Netflix’s “The Prom”

A quick summary before I begin:

Dee Dee (Meryl Streep) and Barry (James Cordon) are two actors in a Broadway show that immediately flopped. They find two friends: Trent (Andrew Rannells) — famous for a 90s-esque sitcom but a struggling actor ever since — and Angie (Nicole Kidman) — a chorus girl who is having trouble becoming a lead. They find out that a prom in Indiana is cancelled because a girl, Emma (Jo Ellen Pellman) wants to take her girlfriend to the prom, so they head to the Bible belt to help with her situation… and by that, I mean get PR points for being good people.

Here is where I will be putting all of my initial thoughts on Netflix’s “The Prom.” As I write these notes, they are my gut reactions to seeing this movie for the first time. I just want to preface this by saying that I saw this on Broadway in 2018 and absolutely hated it. I thought it was because it was “too gay” for me, but the truth is nothing can really be “too gay,” especially for me. And I think the reason I hated it is because… well, keep reading if you really want to know ;)

Also yes, this film came out in 2020, so I am a bit late to the party. I will be watching this with an open mind but also trying to figure out what I didn’t like about it in the first place. **MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. STOP NOW IF THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU WANT** Without further ado, here are my thoughts!

• It’s so wild seeing Kerry Washington play a homophobe considering what an activist she is as a real person
• James Cordon has a terrible American accent, he keeps forgetting that he’s not supposed to be British and it shows up in the middle of a sentence
• Maybe I hated this because of how obsessed the adults are with themselves?
• Wait, okay why is Emma smiling so much in this song??? Literally everyone hates her and is bullying her for her sexuality

Literally Emma’s face when she’s getting harassed

• I don’t remember the principal being so supportive of Emma
• I can’t tell if Meryl Streep’s obsession with herself is supposed to be funny or make it easy for her to grow but either way I hate it
• The Godspell kids singing on the bus is the most theater thing I’ve seen in a long time. Wow I miss bursting out to songs in a crowd and annoying everyone around me
• “This isn’t America, this is Indiana” *audience claps*
• “This is not a student matter” ma’am this is a prom
• They’re making it way too obvious that the main PTA mom’s daughter is Emma’s girlfriend
• “We are liberals from Broadway” I laughed out loud
• “I read three quarters of a news article and knew I had to come” — also people who posted a black square this summer and then attended a protest because all of their friends were there. You know what I’m talking about.
• I know the whole “this is not about me” song is supposed to be satire but it makes me so angry
• “Straight people like Broadway too” “I’ve heard that but I always thought it was a fairytale” I mean she’s not wrong
• The “I Just Wanna Dance With You” harmonies are so so pretty
• Not Dee Dee pulling out her Tony awards requesting special treatment
• IS THAT A DRAMA DESK AWARD THAT BARRY JUST PULLED OUT OF HIS BAG
• Yep it is
• NOT THE HOTEL CLERK RECOGNIZING TRENT AND NOT THE OTHERS
• Bertrum being in this is so forgettable I forgot he was in this movie twice already and I’m only 40 minutes in
• Are they really singing a ballad about acceptance at a monster truck rally? Of course they got booed off the stage
• Promposal DAY???? I know that’s how they have to do it for the song sake but what
• Wait I think they played this song before we found out who Emma’s gf is in the Broadway version
• Oh no the popular girls saw Emma and Alyssa talking
• I’m sorry but did Kerry Washington’s character walk into an Applebee’s to… bully an adult woman??
• “I’ve never said this before but… tell me about you” that’s so aggressively narcissistic. Like it’s not even funny it just made me uncomfortable
• “I’m just a small town girl” LIVING IN A LOOOONELY WORLD
• NOT THE GUY FROM KEY AND PEELE SINGING. THIS SONG IS SO AGGRESSIVELY AUTO TUNED
• “A distraction is momentary, an escape helps you heal” brb I need to think about that for a while
• *Talking about musicals* “Where the answer to each problem is to burst into a song” is that not how other people solve their problems in real life?

Netflix’s cast of “The Prom”

• Something I think is kinda cool that movies can do that Broadway can’t is this thing where characters are in two places at once — like here in this song the principal is singing about what Broadway means to him. Physically, he’s in Applebee’s having dinner with Dee Dee. However, clips of him watching Dee Dee perform on stage are shown
• There goes that trademarked terrible Cordon accent
• “You could wear that to prom or… you know… keep it lying around in case there’s a remake of Little House on the Prairie”
• “This isn’t about me, this is about you” (-Barry) wow that’s the first time this has been said this whole time and Dee Dee could never
• Okay so one the one criticism I heard about the Prom is that people thought that James Cordon is playing Barry very stereotypical gay man which is uncomfortable and mildly offensive because he’s straight. I think that James is doing fine as Barry, like his performance isn’t bad or offensive (in my opinion) as Barry is a very “go big or go home” personality and he’s just playing that part but… really? There are NO actually gay men that could have played this part? Like I know Ryan Murphy wanted the big names but do you honestly expect me to believe that in all of theater there isn’t an abundance of famous gay men dying to play this role?
• So many limos oh my gosh
• Noooo I remember this part :( Everyone hosting a prom and not letting Emma know the real location

