i really hate how they frame alyssa not wanting to come out to her homophobic mom as some sort of flaw she needs to overcome. as barry's backstory easily demonstrates, coming out, especially while she's still living with her mom, could put her in a really bad situation, and the fact that her girlfriend is pressuring her into it knowing that alyssa's mom is literally leading a homophobic movement as they speak is absolutely insane.
I hate that it was seen as a flaw. gay ppl would know that forcing someone to out themselves while they are still with unsupportive parents is risky and scary to think about the effects. Forcing someone to come out which could endanger their safety is not cool. Let people come out when they want to or feel safe enough to do so
yeah, it's really gross. it's not the same exactly, but i was forced out as trans to my parents by my own school counselors- while it ended up being fine, i was having panic attacks the entire week "grace period" they gave me, worried that something terrible was going to happen. it's been over 4 years, but i still just remember the terror i felt back then, and wonder about how it could've gone so much worse if my dad was a worse person. on a brighter note, i'm almost three months on t, so that's cool.
YES! I was forced out by my parents, and even though I did my best to explain myself and they said that they just want me to be happy, they are still against me being out to literally anyone, even though I'm now at a better and more progressive school and I have many friends who are in support of me. They punish me if it comes to their attention that I'm out to a bunch of my friends, and it is frustrating that people would think that being out to homophobic parents is something that anyone and everyone should do. If you feel safe coming out, great, absolutely do that. If it is not safe to come out, wait until you are in a good enough position to do so. You don't even have to if you don't want to!
as a lesbian from indiana, you can imagine my disappointment in this movie. any movie with james corden automatically spells disaster though so i wasnt surprised lmao
@@AbigailsCorner4444 good question! (speaking for myself) yes and no. we're a really weird mix of southern culture and more northern city culture because of us sharing the border with kentucky and being a rural agricultural state + our close proximity to chicago, so its a bit all over the place. i live in the north of indiana about an hour away from chicago so take that as you will. ive definitely met some homophobic people and heard the f slur thrown around but i can't imagine my school ever cancelling prom due to a queer couple wanting to attend. my school has a good amount of gay kids like any other high school does and i literally went to prom with a girl lmao. being based off an incident that took place in mississippi, i don't really understand why the musical couldnt take place in a more universally conservative state. but as a state indiana can be homophobic when she wants to be (me and my friends have an inside joke where anything south of indianapolis is just kentucky 2.0 lol so i would assume that "Prom" would take place down there).
The film would drastically improve just by replacing James Corden with some other actor. I don't understand why Hollywood is trying to shove him down our throats like Amy Shucmar (I don't know how to spell her last name). I mean come on even his own country doesn't want him.
I hate Netflix’s attempts at diversity. I mean the lesbians who were the MAIN characters in the original get like 7 minutes on screen. They obviously don’t care and only do it for the money. Also James Cordon’s “gay accent” makes me want to commit crime
This movie in general wants me to commit Suzuki. I want to commit die while running over people with a Suzuki van. And I am someone who loves musicals, even Cats.
8:00 actually! They made a book after/during the Broadway run, based off the musical, and it tells us why! No clue why the musical didn’t pick up on this, or the movie, but so sum it up: Emma and Alyssa hatched a plan. Emma was going to write down a random girl’s name to hide Alyssa, and Alyssa was going to write up a random guy’s name to hide Emma. Then Mrs. Greene learns that Emma wanted to go to prom with a girl, after the two people selling tickets let it slip out, and she went furious.
Anyways go read The Prom, almost every chapter title is a little theater reference, and it bounces between Alyssa and Emma’s POV, we even learn how the two met!
Yeah I remember reading the book a while ago not knowing it was originally a musical and it's waayyyy better than this movie, I was pretty suprised when the movie was from the actors perspectives when it works so much better from Emma's and Alyssa's
Bertram, Kevin Chamberlin, should have played the James Corden character tbh, he's lovable and gay in real life. I will say, while flamboyant gay is a stereotype, I as a gay person know a lot of very flamboyant gay people, and am one myself. While you are right we are much more nuanced, real people in real life. Flamboyant portrayals don't usually bother me, especially if the character is more nuanced and played by a gay actor. If Kevin Chamberlin played the main character I probably would have liked this movie a lot tbh.
Fun "The Prom" Fact: The actor who plays Trent, the guy who sings the Love thy Neighbour song, is actually an out gay man. I just find it really funny that he had to act alongside James Cordon in this.
yeah!! bro since the casting announcement for the movie I've been like huh?? there is an out gay man right there to play the flamboyantly gay character!! and he's played like flamboyant, gay best friend type characters before
I was thinking the same thing! Rannells has both the comedic chops (Book of Mormon) and the emotional chops (Falsettos) to salvage that train wreck and yet none other than James fucking Cordon got the lead lmao
If they just made the broadway dudes the villains this could have been truly iconic. i mean famous people who have fallen from grace taking advantage of social issues for clout could've been at least a little topical. also someone please take all of james corden's acting roles away please im begging you
I'm struck by how much movie!Emma just...smiles. Even during the low point when she tells off Alyssa on the phone for not standing by her during the first prom. It's like she's genuinely starstruck by the celebrities around her...which completely goes against the original musical. Emma isn't a beaming token of a perfect gay person, who keeps smiling even when being oppressed and who needs rich people to save her; she's an angsty, messy teenager whose formative high school experiences are being ripped away by bigots. The stage version didn't generally need to soften Emma's personality or make it palatable for the sake of the straight people watching; she had very few reasons to be happy beyond her relationship with Alyssa. Athough I have my issues with the original musical's book, I do appreciate how validating it felt for a Broadway musical to directly address that having people (including celebrities) who purport to be queer allies alone won't fix shit unless collective action actually occurs, which it normally never does beyond a surface level (for example, Netflix making a movie with a plot about a lesbian feeling overshadowed by and taken advantage of by celebrities, only for the film itself to let the celebrities overshadow the lesbian couple that marketing centered around...whoops)
I thought about this too! The scene where the principal says that he hasn't seen Emma smile in a while since she was kicked out...but she's been smiling the whole time so far? Like she looks far more starstruck and happy than sad during most of the movie.
