Rating:  

Starring: Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, DeVaughn Nixon, Danielle Campbell, Yin Chang, Jared Kusnitz, Nolan Sotillo, Cameron Monaghan, Kylie Bunbury, Joe Adler, Janelle Ortiz, Jonathan Keltz, Nicholas Braun, Raini Rodriguez, Dean Norris, Jere Burns, Faith Ford, Amy Pietz, Rocco Nugent.
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Director: Joe Nussbaum
Rating: PG
Running Time: 104 Mins.
Release Date: April 29, 2011
Home Video Release Date: August 30, 2011
Box Office: $10.1 Million
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Rickshaw Productions and Walt Disney Pictures.

Written by: Katie Wech.

Disney’s teen/family film “Prom” exists in a vacuum. Every person of importance is thin, the popular kids are all ripped and athletic, the geeky nerds are able to land the heretofore unattainable hottie, everyone is heterosexual, and minorities exist in scant numbers. I know, I know. It’s only a movie.

“Prom” is the type of film that while proudly carrying its PG rating and being marketed to kids, is aggravatingly out of touch with a pesky little thing known as reality.Directed by Joe Nussbaum (Sydney White), “Prom” focuses on numerous characters who are readying themselves for the big defining moment of every high school year. At times, the film feels lost in time, with the characters and their circumstances stuck back in some mid-1980′s cinematic world that was false then and even more disingenuous today. Embedded in the cast, we have the class president, Nova (Aimee Teegarden), her Prom planning team and best friends, Ali (Janelle Ortiz), Brandon (Jonathan Keltz), Mei (Yin Chang), and Rolo (Joe Adler), as well as an unrelenting series of caricatures comprising the rest of Brookside High School. We also are introduced to the token Bad Boy, Jesse (Thomas McDonell), who as a form of disciplinary punishment must work with Nova in planning the upcoming Senior Prom.Other performances are instantly forgettable, although I did like the storyline between the babyface sophomore Lucas (Nolan Sotillo) and the girl of his dreams, Simone (Danielle Campbell). Their story is another guy-chases-girl-out-of-his-league-and-wins-her-heart storyline, but a hint of chemistry goes along way here and I actually looked forward to their scenes together. Everything else falls flat and issues such as whether the popular athlete is cheating on his girlfriend, or whether the alarmingly desperate guy asking every girl in the school to go to Prom with him will actually land a date, fail to resonate. The film is not even really all that funny and feels better suited to a 3-story episode of a teen television series than any type of a theatrical feature film.I could spend paragraphs trying to weed through all of the characters and their subplots and how they all interconnect, but why? Despite the propaganda of the screenplay, “Prom” is really not the “one night that brings everyone together.” Rather, for me anyway, “Prom” was the night that people tried to guess who might try and take things to the next level, engaged in the snarky, backstabbing, envy-laden talks over who was or wasn’t selected as Prom Royalty, the complaining of how uncool the music and food happened to be, and frankly, how long we had to stay at this thing until we could go to So-and-So’s party before curfew.This lily-white and homogenized version of “Prom” is a listless bore. I have no idea why Disney put this in theaters except that maybe they felt they could find some breakout stars in their ensemble of newcomers. Sadly, the ignorant screenplay and boring direction renders everyone and everything instantly forgettable. Meanwhile, I wonder if Lucas and Simone have Facebook pages…I’d love to see how they are doing.

Should I See It?

If you enjoy made-for-cable teen movies found on Disney or ABC Family, then “Prom” might appeal to you.

I was able to watch the whole thing, which I suppose says something. Nothing is really ever funny here but I can see people amused by it perhaps.

I have no real understanding why Disney opted to make this. There is nothing distinctive about it and it is increasingly forgettable as the minutes drift by.

I don’t know what screenwriter Katie Wech thinks high school is like but she trots her way through every cliched person, place, or thing in the film, seemingly and blissfully unaware of the world happening around her.