THE PROM

The Prom sees Nashville (by way of Sydney) native, Nicole Kidman reunite with Meryl Streep in the Ryan Murphy directed adaptation of the Broadway play. The two stared together in The Hours, for which Nicole Kidman won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and in the second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies. Nicole Kidman had long wanted to work with Ryan Murphy. In the early aughts there were persistent rumors that she would appear on Nip/Tuck in a cameo as a potential nose job patient wearing the Virginia Woolf nose from The Hours.

The Prom had a limited theater release and started streaming on Netflix on the 11th. I have to say I enjoyed it. I watched it recently with a friend who loathes musicals. I told her it was a musical comedy and I don’t think she heard me say musical and she enjoyed it too. It’s not a new story – Emma’s hopes for prom are dashed because the date she wants to take is the same sex. Her date’s mother happens to be the tightly wound head of the PTA. A few Broadway stars who are in desperate need of PR decide to descend on Edgewater, IN upon hearing of Emma’s plight – it was trending on twitter. Instead of helping Emma get the prom of her dreams, the PR stunt backfires. If you want to know more you’ll have to watch. I will say there’s the message of inclusivity and a well done musical number about hypocrisy since so many tend to cherry pick from the Bible and/or don’t always apply the same standards to themselves that they do for others. Don’t worry it wasn’t preachy, just funny.

For me the film was bright and colorful, beautifully photographed, has a fun star-studded cast in slightly campy roles. For the record I disagree with the critics, I liked James Corden as Barry Glickman – there are stereotypes for a reason and I’m not opposed to seeing them from time to time. I’m also a huge fan of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story. There’s a scene in The Prom at Sardi’s with Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman and Andrew Rannells. They’re singing and planning their trip to Indiana and I swear I thought Lady Gaga’s The Countess and Denis O’Hare’s Liz Taylor from American Horror Story: Hotel (season 5) were going to pop up and join them. They didn’t. That was my only disappointment. Like I said I enjoyed it. I would watch it again as it’s easy and entertaining. I also thought it was hopeful, it is a film about hope that things will change for the better and that’s exactly what we need right now!