I think part of why I love this musical is because Emma the character is literally just Emma my sister, except my sister is a huge musical fan and got me into the whole scene in the first place
I genuinely think the smiling was just the actress either wanting to look pretty on camera or not being able to hold her face for "starring" a Netflix production
It's because they hired a singer, not an actor. She makes exactly one face for the entire movie and shows no complex emotion whatsoever. One of the best things about musicals is that the physical appearance of the talent matters less (not 0, but less) because everyone watching them is so far away and not conditioned to notice it regardless. Movie makers want every cast member to look so perfect it's not commonly human anymore. So when musicals are turned into movies, they cast pretty people first and foremost, making sure they can sing at least just well enough to make an edited audio track out of, and everything else is a bonus if it works or something they can wave off if it doesn't.
24:51 it is actually true homecoming dresses are typically shorter and not as fancy while prom dresses are usually floor length and way more extravagant
As a girl, I’ve never understood that. How often do you wear a dress? I tend to wear the same dress to any dance because I don’t want to pay $80 for something I’ll only wear once
@@theshire9173 me and a lot of girls I was friends with liked to have a princess moment with the flowing gowns and heels, it’s also the main reason I picked a quinceañera over a car when I was 15
Well, because "Love Thy Neighbor" was my favourite part of the movie, I wouldn't have wanted Andrew in any role except Trent just to be in that number. Kevin Chamberlin should've been in Corden's role
Andrew Rannells not famous? Bold choice of words to describe the guy who voiced Archie Andrews in Archie's Weird Mysteries, along with a ton of characters in 4kids productions.
Honestly I thought he wasn’t bad in this at all. Sometimes I would forget it was James Corden and that was amazing. He’s not the best actor in it but it seems like he’s not doing his james corden thing
The chemistry between Emma and Alyssa couldn't have been worse imo. Not to mention that the movie trying to pretend like Jo Ellen Pellman is butch just looks like they put a Disney princess in baggy clothes and beanie. I also wish that Emma had a moment where she got to call out the Broadway stars for their elitism, clearly being more interested in using her story for publicity and insulting her local community, rather than actually helping her. Yeah they change by the end somewhat, but still.
I came out in 2020, so naturally I was super excited to watch a lesbian movie with my family. I really liked The Prom at the time, having watched a bootleg, listened to the soundtrack on repeat, and even read the novelization (speaking of which, if you want to see a version of The Prom where Emma and Alyssa actually _are_ the main characters, read the book). But now, looking back on it, yeah it's kinda...meh. I mean I'll always love any sort of sapphic rep but?? Why aren't they the actual main characters? I think the only parts that I do actually like about the movie are the songs, colorful lighting, and Andrew Rannalls. Please help me Andrew Rannalls has stolen my soul and I cannot take it back. I am in pain.
@@onionkiss3451 usually searching whatever movie/musical/etc. you want to watch with slime tutorial or cooking tutorial at the end will bring up the bootlegs , at least on youtube. like "the prom cooking tutorial"
The idea of air headed Hollywood hotshots profiting off of and making two girls’ prom about *them* -is really interesting. Unfortunately, by sidelining Alyssa and Emma, the movie commits the same crime that it’s supposedly criticizing the Hollywood stars for doing.
The moment you said "Why didn't they cast famous people to play these two?" and an arrow pointed to Nicole Kidman I felt ancient as a millennial who grew up watching her LOL, like "Back in my day, Netflix used to come in the mail!" ancient
Yeah then he said Keegan Michael Key is the most famous cast member when Nicole, Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington, and honestly James Corden are also here who definitely out-rank him. Idk what world this guy’s in
Andrew Rannells is literally a gay Broadway actor who also does film. no clue how famous he is outside of gay Broadway circles but like he's pretty recognizable for the sort of ppl into the musical
@@mushroomc0re eh i would say that he's not too recognizable to those outside gay broadway circles (as a gay broadway person w friends outside those circles lol) so i'll give him the benefit of the doubt here. if he were casted in the musical it would probs be considered a stunt cast but comparatively he's nowhere near the rest of the cast's level (minus emma's actress, and maybe ariana debose at the time of the film's release)
Between this, Be More Chill, Dear Evan Hansen, and a bunch of others, is it just me or does it seem like there are a lot of musicals coming out recently with poorly written or conceived plots that mostly become popular through writing pop songs about being a teenager with anxiety and possibly homosexuality? Like the songs get popular on streaming with theater kids, aka teenagers with anxiety and possibly homosexuality. The show becomes popular not as a show that's seen but as essentially a pop album. You don't need to concern yourself with doing good stagecraft because the majority of your fanbase is only gonna see it if they bother to find a bootleg after listening to the album.
I literally gasped when Jose was on screen. Was not expecting to see my old middle school principal on a RUclips video about The Prom lol. Awesome video!!
i was violent after i watched this for the first time. as a gay dude with a really tough and hard relationship with my parents, seeing james cordon cosplay my trauma made me see red. I've never experienced so much rage and disgust at a portrayal of a gay character. it was genuinely offensive in a way i wasn't ready for.
The real life incident was more messed up, because the only other people at the second prom were basically just all the special needs kids; Whole bunch of lawsuits came out of that from everyone they sent to the "loser prom".
I will always remember when i found out bertrum from jesse was an actual brodway actor, and thats when I was seeing Wicked in new york and I nearly choked when the wizard waltzed on stage and it was him
22:24 I'm glad you mentioned it. As someone from a fairly small, rural midwestern town, I'm glad you addressed that fact that nothing about the sets and visuals of the movie even remotely reflect the look and feel of any actual small/rural town. I mean, my town didn't even have an Applebee's! Closest thing we had was a restaurant that used to be a Big Boy and a few fast food places lol.
I am a lesbian (from the midwest). I watched this movie with a room full of gay people (also from the midwest). we were all SCREAMING at the screen by the end. I'm so glad you discussed how much potential Emma/Alyssa had to be a real sweet story because the thing that pissed me off the most was how sanitized their relationship was. they barely hold hands, they barely kiss, and their relationship is not developed at all despite being a VERY difficult situation. it is so hard to be in a relationship when one person is out and the other is closeted. I've been there. it's really hard. I wish that was explored more, with the compassionate and care that the situation deserves. but god forbid two lesbians have any chemistry at all because then... GASP the viewers might have to confront the concept of sexuality. also yeah why is Emma smiling the whole time !!!!!! let her get angry. she is facing extreme hatred and she just... smiles. because it you just endure horrible oppression, bigots will eventually feel bad and stop. 🙄 I'm convinced the target audience of this movie is slightly homophobic parents of gay teens. that's who its for. the message feels very "it's ok to be a lil homophobic if you love your kid!!!! if your kid is a good kid they will forgive you!! you're such a good ✨ally ✨!
