan Murphy project since Glee, nor have I seen The Prom on stage. But judging by Murphy’s film adaptation, the show was either a perfect vehicle for him to provide more of his trademark subpar queer representation, or the same issues that plagued Glee dampened a perfectly decent musical about love and acceptance. I’m not just talking about the actors who are clearly too old to pass for high schoolers, though that doesn’t help things. It’s mostly the fact that this movie about overcoming homophobia spends more time focusing on Meryl Streep’s failed marriage than telling us anything about the young lesbian couple at the center of the conflict, which tinges the plot with a brow-raising irony.

In fairness, The Prom is not a poorly made film. It’s competent enough, but it largely coasts on the A-listers in the cast to impress the audience and makes little effort beyond that. The characters played by Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, and Andrew Rannells are washed up Broadway actors in need of some positive press, and those names alone should show you the problem. For all their talent, they’re much too well-established in entertainment not to be distracting in these roles. I get the rationale in casting Meryl Streep as an aging Broadway diva, but her casting feels more like a constant wink at the audience than a character. Nicole Kidman can’t pass for a background chorus girl, and while I don’t necessarily think gay characters have to be played by gay actors, James Corden’s portrayal might be winning me over to that side (never mind his attempt at an American accent). Andrew Rannells is the only one who isn’t too overused in Hollywood to be enjoyable in his role as a jaded but clever out-of-work performer. That said, the original character probably could have been cut and made into a composite character with Corden’s role, given their shared predicament and midwest roots.

That’s a major problem with this adaptation. It has totally the wrong ideas about what material from the show works in a film and what doesn’t. The musical numbers are usually pretty fun to listen to, but only a few are actually fun to watch on screen, and every single song from the Broadway show is included at least partially. Possibly the most infuriating moment is when Emma and Alyssa’s part in “You Happened” stops dead in its tracks, killing the pacing and stripping the number of its insight into their relationship. Yet somehow there’s time to include in its entirety a ballad that literally sings the praises of theatre actors, visualized in the most boring way possible as most of the numbers are. The romance between Meryl Streep’s character and the high school principal could have easily been reduced or removed entirely, but it gets exponentially more focus than the supposed main plot of Emma trying to get equal treatment in her homophobic town.

The Broadway actors’ collective arc is supposed to end with them setting aside their own interests and starting to actually help Emma for her sake. But the movie only serves to validate their attempts at good PR by staying with them for the majority of the run time rather than giving Emma any defining traits or character flaws beyond being a bit shy. She says toward the beginning that she doesn’t want to be “a symbol”, but that’s what she’s relegated to. Jo Ellen Pellman gives a good performance, but she never gets to be an active character that the audience can connect with. She mostly reacts to things happening around her instead of participating in or really pushing back against anything. Her girlfriend Alyssa gets still less development, and even James Corden’s character doesn’t have much agency in his subplot. The movie ostensibly has queer issues at the forefront, but it sidelines its actual queer characters and puts their straight allies on a pedestal.

The plot isn’t horribly structured, but unbalanced in its development of the central characters. I quickly got tired of seeing Meryl Streep, James Corden, and Keegan Michael-Key, but I wanted to see more of Emma and Andrew Rannells’ character, and I couldn’t even tell you the name of Nicole Kidman’s character. Nor could I tell you why or how she forms a bond with Emma seemingly out of nowhere in the second half. Some antagonists are redeemed without being properly humanized beforehand, which puts it on the audience to forgive them with not much of a reason for some astonishingly cruel behavior. The pacing is mostly okay, but there are several key scenes that completely fizzle out and kill much-needed tension. There are some moments in the third act that get a genuine emotional response, but that’s more from what the story draws from real life than from the movie on its own merit.

I hesitate to call The Prom a bad film. It’s well-acted with some solid comedic moments, catchy songs, and a positive message. But much like the actors trying to improve their image by helping a poor young lesbian, the movie seemingly hopes that its message of tolerance will earn it enough goodwill to distract from its glaring flaws. It may suffice as a fun feel-good musical, but it’s probably a better use of your time to listen to the Broadway cast recording while doing something else.

An MFA student at Hollins University whose penchant for Disney led into a love for all things film. Film critic/essayist and screenwriter. View all posts by Mary McKeon