Director
Ryan Murphy

Stars
Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Jo Ellen Pellman, Andrew Rannells, Keegan-Michael Key, Kerry Washington and Ariana DeBose

How very disappointing it is that several film critics have ganged-up on actor James Corden and bashed his performance in The Prom as though he were a piñata. Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair has said that this is “one of the worst performances of the 21st century” and Tim Robey of The Telegraph wrote that this performance made him “embarrassed” to be gay, just to name a couple. Well, speaking as a gay man myself, I feel quite the opposite. For starters, James Corden needed to do something memorable to truncate the nine lives his contribution in last year’s Cats consequently comes with. Regardless of how you look at it, he’s most certainly achieved that! I also think it’s a fab move to cast the multi-talented and heterosexual actor, comedian, singer and TV host in the role of Barry. Corden is not only splendid, but the casting supports this film’s very message. More on that shortly! And sorry, but did we expect anything other than the unapologetic and unabashed flamboyance sprinkled from head to toe we get in Ryan Murphy’s The Prom, creator of popular TV series Glee? Finally and above all else, the unfair attention his performance is attracting only detracts from the real stand-out of the show. No, not Meryl. No’p, not Nicole Kidman either, but rather the debut performance of Jo Ellen Pellman as Emma.

What’s most important here is the loud and proud message of inclusiveness being widely distributed in not only The Prom’s central plot, but throughout multiple sub-plots too. Being a musical comedy-drama that’s adapted to the screen from the 2018 Broadway musical of the same name, there’s a genuine crowd-pleasing and feel-good vibe coursing throughout the entire film. This is equally as important and heavily contributes to The Prom being easily accessible and appealing to a family-friendly audience. It can be reasonably argued that not all of the sub-plots are needed and are perhaps noticeably contrived, but they do pave the way for some pretty memorable song and dance numbers. Among them, an affectionate expression of love for the theatre, a damn catchy tune titled “Love Thy Neighbour” to please the progressives and piss-off the Pentacostals (among others!) and even a lil’ bit of lovin’ for our dear Meryl!

The one lingering annoyance in this film for me is not the performance of James Corden, as I’ve already asserted, but rather the simplicity of its writing. Real-life conundrums and issues are raised, but always easily and sweetly solved with a song and a smile. Granted, it doesn’t really matter all that much here. That’s clearly not what The Prom is eyeing for or about. Disregard that aspect better than I can, then this vivacious affair could easily be among your favourite movies of 2020.

 3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
PG (Mild themes, sexual references and coarse language)

Trailer
The Prom

The Prom is now available to stream via Netflix and is showing at some cinemas across Australia.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
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