I did not expect this video from this channel, but as a fan of the stage version, I thoroughly enjoyed the hour you spent listing every single aspect of the movie I hated with a burning passion. It was extremely satisfying, thank you. One of the things that wasn't touched on that infuriated me while watching the film is that one of the consequences of centring Barry, aside from the obvious issues with it, is that it reversed Emma and Barry's relationship. One of the things I loved about the stage version was that Barry was clearly probably the first older queer person she'd ever met, and him taking her under his wing like that was one of the first dominoes to fall that led to Barry's growth, because he did it as one member of the queer community supporting a younger queer person, rather than directly as part of the publicity thing. Barry is a catalyst for other characters (other example is being the only adult that spoke up for Alyssa to her mother, again being able to because he had the experience of his own life to draw from), and through that connection with younger queer characters is able to also heal himself. In the movie though, Emma is a catalyst for Barry instead, and his story is resolved entirely separate from her and Alyssa, while the girls' conflicts just sort of resolve incidentally from his presence. The stage version says that family is shit sometimes but we will still have community, and that if shit family still wants a relationship then they have to do better. The film says family is the most important thing, and that the only way to heal is to reconnect with family even if they've kicked you out of the house, because they deserve a chance to make it right and you have to be the bigger person and let them. It's a very straight moral, which is mind boggling since Ryan Murphy is the director. Shrug. End of (accidental) rant.
Is there like a trend now of people finding out musical plots don’t really work until they’re made into movie adaptations, (ala Dear Evan Hansen) cause I’m kinda thinking that the reason the show was primarily framed around the broadway actors was because it was written by them, and the stuff where they tried to be satirical was really just self-awareness as an excuse for bad writing.
Adapting musicals to movie adaptations is a really hit or miss. Those respective mediums are practically different beasts tackle and have their respective flaws and strengths. With prom it feels like it should be a soley broadway relased bc thats how it was written. Not saying dont make musicals to have movie adaptations, im saying to further research if its worth the risk or not. And not to mention broadway acting and film acting also have very different skillsets they have to master , broadway mostly volume of voice (bc of big venues). Movie acting is more on body language. As someone who has done several years of broadway acting workshops you can’t always translate musicals to different mediums. (Ig animated is closer?) THIS IS SO LONG IM SORRY IM PASSIONATE ABOUT THEATRE💀
Also there could’ve been potential with this high class older male broadway star taking a young butch lesbian out to get fitted for a proper suit instead of a dress. Have him tutting over the poor stitching and fit of her 100$ bargain bin suit she bought because she has no one to guide her in more masculine presentation (further reinforcing how in Indiana she’s isolated from both other queer people and her general community and family such as her father) rather than a dress that’s so absurdly ugly I have no idea why she’d even own it, or even suggest the suit in the first place because she’s not comfortable in any of the dresses they try. As a gay man and young butch lesbian, gender, gender presentation and masculinity as it intersects with their queerness, identity, and how other people see them could be an interesting point of bonding between them and would make it far more meaningful and fresh than the same she-cleans-up makeover we’ve seen a thousand times.
I don't know if there's a term for this, but whenever you check the casting for a movie, and you see that one certain actor/actress that makes you go "Oh, this is going to be bad." I KNOW there's a name for this type of effect/law, but I don't know what it's called. I hope that I'm not the only one who thinks this.
i can’t tell if “why didn’t they get famous people to play these two” while having one of the arrows point to NICOLE KIDMAN was a joke or not but i love it either way (also andrew rannells is one of the bigger celebrities to come out of broadway, not like patti lupine levels but still enough to be known for his work off stage, though the arrow pointing at him was justified)
The cishet jokes made me laugh It’s really awful how much Emma and Alyssa got overshadowed in this. I knew about the musical before this movie came out and my only exposure to it was through listening to the broadway soundtrack which I love, so I was really excited for the movie since I didn’t have access to anything else really. I wish it was better… I also have this strange experience of watching that when it first came out and being mad on Twitter because I SWEAR they cut out Emma and Alyssa’s portion of You Happened, but then when I rewatched it like a month or so later, it was there? I feel like I’m delusional, but I remember it, and I even made a comment while reacting to the movie so hmmm
part of their section in you happened got cut iirc. i haven’t seen it since it came out so maybe it changed but i know that when it was released they cut out at least half of it (honestly probably more)
it was cut from the movie but they did record it, so the soundtrack has the entire song (but i still prefer the original musical version of the song so.. lol)
its okay, as a lesbian myself, i laughed at 25:52 too. the line delivery is just so. tell her you’re GÆ also, can confirm that i do take on a rural southern accent in fits of emotional outburst
about the homecoming dress thing, 1) i didn't notice it until you pointed it out, 2) homecoming dresses are typically short because homecoming is semi formal and prom dresses are normally long because prom is formal but like??? if they all cared so much about prom why didn't they go all out with their damn dresses
As someone who grew up in rural Indiana, part of me is going "this is a slanderous depiction of the Midwest" and the other part is going "well...maybe the movie's got a point." I love your new content man, keep up the good work, and I can't wait for the Lab Rats: Elite Force review!
@@SpaceandGoats idk, I think the movie definitely exaggerates the homophobia, but acting like there isn't that kind of thinking in that part of the country is just straight up denial.
@@MmmMmph1968 i wasnt denying anything. I was saying Hollywood, rich cali progressives say it was beyond annoying while if a hoosier says it im cool As a hoosier
My (performing arts) school is putting on the Prom this coming year and I was cast as Kevin, one of the jocks. Not only am I very obviously gay, I am also literally a wheelchair user. My joints make it so I physically cannot be a jock. This will be interesting.
respectfully you did Not just say that keegan michael key is more famous than meryl streep and that nicole kidman isn't a famous actor. please say sike i beg of u
I’m assuming because he graduated three yrs ago that this was a generational gaffe but even apart from that….lol, yeah, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman are a big deal
I like how Keyan realized he was spelling LGBTQ+ wrong but continues to say Luh-juh-tuh-buh-quoi, which would still be LGTBQ. Never change Keyan, great video. Also she 100% stole it, LEGO needs to sue her
The entirety of Herbie Fully Loaded staring Lindsay Lohan lives in my head rent free, so hearing it randomly referenced made my day. The demolition derby scene is the best part of the movie
At first I watched the movie because "Ooh, Andrew Rannells" and because I'm queer, but I always found it really disturbing how they managed to make a story that's premise is a lesbian not being allowed to bring her girlfriend to the prom into "look at Barry! Do you know how much money we spent for him to be here?"
