The Prom Review (Film, 2020)
content warning: foul language, death by suicide (mentioned), homophobia, bullying
The Prom is the story of Emma. She is a teenager from Indiana who is blamed for the cancellation of her school’s prom. The PTA votes to cancel prom instead of let Emma bring her girlfriend as a date. This draws the attention of ostracized Broadway stars Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman. They come up with a plan to travel to Indiana and fight for Emma to go to prom as a PR move.
The Prom has a strong core of fans based on its all too short run on Broadway. This show has too much heart for its own good. Even if you don’t love the entire thing, you would fall under the spell of Emma’s wonderful songs “Dance With You,” “Just Breathe,” and “Unruly Heart.” Some of the finest musical comedy actors working today played the four fallen Broadway stars.
We can’t be surprised that Ryan Murphy wanted Barry Glickman to be over the top. Murphy likes effeminate gay characters in his films. James Corden is just not the actor to give that performance. It feels wrong. It’s caricature. It’s distracting.
I’ll say it. It’s a shame. I think Corden is a great musical performer. His Baker in Into the Woods was excellent. I still think about his Tony-winning performance in One Man, Two Guvnors. Cats was a disaster, but his performance as Bustopher Jones was what it should be. He has a good voice, he moves well, and he’s a very expressive performer. His Barry shines while singing and distracts in book scenes.
Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Andrew Rannells are good in book scenes and musical numbers. . I know being in an ensemble cast isn’t a competition, but there’s an imbalance in the book scenes. I buy the approach to all the characters in the film except for whatever Corden was told to do with his part.
At its core, The Prom is a musical about a teenager thrust in the spotlight and punished for who she is. There’s a beautiful message about tolerance and self-confidence. If the audience does not instantly connect with Emma, the teenager blamed for the cancellation of prom, the show flops. Jo Ellen Pellman’s performance represents everything good about the show and also stands out as the good in the film.
There is a structural problem with the adaptation that did not feel apparent onstage. Ryan Murphy leans into the divide between the Broadway actors and Emma a little too hard. Their musical numbers look like two different films. This is effective in the opening sequence, where Dee Dee and Barry are in a state of delusion over their awful Eleanor musical. Murphy just doesn’t let the air out of the balloon in the musical numbers.
It feels like we’re meant to laugh at one half of the show and cry at the other. The lighting, costumes, and choreography are stereotypes of what people think a bad musical looks like. The show within the show in The Producers has more nuance than any song performed by the Broadway performers. Meanwhile, Emma and Alyssa’s world feels fresh, modern, and reflective of contemporary theatre in 2020.
The other fundamental flaw is the victim of turning this show into a film at all. There is no way a big budget adaptation of this show would’ve considered casting any of the actors from the Broadway cast. These films need big names to sell, so of course every major adult role is played by a recognizable film and television actor.
It also means that the story focuses more on the adults than Emma and Alyssa to the detriment of the film. Listen, I’ll gladly watch Meryl Streep and Keegan-Michael Key awkwardly flirt with each other at an Applebees. I embrace the camp of Nicole Kidman clanging on a cowbell and Andrew Rannells doing carsick gags. The comedy in The Prom comes from the adults so that the children can be the honest core of the film. Instead, the film adaptation casts them as a b-plot to a wannabe dark comedy about bitter actors. It’s all a waste.
The Prom is not a bad film. It’s a disappointing one. The approach to the material is harmful to the storytelling. Still, the story of Emma shines through. Pellman more than holds her own against her more experienced costars. No amount of over the top colored gels and frenetic camerawork can dull her performance. This isn’t The Prom we expected, but at least the story of Emma can be seen. That makes it all worth it.
The Prom is streaming on Netflix.
