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By no means is The Prom an Oscar contender but despite its obvious flaws, it is a great time for all involved and anyone into musicals. If you're into Glee and High School Musical, you're the demographic for The Prom.
A quartet of self-absorbed Broadway actors - Patti LuPone-esque Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep), openly gay Barry Glickman (James Corden), former sitcom star Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells) and eternal chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman) - seek a publicity revival in a Conservative Indiana town, where high school senior Emma Nolan (newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman) has been barred from the prom for wanting to bring her girlfriend.
Pellman is a powerhouse in her first role, her performance so real and so relatable to anyone who's ever been cast out. The ever-talented Ariana DeBose is Emma's closeted girlfriend Alyssa, whose mother (Kerry Washington) is the ultimate Karen. The top billed stars are scene-scarfing narcissists but they each have their true colors shining through. Even Corden, who has been blasted for being a straight actor in a gay role, has stepped up from his previous movie musical spot (last year's critically lambasted Cats).
In supporting roles are Keegan-Michael Key as the high school principal (I've never heard him sing before this and he is an absolute delight), and Nico Greetham, Nathaniel J. Potvin, Logan Riley Hassel and Sofia Dieler as a group of Emma and Alyssa's classmates who receive perhaps the most character development.
The music and choreography are the film's highest point. It's a Ryan Murphy project, so those are bound to be of high quality, and the outrageously campy Prom is another notch in my guilty pleasure musical repertoire.
score 10/10
ILeftMyCakeOutInTheRain 6 December 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6341286/ |
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6-12-2020 04:40:05