The Prom could have been a sincere drama about growing up gay in a red state, or it could have been a black comedy satire about how celebrities try to make everything about themselves, but it tried to have it both ways at once, and so it failed at both.
So far I agree with a lot of these points HOWEVER the songs are not better in this movie. Sure, Love Thy Neighbor is better, but you cannot tell me what Tonight Belongs to Us, You Happened, and Alyssa Greene are better in this movie than on Broadway?? (Excited for the rest of this video tho!)
@@guystudios thats true, but i think the vocals in the broadway one were better (in my opinion) their voices seem less ig "fake" from editing and i also find that they seem to sing with more emotion in the broadway versions (although the dancing is nice in the movie i rewatch you happened a lot bc i love the promposals lol)
Being closeted absolutely sucks but I always cringe at films that act like it's worse than... being safe? If your mum's going to go so far to ban proms and lead homophobic movements, yeah, she's likely to abuse and kick you out onto the streets if you come out
i was a background actor on the set of this and james corden is so terrifying… and they gave me the absolute ugliest most foul side part i’ve ever had but anyways back to james corden i saw him talking to some other extras and laughed really hard but when he turned around (like towards my direction) to leave, his smile dropped so fast even though his laugh sounded really genuine and he was so smiley when talking LMAO unfortunately i don’t remember what he smelled like bc this was a while ago but he was scary to me
I’m so glad you also critique the source material. I’ve only seen the show but as a former high-school lesbian I really found it weird that the relationship was so shafted and the camp was so overdone.
It’s a shame because I actually really love the stage version. It’s a shame that they refused to even audition almost any of the Broadway leads- Emma’s actress did but I got the vibe it was just as a courtesy. Part of the joke of the show is that Broadway performers are not names outside of NY and theatre nerds. Casting Meryl Streep doesn’t have the same effect as using Beth Leavel, who’s absolutely fantastic but doesn’t have a recognizable name. Even aside from James Corden being straight (and Brooks is not), he’s also too young for the character as written. It’s also a shame because I saw The Prom a week before it closed and the energy was amazing. The audience was full of teenagers in prom dresses who felt represented by Broadway in a meaningful way. Even then there was a vibe that Ryan Murphy would screw it up. The show deserved better. The actress who plays Emma is way too smiley in the movie, where Caitlin really got across the angst and real trauma of the character. The show does put more emphasis on the relationship between Emma and Alyssa.
bruh wish i could like this video twice the editing was HILARIOUS and it’s so refreshing to see someone not a part of the community genuinely defend us and get the issues any gay person would have with this movie :’) appreciate it!
"I was in theater in Portland, i saw every single one of my friends come out" I'm glad this is mostly a universal experience. Only I'm in Virginia and all my friends were band kids that came out
Watching this with my mom who doesn’t know I’m lgbt and having so much to say about how bad the gay representation while being closeted was extremely frustrating.
Did you know that, in the SAG Awards for Best Ensamble Cast, the rule says you need a "solo" title card to be nominated, so... If The Prom has been nominated, neither of the teenage girls would be, as they share a title card. Just, a funny little trivia that is kind of perfect for the way this story is told.
I wasnt interested in the prom but I thought the two girls wouldve been the main characters, focusing on their love story but its somehow about the celebrities which is really disappointing. This film maybe still couldve had some problems like how the visuals play out in music but wouldve been better if they follow the trailers by making it a love story about these two girls and the celebrities at the side (and not have a straight woman kiss a gay man, that was just disgusting)
I’ve never watched the movie, and now I’m entirely distracted by all the mall scenes bc they were filmed at Northridge Fashion Center. I went to Northridge for college and it’s a popular film location, it was very normal to see my campus in a movie, but the mall is a new one for me lol
If I had to swapped those three, I wouldn't want Andrew as Corden's character, sure he would've been great but we wouldn't have gotten the most fun and best aspect of the movie which was "Love Thy Neighbor" if Andrew wasn't part of it (that song fits Andrew so well that I just couldn't imagine without him especially with that choreography where he had to dance a lot)..Kevin Chamberlin should've had Corden's place
A lot of British people's fake American accents tend to overcorrect and land in vaguely Texan. I think that's why Barry sounds like he's from a ranch whenever he gets emotional. James Corden was struggling to keep an American accent up while sounding emotional and next thing you know... yeehaw!
Pre-COVID, I have no clue. Post-COVID, I know tons of schools just stopped doing dances (because they didn’t want responsibility) & wealthier parents banded together (and charged TONS of money for tickets) to do homecomings and proms. Obviously that’s not the case in this movie/play, but I’m just noting. Also iirc it was the Class Officers that were supposed to organize prom at my school? Idk
The book (from what I can remember, I read it two years ago) was a lot better and it actually had flaws :( 1. One of Alyssa's friends (I think it was Shelly?) Wasn't actually accepting. 2. I don't remember the whole principal/dee dee thing? 3. Alyssa and Emma had a plan to hide who they were going to prom with, but Emma was low-key stupid and didn't come up with a name before hand and wrote down "Anna Kendrickson". Yeah... 4. Alyssa and Emma were actually main characters in their own book!! 5. When Emma finds out that the Broadway stars didn't actually come down to help her, she actually gets mad at them. She doesn't say that everything's fine and it doesn't matter.
I was really excited for this movie in 2020 since I like Andrew Rannells and ofc a lesbian love story is great, and I thought at least a few of the songs on the og soundtrack were good! It was such a huge disappointment tho. I knew smth was really off when Emma sang about how being gay in Indiana sucked while just... smiling passively.
I'm just glad that Andrew Rannells saved this movie for me (Meryl Streep can do no wrong and so can Nicole Kidman but Andrew is next level imo). "Love Thy Neighbor" was my favourite song in the show and I'd be devastatingly disappointed if they screw it up, Andrew fits the song so well that it became my favourite part of the movie, hell i might've liked it even more than the original show (maybe i'm just biased on Andrew 😂)
the most unbelievable thing about this video is that your principal took away the lightsabers, then LISTENED to you when you told them what you were using them for, and gave them BACK. Principal Dasilva for President 2024
Jfc this whole movies just “look I know your parents are homophobic but…..you need to come out of them!!! No matter what!!!” Like holy fuck that’s a dangerous message
This seems way to forgiving of homophobic parents, like on top of all your good points her saying “we didn’t kick you out you left” reads like those narcissistic parents who deny their past actions and like she’s still actively married to a homophobe.
i watched this with my best friend and we both were cringing at every single thing in this movie p.s: also the intense grinning emma had through every moment even while breaking up with her girlfriend give me chills
If it was more like Annie where they push the girl towards the front and try to make her a little more of “icon” but in an ironic way that hurts her and she hates it then they actually conclude it in a meaningful way, this could have gone right... AND most importantly keep ALL of the love interest parts. Then break the movies in 2 parts with a sad ending first so we can decide if we want to watch more but trick us into a second terrible second movie. Oh or do none of that and just dump James Corden.