• Emma’s reprise is giving me chills tho
• I remembered Alyssa backing out of coming out to her mom on that evening and leaving Emma by herself but it still hurts to watch
• OH DIP THE PRINCIPAL HEARD DEE DEE SAY THEY ONLY CAME FOR THE PUBLICITY AHHHH
• YES Andrew in his Love Thy Neighbor outfit that means it’s coming soon
• “Instead of giving up: give it some zazz” is the best catch phrase
• I can’t figure out why I hated this so much on Broadway I’m quite enjoying this — Dee Dee is actually kinda sympathetic after her speech about her ex-husband
• Is she… is she trying to seduce him by singing him the Dolores song
• The most uncomfortable part is that there is a 95% chance this will work
• Okay this is going back to the thing I was talking about earlier about how certain things you can do in film you can’t on Broadway — you can see her performing on stage juxtaposed with her singing in the principal’s office and I’m a fan
• Meryl Streep CRUSHED that number
• “Not making someone pay for an apology is not a selfless act”
• Honestly Emma good for you dump her and dump her hard
• YES ANDREW’S IN THE MALL WITH THAT OUTFIT HERE COMES LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
• “We don’t have a drama program” “Well that explains your general lack of empathy” I —
• “We’re good people! We’re Christians!” MA’AM THOSE ARE NOT THE SAME
• I’ve seen / heard this song so many times and now I’m vibing
• “Hey it’s the Godspell kids!” I FINALLY UNDERSTAND THAT
• “Let’s hope you don’t masturbate — or the scripture says we’ll have to cut off your… hands” will never not make me laugh

• It makes me kinda sad that it takes a lot more than a single song about Jesus to remove bigotry from someone’s heart in real life :(
• Bruh why would they share how many people would be watching her on TV she’s literally a high schooler she’s gonna be terrified
• Oh wait she’s just not going on TV entirely
• Aw Barry’s wearing the tux he wanted to wear at his prom
• This dance he’s doing with his younger self is absolutely adorable
• Is he gonna call his mom now
• YES DO IT BARRY
• Oh no we don’t know if he did
• Yeah singing a song on live stream is more intimate than a TV talk show and much more high schooler in 2020… however I feel like she still should’ve gone on TV to advertise this (mostly so that Dee Dee giving up her Hampton’s house wasn’t a complete waste)
• A super random thing to be noticing right now but holy cow Emma’s room is huge
• I really like how social media is used in this story — it’s not overused but like the celebrities found out about this situation on twitter and now using social media for Emma to share her story
• *talking about a debit card* “Just cross your fingers and swipe” me in 2018
• Oh so he didn’t call her
• OH HE DID AND HE JUST HUNG UP
• Aw what a cute mother-son moment
• “You guys are the best middle aged people I’ve ever met” I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO COME AT HER FOR THE AGE THING HAHAHA nope they’re coming clean
• HERE COMES ALYSSA I’M SQUEALING
• Wait is Trent gonna be the drama teacher
• WHERE DID THIS SCHOOL RANDOMLY GET THE MONEY FOR A TEACHER
• Is Alyssa gonna come out now
• SHE DID IT
• Well she told her mom in a public place so she wouldn’t freak out like the original plan
• “I just don’t want you to have a hard life” “it’s already hard” THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID I KNOW THIS IS A SERIOUS MOMENT BUT THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID
• Emma got to wear that vintage tux she wanted!!!
• This prom is literally so much cooler than the one they threw to spite Emma like not just morally but the lights and the setup is just far superior
• Why are the adults shook that this is what it looks like are they not the ones who did it

The significantly cooler prom

• How am I just noticing now that everyone’s outfits make a rainbow
• NOT BARRY SINGING “I JUST WANT TO DANCE WITH YOU” TO HIS MOM THAT’S SO CUTE
• I can’t tell if Barry being prom queen was originally in this story or if Ryan Murphy just has a thing for making gay men prom queens #Glee
• These couples are so so cute
• I’m genuinely surprised that the homophobic mom that is the main villain of this story is accepting her gay daughter after barely two songs
• IS THE PRINCIPAL ASKING DEE DEE TO THE PROM THAT’S REALLY CUTE. I mean predictable bUT SO CUTE
• This dancing is really intense for a prom
• Oh my gosh Bertrum is in this movie I forgot again
• “I just wanna dance with you” gimme those harmonies again
• No harmonies — maybe that was a musical choice to show they’re finally on the same page completely?
• Oh my gosh I remember when they did this at the Thanksgiving Day parade and the snowflakes all but sh*t their pants because there was a girl on girl kiss

Macy’s Day Parade performance in 2018

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed that!! The only reasons I can think of that I hated it so much when I originally saw it were 1. My mental state and 2. Finding Dee Dee’s self centered-ness taking center stage of the story and overshadowing Emma.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Seeing as it’s the one year anniversary of the Broadway shut down, I needed something like this. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more musical movie adaptions in the future. I’d give it a solid 8/10. There were parts that gave me chills and I found just generally serotonin producing (like every time Andrew came on screen or there was a joke about how gay theater is), but those moments were few and far between. Maybe I’m mostly ranking it so high because I’m desperate for musicals and more representation and because I’m in a more accepting place in my life than I was when I saw it on Broadway. Long story short: if you’re missing musicals like I am, you should give this a shot.