Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Movie Review: Prom

Title: Prom
Author: Disney
Release Date: 2011
Genre: teen, high school, friendship, romance, drama
My Rating: *
Official Rating: PG for mild language and a brief fight
Age Group: 12+

Summary
Nova, and everyone else at her high school, has been waiting for this night, preparing for it, and everything has to be perfect. Prom is going to bring them all together. Knock down boundaries. Help them find love. Everything will be perfect for one night.
Until Nova's sort-of date cancels on her. And Jordan's boyfriend cheats on her. And Floyd can't even get a girl to go with him. And, and, and. Things fall apart. The decorations burn to the ground. Nova is devastated. This was supposed to be perfect.
So Nova does what she always does. She tries to pull things back together. She gets some unlikely help, and prom ends up happening after all. It's just not what everyone expected.

Word of Warning
  • Prom is glorified as being the best thing every, something everyone needs to go to, something that will change lives. This outlook on prom is promoted through the entire movie to the point where it becomes really annoying because everyone watching knows that's not true.
  • A student jokingly flirts with his teacher, suggesting they run away together.
  • Backhanded reference to girlfriend as a "hot girl"
  • Kisses. One from the back that's not visible. At least four others that are visible. One passionate and rather disgusting kiss involving lots of head tilting.
  • Guys with no shirts on (letters painted on their chests)
  • Girl tends to wear low shirts that reveal a bit of cleavage and short skirts (these aren't as much of a problem since the camera spends most of its time too high to see her legs)
  • Mention of serial killers in relation to letters being cut out to create a message. This is meant as a joke.
  • Someone mutters, "Oh God"
  • A guy is randomly, and with no explanation, in the girls' bathroom. He acts like it's completely normal.
  • One kid remarks to his friend that he had better check his breath to make sure he doesn't have "butt mouth" before talking to a girl
  • One of the teens has a girlfriend/date who is out clubbing late at night (we do not actually meet her until the end of the movie). This same girl wears a dress which has a slit right down the center. Someone says of her dress that she would have to be a Victoria Secret model to pull it off.
  • Guy cheats on his girlfriend and lies about it. He then lies to the other girl he likes. Basically, he lies a lot and manipulates girls.
  • Girl tries on a lot of prom dresses (most tight, strapless, low, one with a high slit in the skirt, etc). The guy with her tries to get her to try on a little (very little) black one. She refuses.
  • Father listens in on his daughter's conversation with her friends. He then threatens/guilt-trips the guy who likes the daughter into not asking her to prom.
  • Brief fist fight. One kid gets beaten and has a bloody mouth. He seems fine otherwise, and the others do as well.
  • Parents are awful parents. They are more friends than anything, and when they are parents, they are stressing the child go to a certain college and not mess up any of her plans.

My Thoughts
Um. What to say? It was funny. The best parts were Floyd trying to get a date, the funny things Jesse said, and Lucas and his best buddy Cory (the sophomores).
The writers tried to balance out the sparkly and glorious view of prom with a more negative one, proposed by Jesse, who says prom isn't all that great after all. But even he caves under Nova's dreams for a perfect night.
It's break. I have lots of time, but I do regret spending it watching this movie. Luckily it wasn't very long. It felt pointless. It had its funny moments, yes, but it felt like I was being indoctrinated. Prom is wonderful. Prom is perfect. Everyone loves prom. Everyone goes.
But, content-wise, it wasn't so bad. And as a junior in college, I am clearly not the target audience. And I never went to prom, so who am I to say this movie is wrong?
Maybe it's not. But it is empty. The plot is broken. The character development is nearly nonexistent.
There's nothing to it. It's one of those movies you watch when you're sick because you can't process anything.