‘The Prom’: a light, if cloying, cure for the pandemic

Above: James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Keegan-Michael Key star in "The Prom." (Photo: Netflix)

Movie review: "The Prom," directed by Ryan Murphy, starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells, Jo Ellen Pellman, Kerry Washington.

If you look at the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest musicals, you’ll see a wide variety of themes and styles. Some of the films in the Top 10 don’t even seem like musicals at all.

Sure, there is music – unforgettable music – in “The Wizard of Oz” (no. 3 on AFI’s list), but — rightly or wrongly — I’ve never considered it the same as “The Sound of Music” (No. 4), “West Side Story” (No. 2) or “Singin’ in the Rain” (no. 1). Music isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Dorothy and Toto’s trek to the Emerald City.

No, when I think of “The Wizard of Oz” I think of melting witches, flying monkeys, a tinman with a heart, a scarecrow with a brain and a lion with courage – not to mention a man standing behind a curtain who is able to fool so many into thinking that he’s the one still in charge … all comparisons to current events, of course, being merely coincidental.

Something that is far closer to what I consider a standard movie musical is “The Prom,” Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman and featuring a talented newcomer, Jo Ellen Pellman, “The Prom” is based – very loosely – on a true story.

It was in 2010 that a Mississippi high-school student named Constance McMillen was barred from attending her senior prom as she wanted, wearing a tuxedo with her girlfriend at her side. The local school board said she couldn’t, she objected, one thing led to another – and the board canceled prom. Ultimately, with the support of celebrities such as former NYSYNC boy-band member Lance Bass, McMillen was able to attend an alternate “inclusive prom,” organized by a group called the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition.

Murphy’s adaptation, which reportedly is nearly identical to the stage musical, follows a similar storyline. Only it begins with the celebrities – mainly Dee Dee Allen (played by Streep) and Barry Glickman (played by Corden) – who are rebounding from ruinous reviews of their latest show, a dim-wittedly conceived musical biopic based on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Along with Angie Dickinson (played by Kidman) and the frustrated actor/bartender Trent Oliver (played by Andrew Rannells), Dee Dee and Barry – intent on recharging their reputations by doing something civic-minded – end up heading to the small Indiana town where senior Emma Nolan (played by Pellman) has been told that, like the real-life student McMillen, she can’t attend prom with her girlfriend.

During a tempestuous PTA meeting that – with the encouragement of her supportive school principal, Tom Hawkins (played by Keegan-Michael Key) – Emma attempts to convince the board to change its decision. And, of course, it’s at this very moment that the self-absorbed celebs burst into the meeting hall, with Trent proclaiming, “We are liberals from Broadway,” and Barry adding, “We are here from New York City, and we are going to save you.”

Which – surprise, surprise – doesn’t go over well. Or, more correctly, at all. Remember, though, this is musical comedy. So, despite the fact that Emma gets punked into attending the wrong prom event, that Dee Dee alienates her most ardent fan Principal Tom, that Barry refuses to make up with the mother who he feels betrayed him and even that the head of the school’s PTA (played by Kerry Washington) considers being gay something to be avoided at all costs … despite all this, you know from the opening musical number that things will work out – for everyone.

Which in itself isn’t bad, except that it all seems so … simplistic. The script, by the same writers of the stage production – Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin – would have us believe that, despite all evidence to the contrary, all we have to do to bring a discordant America together is just to force each side to listen to one another – oh, plus reminding the self-righteous of what the good book says. As Trent, while performing in a shopping mall courtyard, sings, “There's one rule that trumps them all: Love Thy Neighbor, love thy neighbor, love thy neighbor trumps them all.”

And Rannells sings and dances it well. As do all the performers, actually, even if director Murphy – one of the creators of the TV show “Glee” – does get a bit too busy with his camera, which makes the chorography at times feel more frenzied than a Costco shopping trip on Black Friday. But, does that really matter? “The Prom” is just bouncy enough, in theme and execution, that only the most discerning of musical fans will likely care.

From this side of the Emerald City curtain, it seems clear that, especially during this time of pandemic, a bit of fantasy can’t be bad, no matter how cloying it might be.

(Note: This review was previously broadcast on Spokane Public Radio.)