It is very telling that a musical movie starring MERYL STREEP came out two years ago and I am only just hearing about it right now. Who does Meryl owe money? I can only imagine she's in debt to the mob if she's doing something like this.
"The whole point of broadway is to make shows worse than they were originally" as someone who just watched the stage version of hunchback, I'm inclined to agree
i got the opportunity to play emma in the prom a few months back. i watched the movie a few years ago, but looking back, one thing threw me off more than anything else (james cordon asked, of course). emma is smiling pretty much 24/7. she’s grinning when the broadway crew first arrives during deedee’s song, when in reality, she’s absolutely terrified. she doesn’t want any attention, the entire beginning of dance with you is about that. the entire show, she’s barely excited in the slightest. she wants literally nothing more than to get away from everybody but alyssa. and that’s not just a character choice i made, it’s literally in the script. she’s absolutely miserable. their emma here is just.. so smiley and cheerful. it’s a mess
Actually, the book explains how everyone knows about her taking a girl to prom. In the book everyone has to sign up with a date because of limited tickets, and she writes in a fake name of a girl in order to not out Alyssa. And then the sugar honey iced tea hits the fan.
I feel so bad for Jo Ellen Pellman. She's genuinely talented but hasn't gotten the chance to do anything else after this (I'm sure that your complaints about her performance are easily fixable). I feel like the general outlook on the movie would be very different if they didn't cast James Corden and actually kept all the Emma/Alyssa scenes (or even expanded on them!). Maybe then Jo Ellen would've actually become a big name. I hope she hasn't quit the industry yet, I'd like to see her again in something else someday.
I saw this musical w my mother (and am currently closeted lol). The original show that I saw already so many problems, but knowing the movie is worse…doesn’t surprise me. I wish they didn’t like play into stereotypes so much! I wish the characters were fleshed out more :(
52:35 you should see Day Shift, there’s a few scenes about a Boss Vampire and Exposition about Types of Vampires and it’s never brought up again since they’re setting it up for Spin-offs it seems
I got to see this show on Broadway and I had tears streaming down my face at the end. It was not the best show at all but goddamnit seeing all those happy gay teens got to me. The ending of the movie is still a bop and keeping the choreography definitely helped but it still didn't have the same effect
I personally don’t care if a straight actor plays a gay role(though I do groan if James Corden plays a role period), but I think the major problem the movie has is similar to Love Simon(2018). It feels like a “gay” movie completely marketed to straight people that doesn’t do anything risky beyond basic ‘love is love’ mentality. They spend more time on the predatory straight romance between the older broadway actress and a younger fan than the lesbian couple the story centers around. They also gave two homophobic mothers(Mrs Greene and Barry’s mom) unnecessary/unrealistic 360 turns into becoming accepting people. All this while giving the lesbian couple at the center of the movie little screen time. Not to mention that Emma is boring, passive, and not at all butch, while Alyssa has her entire arc brushed over quickly despite it being one of the more interesting ones in the movie. The “you’re someone in between” line hit really hard, just it’s a shame that they didn’t give her character the development beforehand for it to really land.
no i was so dissapointed with this movie, as a lesbian i was so happy that there was going to be a movie with a lesbian main character and a sapphic couple as the main focus, just to be served Fucking James Cordon
Wow, you were not kidding, this is some of your best work. I hope I'm not sounding like I'm stepping on any toes of any members of the LGBTQIA+ community (seeing as I am straight) but I feel like if I was gay, I wouldn't like how the character we should be following gets no screentime compared to James Corden acting as a gay man. This movie just takes so many weird steps and it's so laughably stupid especially in how multiple anti-gay people just shift they're values they've probably held for years entirely as if it's a 2 hour long Dhar Mann video. It's just such a weird ensemble of problems made into a Netflix Original movie. At least Bertram was in it. Bertram makes everything better.
I do indeed had to pause the video several times, in order to facepalm with both my "little lezbian" hands. At whatever this is. Mostly the gay mam stereptype played by Corden.
As the B in the LGTBQ+ collective I felt used whenever they'd as much as have a blue and purple light close to each other like "Wow I can't believe you're appropriating my flag for glamour" then I have to die inside when Emma who's the actual character being used by them keeps worshipping the ground they walk on. But I might just have tainted memories of her cause seeing her in her "I'm out of my shell" prom suit that looks just like the one from Tall Girl shaved 2 months off my lifespan when it defiled my corneas.
fun fact: the guy who sings 'love thy neighbor', andrew rannells, played whizzer in falsettos (on-broadway)! i haven't actually watched the prom myself but as soon the clip of that song played in this video i recognized his voice lolol
33:10 I think I hate this line, actually. I might be reading into it, but it feels like the implication is that being butch is a "lesser" form of being a lesbian, which is...absolutely atrocious, given how devalued butch lesbians already are.
I do love this movie, however the only thing I’m realising and what made me rethink this movie is that I feel like Emma was forcing Alyssa to come out, because if you actually look at it Alyssa has a homophobic mom who doesn’t know she’s gay, and a girlfriend who’s making (by choice) her come out at prom, but when she changes her mind and doesn’t come to Emma (in her defence it would’ve aroused suspicion) Emma breaks up with her when she doesn’t wanna come out, I really hope this doesn’t make me sound like a horrible person, and I don’t mean to if that’s what it looks like, I’m just putting my opinion out there, it doesn’t have to be right or wrong I just needed to get it off my chest
i miss the days when all I knew James Cordon from was 2 episodes of Doctor Who.. also im lmao at the idea that Ryan Murphy wasnt directly involved in these crapshow decisions, knowing how he is on set & how he treats his talent... I'm sure a lot of the bad decisions were his idea.
