The screen adaptation of the Broadway musical The Prom has received widely mixed reviews from film critics. The stage musical premiered at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta on Aug. 18, 2016, and opened at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre on Nov. 15, 2018, earning seven Tony nominations, including best musical. Its creative team was Bob Martin (book), Chad Beguelin (book, lyrics), Matthew Sklar (music), Casey Nicholaw (direction, choreography), Scott Pask (sets), Ann Roth and Matthew Pachtman (costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting), and Brian Ronan (sound).
The film opens December 4 in cinemas and begins streaming December 11 on Netflix. Its creative team is Bob Martin (screenplay), Chad Beguelin (screenplay, lyrics), Matthew Sklar and David Klotz (music), Ryan Murphy (direction), Casey Nicholaw (choreography), Matthew Libatique (cinematography), Peggy Tachdjian and Danielle Wang (editing), Jamie Walker McCall (production design), Sarah Delucchi and Tom Frohling (art direction), Gene Serdena (set decoration), and Lou Eyrich (costumes).
The film cast includes Meryl Streep (Dee Dee Allen), James Corden (Barry Glickman), Nicole Kidman (Angie Dickinson), Keegan-Michael Key (Tom Hawkins), Andrew Rannells (Trent Oliver), Ariana DeBose (Alyssa Greene), Kerry Washington (Mrs. Greene), Kevin Chamberlin (Sheldon Saperstein), and newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman (Emma).
Entertainment Weekly (Mary Sollosi): The Prom is narratively sloppy, emotionally false, visually ugly, morally superior, and at least 15 minutes too long. … The Prom claims to celebrate courage, being true to oneself, standing up for what you believe in, blah blah blah. Those are all lovely ideas when presented with a bit of nuance or insight. … Ultimately, the film has way too much in common with the egomaniacs at its center: It poses for an undeniably good cause, but its greater purpose is to collect the credit for having done it. D.
The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw): The Prom is as corny as you like, and there is hardly a plot turn, transition or song-cue that can’t be guessed well in advance; but it’s so goofy that you just have to enjoy it. … Of course there is no question of the music-theatre megastars seriously conceding anything to conservative-minded locals, other than the time-honored virtue of putting aside your self-love for a bit. But self-love is the whole point. 4 of 5 stars.
Hollywood Reporter (David Rooney): Meryl Streep is in delectable form. … Whenever she’s center-screen, this Netflix adaptation of the disarming 2018 Broadway musical sparkles with campy humor. Elsewhere, the starry casting and heavy hand of director Ryan Murphy do the featherweight material few favors. … Watching these actors exercise their musical chops brings sporadic enjoyment even if the cast never quite coheres as an ensemble.
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): Most viewers will be attending The Prom for the first time on Netflix. And they’ll have a fabulous night — but it’ll help if they spike their punch. … The story is more moving here than it was at the theater. … A line [Tom] speaks that was schmaltzy two years ago hit me like a falling piece of scenery now that Times Square’s theaters are all dark. … Dee Dee tells him she’s thinking of quitting Broadway for good. “You can’t quit,” he replies. “Because I need you to do what you do.” Don’t we all? 3 of 4 stars.
USA Today (Brian Truitt): Instead of being preachy about acceptance and loving each other no matter our differences … The Prom lets its infectious jubilance and lovable irreverence do the job. … The Prom is an exuberant love letter to Broadway’s “Let’s put on a show!” ethos that will earworm you till the new year and proves how a great musical — armed with a heartfelt story — unites like nothing else can. 4 of 4 stars.
Us Weekly (Mara Reinstein): There haven’t been a whole lot of reasons to smile this year. … Everything changes right now thanks to The Prom, a wondrously entertaining and big-hearted musical comedy guaranteed to crowd-please. … Old-fashioned musicality aside, The Prom still carries a very 2020 message of promoting tolerance over bigotry. … How amazing that a movie so lively and jubilant and LOL-funny as The Prom can land with such emotional impact. 3.5 of 4 stars.
Vanity Fair (Richard Lawson): Newcomers Jo Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose … add dashes of bright theater-kid moxie to the film, conjuring up a bit of what it feels like to sit in a Broadway house and watch a bunch of lovable goobers belt their hearts out. Otherwise, The Prom is staged in confusing, frustrating ways. … Murphy doesn’t seem to have any true interest in, or understanding of, what people actually like about musicals. The Prom is a shellacked lump of Hollywood product, all canned fabulousness.
Variety (Owen Gleiberman): The Prom … is on some level a knowingly assembled package of shiny happy film-musical clichés. Yet Murphy, working with the cinematographer Matthew Libatíque, gives the movie an intoxicating visual sweep, and there’s a beguiling wit to the dialogue. … The timing of The Prom feels karmically right, because it’s about the two Americas coming together. … That’s a story worth telling, and one that we need to hear.
