The Prom - Stella Mehlhoff

“The Prom” is a vivid, colorful musical produced by Netflix after being cut off of the broadway stage by our gnarly pandemic. The plot follows Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman), a lesbian teen, who wants to take her girlfriend, Alyssa (Ariana Debose), to prom - which, as the script says itself, “is simple as far as wanting goes.” However, she is thwarted by the homophobic efforts of her small Indiana town. Her story attracts the attention of some self-proclaimed “stars,” recently rejected by Bbroadway because of their insensitivity - Dee Dee (Meryl Streep), Barry (James Cordan), Angie (Nicole Kidman), and Trent (Andrew Rannells) - who hope to redeem themselves in the public eye by latching onto a stirring cause. Unfortunately, to me, it seems the movie itself follows the plot a little too closely - the musical feels like an attempt by its producers to stay relevant-, and all the genuine heart is come upon by accident.

From the first second, the show is casually engaging - Meryl Streep dazzles and the sharp tones of pink, purple, and turquoise sequins are enough to blind. It’s certainly fun to watch, but it’s painfully cheesy - characters jump into song with choppy transitions and the singing itself, though technically brilliant, drowns out honest emotion with auto-tune. The lyrics are snappy and witty, and the choreography does makes me intensely jealous of those fictional dance-break promposals - but James Cordon’s fake gay voice is a little too off-putting for me to suspend my disbelief. The show has moments that glimmer - like the refreshing “Love Thy Neighbor” and Nicole Kidman’s effortless “Zazz,” but it lacks weight when it needs it. The supposed-to-be-central love story between Emma and Alyssa gets very little attention by the book or the acting, and the heartbreak feels like it should be quadrupled when the going gets rough for Emma in the face of her classmate’s betrayal. It’s been said many a time that light cannot shine without the dark, and this movie proves that expression. The light moments, though well-executed, don’t invigorate as they should because the dark moments are far too easily recovered from (if Hhaagen-Ddazs could cure rejection from one’s family, entire school, and girlfriend that quickly - I don’t think therapy would be a thing). 

However, as someone longing to find representation on the screen, I recognize that my hyper-criticism of this movie may be partly because of the stark absence of mainstream musicals that highlight LGBTQ+ characters. Because it still feels like a revolutionary act to have a main character be a gay girl, I hoped for more than this one piece of performance could possibly give me. I didn’t find “The Prom” to be an especially well-done work of art, but I do have to concede that it was fun to watch in the way a cheesy christmas movie or an old Ddisney princess classic is - even cringy, kind-of-bad movies deserve a place, and there is something undeniably warm about seeing one with fresh representation.