24:53 a homecoming dress is more casual and usually goes down to maybe the knee, whereas prom dresses are formal, and they usually go down to peoples feet
i really hate how they frame alyssa not wanting to come out to her homophobic mom as some sort of flaw she needs to overcome. as barry's backstory easily demonstrates, coming out, especially while she's still living with her mom, could put her in a really bad situation, and the fact that her girlfriend is pressuring her into it knowing that alyssa's mom is literally leading a homophobic movement as they speak is absolutely insane.
I hate that it was seen as a flaw. gay ppl would know that forcing someone to out themselves while they are still with unsupportive parents is risky and scary to think about the effects. Forcing someone to come out which could endanger their safety is not cool. Let people come out when they want to or feel safe enough to do so
yeah, it's really gross. it's not the same exactly, but i was forced out as trans to my parents by my own school counselors- while it ended up being fine, i was having panic attacks the entire week "grace period" they gave me, worried that something terrible was going to happen. it's been over 4 years, but i still just remember the terror i felt back then, and wonder about how it could've gone so much worse if my dad was a worse person.
on a brighter note, i'm almost three months on t, so that's cool.
YES! I was forced out by my parents, and even though I did my best to explain myself and they said that they just want me to be happy, they are still against me being out to literally anyone, even though I'm now at a better and more progressive school and I have many friends who are in support of me. They punish me if it comes to their attention that I'm out to a bunch of my friends, and it is frustrating that people would think that being out to homophobic parents is something that anyone and everyone should do. If you feel safe coming out, great, absolutely do that. If it is not safe to come out, wait until you are in a good enough position to do so. You don't even have to if you don't want to!
It's...absolutely horrifying that this movie presents that as a flaw.
@@somerandomgoblin2583
Holy shit that’s awful. I’m sorry you went through that.
as a lesbian from indiana, you can imagine my disappointment in this movie. any movie with james corden automatically spells disaster though so i wasnt surprised lmao
the actual musical is great, the netflix movie just sucks, i would recommend listening to the actual musical tho
Are people actually that homophobic in Indiana?
@@AbigailsCorner4444 good question! (speaking for myself) yes and no. we're a really weird mix of southern culture and more northern city culture because of us sharing the border with kentucky and being a rural agricultural state + our close proximity to chicago, so its a bit all over the place. i live in the north of indiana about an hour away from chicago so take that as you will. ive definitely met some homophobic people and heard the f slur thrown around but i can't imagine my school ever cancelling prom due to a queer couple wanting to attend. my school has a good amount of gay kids like any other high school does and i literally went to prom with a girl lmao. being based off an incident that took place in mississippi, i don't really understand why the musical couldnt take place in a more universally conservative state. but as a state indiana can be homophobic when she wants to be (me and my friends have an inside joke where anything south of indianapolis is just kentucky 2.0 lol so i would assume that "Prom" would take place down there).
@@punkfence801 fellow gay Hoosier. Southern Indiana is literally Kentucky
The film would drastically improve just by replacing James Corden with some other actor. I don't understand why Hollywood is trying to shove him down our throats like Amy Shucmar (I don't know how to spell her last name). I mean come on even his own country doesn't want him.
I hate Netflix’s attempts at diversity. I mean the lesbians who were the MAIN characters in the original get like 7 minutes on screen. They obviously don’t care and only do it for the money. Also James Cordon’s “gay accent” makes me want to commit crime
Wait what's the og
@@kingbaku5092 the og musical
This movie in general wants me to commit Suzuki.
I want to commit die while running over people with a Suzuki van.
And I am someone who loves musicals, even Cats.
Crazy nobody’s told him he already sounds gay enough
The phrase, "JamEs Gordon's gay accent" makes me want to hurl.
If nothing else, I guess Netflix’s the prom is a good allegory for how Netflix’s the prom treats lgbtq+ representation
Damn
True
So true
Damn
true
So true
8:00 actually! They made a book after/during the Broadway run, based off the musical, and it tells us why! No clue why the musical didn’t pick up on this, or the movie, but so sum it up: Emma and Alyssa hatched a plan. Emma was going to write down a random girl’s name to hide Alyssa, and Alyssa was going to write up a random guy’s name to hide Emma. Then Mrs. Greene learns that Emma wanted to go to prom with a girl, after the two people selling tickets let it slip out, and she went furious.
Anyways go read The Prom, almost every chapter title is a little theater reference, and it bounces between Alyssa and Emma’s POV, we even learn how the two met!
Yeah I remember reading the book a while ago not knowing it was originally a musical and it's waayyyy better than this movie, I was pretty suprised when the movie was from the actors perspectives when it works so much better from Emma's and Alyssa's
Okay I definitely want to read the book
@@Roseforthethorns do it!!! The book is amazing!
the book is SO MUCH BETTER!! it has its issues but it definitely fixes a lot of the big plot holes
Bertram, Kevin Chamberlin, should have played the James Corden character tbh, he's lovable and gay in real life. I will say, while flamboyant gay is a stereotype, I as a gay person know a lot of very flamboyant gay people, and am one myself. While you are right we are much more nuanced, real people in real life. Flamboyant portrayals don't usually bother me, especially if the character is more nuanced and played by a gay actor. If Kevin Chamberlin played the main character I probably would have liked this movie a lot tbh.
I literally said the same thing when this movie came out!
yes omg he's so cute and fun. He just gives off that gay uncle vibe that would've worked perfectly.
He’s also a broadway actor.
Kevin Chamberlin would've been infinitely better in the role
WAIT HES GAY? I had no idea….
Fun "The Prom" Fact: The actor who plays Trent, the guy who sings the Love thy Neighbour song, is actually an out gay man. I just find it really funny that he had to act alongside James Cordon in this.
yeah!! bro since the casting announcement for the movie I've been like huh?? there is an out gay man right there to play the flamboyantly gay character!! and he's played like flamboyant, gay best friend type characters before
@@austinlam1172 wait is James Cordon straight?
@@yesitsmeagain5511 are you really surprised?
I was thinking the same thing! Rannells has both the comedic chops (Book of Mormon) and the emotional chops (Falsettos) to salvage that train wreck and yet none other than James fucking Cordon got the lead lmao
@@whizzerbrown1349 let’s not forget his most iconic role
James from Pokémon live
If they just made the broadway dudes the villains this could have been truly iconic. i mean famous people who have fallen from grace taking advantage of social issues for clout could've been at least a little topical.
also someone please take all of james corden's acting roles away please im begging you
He’s friends with every famous person you either hate or don’t care about so sadly he’s too well connected to go away
Why you dislike james corden i mean it seem more of the script fault
@@om58499 he's annoying and a bad actor imo. not just in this.
