The Prom (2020)
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The Prom Movie Review
The Prom is a 2020 musical comedy film directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Meryl Streep and James Corden. It’s a wildly entertaining flick.
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“We are the liberals from Broadway!“
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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. Based on the titular Broadway musical, the film adaptation clearly is stagy at times, but mostly I found it spectacular and cinematic enough that it really worked as a movie. In terms of storytelling, the satire of these liberals from Broadway acting all smug and attempting to help this poor lesbian girl in another state, but mostly to boost their fallen popularity, that was terrific and it was nice seeing a movie from Hollywood making fun of these types of celebrities.
The first half was quite sophisticated, but eventually the film regressed to your standard storyline with a message preaching acceptance. What I found interesting was the ending. Basically, the movie proposed this all LGBT prom just for this community and that was different enough that it worked for me. Hollywood usually proposes that we all should mix and hang out together, but this more separated outlook was more grounded in reality in my opinion while still being positive and inspirational. That prom sequence was so epic and bursting with color and sweetness.
The biggest problem this movie has is its unwillingness to develop the two center characters. You would guess that the lesbian girl for whom all of this activism is happening should be the best developed of the bunch, but unfortunately she just wasn’t. Even weaker was her girlfriend and their drama was just too similar to the one in ‘Happiest Season’, which I have just watched a couple of days ago. Their romance really was undercooked.
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The Broadway stars are the standouts clearly. James Corden is a lot of fun and quite believable as the very over-the-top Barry. His arc was solid and he was very likable. Nicole Kidman was the most sympathetic of the bunch and just lovely. Andrew Rannells was good, but not as memorable as others. Keegan-Michael Key was also easy to like and I really liked his relationship with Streep’s character.
Speaking of Streep, she killed it. Even I, who’s not the biggest fan of hers have to admit that she was fabulous here. Rarely has she been funnier than she was in this great role of this narcissist, selfish and campy Broadway star who stole the show from everybody else with ease.
The Prom is a glorious musical filled with those fun Broadway songs that I just adore. Yes, it’s silly and over-the-top, but I find that hugely entertaining when done right, and here it was executed so well. Most numbers are immensely catchy and memorable. Changing Lives has great choreography and it opens the film with a lot of energy, Dance with You is romantic and sweet, Tonight Belongs to You is fun and breezy, Love Thy Neighbor is this smart deconstruction of the Bible and the stupidity of those who believe that we should follow it, and of course It’s Time to Dance closed the film powerfully. It’s the most entertaining, most memorable and my favorite song of the bunch.
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The Prom is over-the-top, colorful and so gay. Thus, it’s an acquired taste. But I loved it for being so campy and gloriously entertaining and spectacular. It’s long for sure, but engaging most of the time. The pacing is okay, but the cinematography is quite weak and not that cinematic.
Directed by Ryan Murphy —whose long-running series “Glee” was mostly half-assed, but occasionally sublime—this Netflix movie focuses on three Broadway stars: Dee Dee Allen ( Meryl Streep ), a diva belter in the spirit of Patti LuPone; Barry Glickman ( James Corden ), a comedy sidekick-type with a touch of Nathan Lane’s manic-depressive energy; and (yes, this is her name) Angie Dickinson ( Nicole Kidman ), who echoes Bernadette Peters’ uncanny ability to continue playing kewpie-doll-adorable lead parts even though she should’ve theoretically aged out of them. Dee Dee and Barry just appeared in a new musical about the Roosevelts that closed after opening night, following weak advance sales and harsh reviews.