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According to Disney’s new teen drama, Prom, the senior prom is a magical, unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime night, when anything is possible. It doesn’t matter who you were for the last four years—because, for that one night, nerds, jocks, losers, and rich kids all join together to celebrate the end of their high school career.
Sound like your prom? Yeah…not mine, either.
But, well, in a Disney movie, I suppose anything really is possible.
Prom follows a group of high school kids in the weeks leading up to their senior prom. Prim and perfect class president Nova (Aimee Teegarden) has spent the year planning the event, determined to make it the most magical prom ever. But her dream of the perfect prom is ruined when her dream date, Brandon (Jonathan Keltz), blows her off—right before the school’s storage barn burns down, destroying all of the decorations. To make matters worse, Nova’s stuck with moody teen troublemaker Jesse (Thomas McDonell) as her new assistant.
Meanwhile, other kids are dealing with their own drama. The most popular girl in school battles her boyfriend’s wandering eye. A loner searches for a date. An aspiring designer keeps a big secret from her boyfriend. And a love struck sophomore tries to build up the courage tell his lab partner how he feels.
Prom is a compilation of teen drama clichés, with characters ripped right out of John Hughes’s most iconic films. Here, you’ll find the perfect teen princess, the lovable loser, and the misunderstood teen rebel—and, from the beginning, you’ll have a pretty good idea of where they’ll all eventually end up. But although Prom has the same characters (and the same teen clichés) found in any ‘80s teen classic, it just doesn’t have the same charm or sincerity. It feels more like a half-hearted rehashing of the same old story.
Some of the characters are cute—especially lovable loser Lloyd (this one’s played by Nicholas Braun—not John Cusack), whose creative (and sometimes misguided) prom invitations are rejected over and over, by just about every girl in school. But, with so many characters—and so many plotlines—woven into the film, it’s tough to get to know any of them well enough to really care about what happens to them.
Prom is loaded with the typical teen melodrama involving a cast of characters who are all sweetly naïve. And, in true Disney form, it’s all wholesome enough for pre-teen viewers. That’s probably a good thing, too, since most teen audiences will be bored by the same old predictable fluff.
Tween girls will swoon over the romance and pretty dresses of Prom—but this super-sweet teen soap opera could have easily gone straight to TV.
Blu-ray Review:
I may not have been blown away by Disney’s Prom, but I was pleasantly surprised by its Blu-ray release. The special features menu includes some of the old standbys—like a cute blooper reel, a short making-of feature, and a few deleted scenes, hosted by awkwardly amusing director Joe Nussbaum and producer Justin Springer. For music lovers, there are also seven music videos, including Girl in a Coma’s Prom-themed video for “Come On, Let’s Go” and “Your Surrender” by Neon Trees.
The film’s best extra, however, is Last Chance Lloyd, an absolutely hilarious short that follows lovable loser Lloyd as he tries over and over and over again to get a date (with some help from his little sister, Tess, played by Raini Rodriguez). Since Lloyd’s story was my favorite part of Prom, I was thrilled to see more of the character’s unrelenting quest. And the resulting short film is both sweet and laugh-out-loud funny—a definite must-see.
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