@@dinofelisdruid78 thanks for telling
I'm struck by how much movie!Emma just...smiles. Even during the low point when she tells off Alyssa on the phone for not standing by her during the first prom. It's like she's genuinely starstruck by the celebrities around her...which completely goes against the original musical. Emma isn't a beaming token of a perfect gay person, who keeps smiling even when being oppressed and who needs rich people to save her; she's an angsty, messy teenager whose formative high school experiences are being ripped away by bigots.
The stage version didn't generally need to soften Emma's personality or make it palatable for the sake of the straight people watching; she had very few reasons to be happy beyond her relationship with Alyssa. Athough I have my issues with the original musical's book, I do appreciate how validating it felt for a Broadway musical to directly address that having people (including celebrities) who purport to be queer allies alone won't fix shit unless collective action actually occurs, which it normally never does beyond a surface level (for example, Netflix making a movie with a plot about a lesbian feeling overshadowed by and taken advantage of by celebrities, only for the film itself to let the celebrities overshadow the lesbian couple that marketing centered around...whoops)
I thought about this too! The scene where the principal says that he hasn't seen Emma smile in a while since she was kicked out...but she's been smiling the whole time so far? Like she looks far more starstruck and happy than sad during most of the movie.
I think part of why I love this musical is because Emma the character is literally just Emma my sister, except my sister is a huge musical fan and got me into the whole scene in the first place
I genuinely think the smiling was just the actress either wanting to look pretty on camera or not being able to hold her face for "starring" a Netflix production
Sorry to be annoying lol, but I love your pfp!!
It's because they hired a singer, not an actor. She makes exactly one face for the entire movie and shows no complex emotion whatsoever. One of the best things about musicals is that the physical appearance of the talent matters less (not 0, but less) because everyone watching them is so far away and not conditioned to notice it regardless. Movie makers want every cast member to look so perfect it's not commonly human anymore. So when musicals are turned into movies, they cast pretty people first and foremost, making sure they can sing at least just well enough to make an edited audio track out of, and everything else is a bonus if it works or something they can wave off if it doesn't.
24:51 it is actually true homecoming dresses are typically shorter and not as fancy while prom dresses are usually floor length and way more extravagant
Thanks, I know next to nothing about dresses and was puzzling over this the whole video
My guess would be since they have to do coordinated dance numbers, it would be a lot harder in prom dresses.
when i was watching the movie i said the exact same thing lol
As a girl, I’ve never understood that. How often do you wear a dress? I tend to wear the same dress to any dance because I don’t want to pay $80 for something I’ll only wear once
@@theshire9173 me and a lot of girls I was friends with liked to have a princess moment with the flowing gowns and heels, it’s also the main reason I picked a quinceañera over a car when I was 15
the fact that keyan doesn’t scissor and kiss the homies explains why he thought it was lgtbq+
I never understood why they made James Corden the gay guy when Andrew Rannells was RIGHT THERE
Kevin Chamberlin is literally in the cast why not put him in the role hw would've been perfect
Well, because "Love Thy Neighbor" was my favourite part of the movie, I wouldn't have wanted Andrew in any role except Trent just to be in that number. Kevin Chamberlin should've been in Corden's role
calling andrew rannells and nicole kidman not famous is like swinging a bat at a hornet’s nest
I actually felt my fight or flight activate the second the arrow pointed at andrew
Also literally Meryl Streep.
I’d let Andrew Rannells change my political ideals any day of the week 😩😳🥵🙏
Andrew Rannells not famous? Bold choice of words to describe the guy who voiced Archie Andrews in Archie's Weird Mysteries, along with a ton of characters in 4kids productions.
I almost choke when the arrows appeared… imagine calling nicole Kidman a stranger.
James Corden being in this movie is enough for me to avoid this movie like a plague.
Why? What’s wrong with him? I only know him from modern family
@@lextatertotsfromhell7673 I think you're thinking of Eric Stonestreet, he's the actor who played Cam. James Corden wasn't on Modern Family.
@@StarryDreamer06 ah. They look similar. Who’s James corden?
@@lextatertotsfromhell7673 basically he's an actor and host of a show who is known to be a jerk
Honestly I thought he wasn’t bad in this at all. Sometimes I would forget it was James Corden and that was amazing. He’s not the best actor in it but it seems like he’s not doing his james corden thing
The chemistry between Emma and Alyssa couldn't have been worse imo. Not to mention that the movie trying to pretend like Jo Ellen Pellman is butch just looks like they put a Disney princess in baggy clothes and beanie.
I also wish that Emma had a moment where she got to call out the Broadway stars for their elitism, clearly being more interested in using her story for publicity and insulting her local community, rather than actually helping her. Yeah they change by the end somewhat, but still.
I came out in 2020, so naturally I was super excited to watch a lesbian movie with my family. I really liked The Prom at the time, having watched a bootleg, listened to the soundtrack on repeat, and even read the novelization (speaking of which, if you want to see a version of The Prom where Emma and Alyssa actually _are_ the main characters, read the book). But now, looking back on it, yeah it's kinda...meh. I mean I'll always love any sort of sapphic rep but?? Why aren't they the actual main characters? I think the only parts that I do actually like about the movie are the songs, colorful lighting, and Andrew Rannalls. Please help me Andrew Rannalls has stolen my soul and I cannot take it back. I am in pain.
where do u find the bootleg?
@@onionkiss3451 slime tutorials
@@onionkiss3451 usually searching whatever movie/musical/etc. you want to watch with slime tutorial or cooking tutorial at the end will bring up the bootlegs , at least on youtube. like "the prom cooking tutorial"
@@bennycuomo544 hon, there are only songs...
I've recently fallen in love w/ Andrew and I've been watching falsettos on repeat, help.
The idea of air headed Hollywood hotshots profiting off of and making two girls’ prom about *them* -is really interesting.
Unfortunately, by sidelining Alyssa and Emma, the movie commits the same crime that it’s supposedly criticizing the Hollywood stars for doing.
The moment you said "Why didn't they cast famous people to play these two?" and an arrow pointed to Nicole Kidman I felt ancient as a millennial who grew up watching her LOL, like "Back in my day, Netflix used to come in the mail!" ancient
i'm fully gen Z and i know nicole kidman is famous this guy has no excuse lmao
Has he not been to an AMC in the past year?
