Netflix’s The Prom (2020)

[Cap]

Discuss how much James Corden sullied Ryan Murphy’s magna opus here!

[Webslinger]

Despite a premise with potential and an immensely talented cast, The Prom is a hot mess. Ryan Murphy has always been wildly hit-and-miss in his television career – sometimes within the very same episode of the very same show – and he manages to do both in this cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. The biggest problem that plagues this film is one that probably also plagued its source material: the real heart of the story is the high school student just trying to go to prom, and the material concerning the intervention of Broadway narcissists is not nearly as interesting nor as effective. I read a tweet somewhere that critiqued this film as a gay movie made for straight people, and that critique is sadly accurate; all too often, it feels like a film that uses its gay characters as either props for its self-congratulatory story about tolerance or overly broad comedic tools (looking right at you, James Corden). The film is easily at its most compelling when it focuses on young lesbian Emma’s struggle to gain acceptance and a sense of normalcy as seemingly the only out person in her town; this effectiveness is thanks in no small part to a solid performance from cinematic newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman, whose liveliness and vulnerability make her character feel real and worthy of viewers’ sympathy. Her story is actually affecting, even if it’s underdeveloped. The biggest problem is that much of the film’s plot drifts away from her and toward the quartet of down on their luck Broadway actors who are on hand to learn a lesson to not be so narcissistic and to actually do something for other people. They grind the film’s momentum to a halt more often than not, and I never once cared about any of them. To the actors’ credit, they all bring their A-game and really try to make their characters work, but these characters just aren’t interesting nor particularly entertaining. Nicole Kidman fares the best thanks to a solid musical number in “Zazz,” Meryl Streep gets a few good numbers and is clearly having fun chewing scenery, and Andrew Rannells brings some energy to his part. James Corden, however, is horribly miscast as the film’s resident effeminate gay man. I’m not one to demand that only gay actors play gay characters (I know it might sound a touch hypocritical given that I believe 100% of the way that trans actors should play trans characters, but that’s a conversation for another day), but there’s something… *off* about a straight actor playing a broad stereotype of an effeminate gay man in this day and age, and Corden – while not as bad as other reviewers have made him out to be – does nothing here to shake that initial feeling that the optics behind this casting choice aren’t great. The musical numbers are admittedly pretty fun, but the narrative holding them together is so messy that the film ultimately doesn’t work despite clear effort and commitment from everyone involved. I don’t usually like to ding a film (or, in this case, a musical inspiring a film) for what it isn’t rather than what it is, but it just can’t overcome its source material’s evident cardinal sin of burying a way more interesting story beneath a much less interesting one.

 

C

[filmlover]

I never saw the original play but this was definitely a very mixed bag. It just never completely settles on a proper tone, as it isn't sure if it wants to send up aspects of real world subjects (like celebrity activism and Midwestern attitudes/culture) or to go for a more sincere approach, and Ryan Murphy's typical way of delivering his messages with the subtlety of a sledgehammer (one of the many things that crippled Hollywood, his ambitious and awful limited series about an alternate version of the post-WWII movie industry from earlier this year) falls flat. It also just lacks focus, as what's really a nice story about acceptance often gets lost in a subplot about a couple of struggling actors looking to make a comeback. But the musical numbers are impressively staged (even if it all ends up coming across as a more prestigious very extended episode of Murphy's Glee), and most of the cast makes it more easy to digest. Meryl Streep is fun camping it up as a Patti LuPone-esque stage diva, newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman is cute, Ariana DeBose shows plenty of promise (looking forward to her Anita in Spielberg's West Side Story), Andrew Rannells upholds his penchant for scene-stealing and gets the best number in the movie (the one in the mall with the kids), and Keegan-Michael Key has a couple of good moments. Unfortunately, Nicole Kidman tends to fade into the background most of the time and Kerry Washington is underutilized. And then there's James Corden...yeah, he's terrible in this and has been dumped on enough already, but the biggest problem with his whole performance is that he's just miscast to begin with. It's hard not to imagine that someone like Neil Patrick Harris would've easily done wonders with this part instead. Despite all the misgivings though, it certainly isn't boring. After what's been a brutal year, maybe a messy but enjoyable musical with a positive message is what the world could use right now. C+

[DAJK]

I completely understand the "mixed bag" sentiment, and I strongly believe that. Not in the sense that this movie is middle-of-the-road, but rather than there were some genuinely great moments, and then some scenes where I was thinking wtf is going on. 

 

On top of all the previously-mentioned themes, I was intrigued as well by the film's commentary on performative activism, which sadly became all-too-common this year with people using social media platforms to try and "prove to the world how good they are" without actually doing anything. 

 

Cast was great (Corden was... hmm, I mean I'm not sure what else I should have expected, but I feel like I'm beating a dead horse so I'll chalk it up to unsteady direction on Murphy's part as well). Meryl Streep is one of my favourite actresses, will gladly watch anything she does.

 

B-/B