Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Prom’ on Netflix, in Which Streep Streeps Her Way Through a Gregarious Musical-Comedy

If you’re offended by the rhyming of “wear a” with “tiara,” I suggest avoiding The Prom, the new Broadway musical-turned-movie that’s new on Netflix. Ryan Murphy, creator of Popular, American Horror Story and, most relevant to the discussion, Glee, and director of Eat, Pray, Love, helms this ruthless slab of EXTRA about four Broadway near-has-beens who cynically attempt to boost their public profile by helping a teenage girl ostracized by her school because she’s gay. Meryl Streep headlines; James Corden makes headlines by playing a mincing, stereotypically gay man. I dunno, maybe this thing’s unapologetic ebullience can make up for any missteps?

THE PROM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s all Emma’s (Jo Ellen Pellman) fault that prom is being canceled. The PTA of the high school in Bullpuck, Indiana has made a rule that prom attendees can only bring a person of the opposite sex as a date, and Emma’s insistence upon being who she is instead of something else has ruined it for everyone else. The head of the PTAssholes is Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington), who stands behind the bible and tradition and this-is-Indiana-not-America arguments, all stuff that holds about as much water as a leaky thimble. School principal Tom Hawkins (Keegan-Michael Key) stumps for Emma and contacts a civil rights lawyer.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dee Dee Allen (Streep) and Barry Glickman (Corden) are being savaged by critics for their portrayals of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt in the Broadway musical Eleanor!. Nobody likes them. They’re full-of-themselves narcissists, forever high on their own farts. They’re bemoaning their failures with perennial chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman) and Juilliard-schooled braggart-actor-turned-bartender Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells) when inspiration strikes: A sure-fire way to improve their PR is to adopt a celebrity cause — and that poor girl in podunk Indiana is ripe for exploitation.

So this self-obsessed foursome leaps to Emma’s aid, enduring the primitive incivility of their hotel not having a spa, an in-house doctor or any high-roller suites. They bust into a PTA meeting and declare themselves Emma’s saviors. Mrs. Greene puckers. Principal Hawkins’ jaw drops — he’s a huuuuuuge Broadway nut and Dee Dee Allen superfan. He can’t believe they’re here in Indiana, and really, neither can they. The PTA relents, allowing an inclusive prom, although the lawyer surely had more to do with it than this group of egotists. The celebs stick around so Barry can take Emma to the KMart for a fashion makeover (there’s no Saks in this mudhole!), and Principal Hawkins gets a dream date with Dee Dee at the fanciest place in town, Applebee’s. But that’s not the end. Oh no. We’re only like 27 minutes in. Things have to get worse for Emma and the identity of her sweetheart has yet to be revealed, although we figured out who it is roughly 26 minutes ago. Will Emma get the happily ever after she deserves? Will the celebs ever get over themselves and get real? NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNO spoilers.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This has a distinct hooray-for-everything Mamma Mia! whiff. Whether it’s the whiff of fresh-from-the-oven cookies or the septic tank is in the nose of the beholder.

Performance Worth Watching: As with so many Streep movies, this one goes to Streep by default. If any two characters generate any substantial comic chemistry, it’s she and Key.

Memorable Dialogue: Dee Dee, Barry, Angie and Trent introduce themselves to the PTA and other tut-tutting Indianers: “WE are LIBERALS from BROADWAY!”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Like too many lesser musicals, The Prom has a please-stop-singing-and-get-the-plot-over-with quality to it, an elongation of narrative that its toe-knuckle-deep characters don’t deserve. So it better make up for it with OTT LET’S-DO-THIS enthusiasm, of which it has an abundance — for a little while. The first act establishes Emma’s wide-eyed earnestness and Dee Dee’s generally amusing Streepity-Streepity-Streepness, Streep truly Streeping like none have ever Strept. These two characters have to work or none of it works, and they mostly work.

But they don’t sustain this film through the saggiest middle in recent memory, an hour-plus of a merry-go-round stopping at each character, and lest we forget that everybody hurts, all of them get an opportunity to Arc! their way through a forgettable number. Each musical sequence seems to elevate the volume roughly 35dB, Murphy directing them with a can’t-stop-won’t-stop zoom-and-whoosh cinematographical M.O. Such attempts at visual verve are wasted when there’s such a who-cares quality to the plights of supporting players; Kidman makes the most of a song-and-dance about “ZAZZ!”, but the depth of Angie’s emotional makeup wouldn’t drown an earthworm.

Emma’s underdog LGBTQ+ story — sometimes guys like guys and dolls like dolls; get over it! — is an easy win eroded by this film’s lack of editorial prudence. That’s a snobby way of saying it’s too damn long. Streep’s paste-on-a-face good-will stabs at comedy just can’t sustain this thing; large portions of the film seem like SPOOF! The Musical; and Corden’s campy “gay as a bucket of wigs” performance is embarrassing, and the many critics calling it a prime example of “gayface” have a sturdy argument.

Our Call: STREAM IT, but please note, my love/hate relationship with Streeping teeters toward the latter when it involves relentlessly artificial singing and dancing. It’s probably a SKIP IT for those of you who loathe broad, wide, flat, diversionary, ridiculous, simplistic, borderline empty entertainment.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream The Prom on Netflix