Yeah then he said Keegan Michael Key is the most famous cast member when Nicole, Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington, and honestly James Corden are also here who definitely out-rank him. Idk what world this guy’s in
Andrew Rannells is literally a gay Broadway actor who also does film. no clue how famous he is outside of gay Broadway circles but like he's pretty recognizable for the sort of ppl into the musical
@@mushroomc0re eh i would say that he's not too recognizable to those outside gay broadway circles (as a gay broadway person w friends outside those circles lol) so i'll give him the benefit of the doubt here. if he were casted in the musical it would probs be considered a stunt cast but comparatively he's nowhere near the rest of the cast's level (minus emma's actress, and maybe ariana debose at the time of the film's release)
Between this, Be More Chill, Dear Evan Hansen, and a bunch of others, is it just me or does it seem like there are a lot of musicals coming out recently with poorly written or conceived plots that mostly become popular through writing pop songs about being a teenager with anxiety and possibly homosexuality? Like the songs get popular on streaming with theater kids, aka teenagers with anxiety and possibly homosexuality.
The show becomes popular not as a show that's seen but as essentially a pop album. You don't need to concern yourself with doing good stagecraft because the majority of your fanbase is only gonna see it if they bother to find a bootleg after listening to the album.
That’s a really good analysis. You’re so right.
I thought dear evan hansen was good
To be fair to Be More Chill, it was actually pretty good
I literally gasped when Jose was on screen. Was not expecting to see my old middle school principal on a RUclips video about The Prom lol. Awesome video!!
i was violent after i watched this for the first time. as a gay dude with a really tough and hard relationship with my parents, seeing james cordon cosplay my trauma made me see red. I've never experienced so much rage and disgust at a portrayal of a gay character. it was genuinely offensive in a way i wasn't ready for.
The real life incident was more messed up, because the only other people at the second prom were basically just all the special needs kids; Whole bunch of lawsuits came out of that from everyone they sent to the "loser prom".
I will always remember when i found out bertrum from jesse was an actual brodway actor, and thats when I was seeing Wicked in new york and I nearly choked when the wizard waltzed on stage and it was him
22:24 I'm glad you mentioned it. As someone from a fairly small, rural midwestern town, I'm glad you addressed that fact that nothing about the sets and visuals of the movie even remotely reflect the look and feel of any actual small/rural town. I mean, my town didn't even have an Applebee's! Closest thing we had was a restaurant that used to be a Big Boy and a few fast food places lol.
I am a lesbian (from the midwest). I watched this movie with a room full of gay people (also from the midwest). we were all SCREAMING at the screen by the end.
I'm so glad you discussed how much potential Emma/Alyssa had to be a real sweet story because the thing that pissed me off the most was how sanitized their relationship was. they barely hold hands, they barely kiss, and their relationship is not developed at all despite being a VERY difficult situation. it is so hard to be in a relationship when one person is out and the other is closeted. I've been there. it's really hard. I wish that was explored more, with the compassionate and care that the situation deserves. but god forbid two lesbians have any chemistry at all because then... GASP the viewers might have to confront the concept of sexuality.
also yeah why is Emma smiling the whole time !!!!!! let her get angry. she is facing extreme hatred and she just... smiles. because it you just endure horrible oppression, bigots will eventually feel bad and stop. 🙄 I'm convinced the target audience of this movie is slightly homophobic parents of gay teens. that's who its for. the message feels very "it's ok to be a lil homophobic if you love your kid!!!! if your kid is a good kid they will forgive you!! you're such a good ✨ally ✨!
I did not expect this video from this channel, but as a fan of the stage version, I thoroughly enjoyed the hour you spent listing every single aspect of the movie I hated with a burning passion. It was extremely satisfying, thank you.
One of the things that wasn't touched on that infuriated me while watching the film is that one of the consequences of centring Barry, aside from the obvious issues with it, is that it reversed Emma and Barry's relationship. One of the things I loved about the stage version was that Barry was clearly probably the first older queer person she'd ever met, and him taking her under his wing like that was one of the first dominoes to fall that led to Barry's growth, because he did it as one member of the queer community supporting a younger queer person, rather than directly as part of the publicity thing. Barry is a catalyst for other characters (other example is being the only adult that spoke up for Alyssa to her mother, again being able to because he had the experience of his own life to draw from), and through that connection with younger queer characters is able to also heal himself. In the movie though, Emma is a catalyst for Barry instead, and his story is resolved entirely separate from her and Alyssa, while the girls' conflicts just sort of resolve incidentally from his presence. The stage version says that family is shit sometimes but we will still have community, and that if shit family still wants a relationship then they have to do better. The film says family is the most important thing, and that the only way to heal is to reconnect with family even if they've kicked you out of the house, because they deserve a chance to make it right and you have to be the bigger person and let them. It's a very straight moral, which is mind boggling since Ryan Murphy is the director. Shrug. End of (accidental) rant.
the film about homophobia bad doing a homophobia is both incredibly sad and entirely expected
That digression about your principal is the funniest thing ever and radiates theatre kid energy
Loved that part
Is there like a trend now of people finding out musical plots don’t really work until they’re made into movie adaptations, (ala Dear Evan Hansen) cause I’m kinda thinking that the reason the show was primarily framed around the broadway actors was because it was written by them, and the stuff where they tried to be satirical was really just self-awareness as an excuse for bad writing.
Adapting musicals to movie adaptations is a really hit or miss. Those respective mediums are practically different beasts tackle and have their respective flaws and strengths. With prom it feels like it should be a soley broadway relased bc thats how it was written. Not saying dont make musicals to have movie adaptations, im saying to further research if its worth the risk or not. And not to mention broadway acting and film acting also have very different skillsets they have to master , broadway mostly volume of voice (bc of big venues). Movie acting is more on body language. As someone who has done several years of broadway acting workshops you can’t always translate musicals to different mediums. (Ig animated is closer?) THIS IS SO LONG IM SORRY IM PASSIONATE ABOUT THEATRE💀
@@sapphicvampire8504 CAN WE STOP WITH THE MOVIE MUSICALS AND JUST GET PROSHOTS PLEASEEEE
@@Rebecca-bk9bd AGREE AGREE THE ONLY MOVIE MUSICALS I ACCEPT IS HAIRSPRAY AND MAMA MIA EVERYTHING ELSE IS A NO💀
@@Rebecca-bk9bd yeah, Hamilton had a resurgence from its proshot
"he can turn this butchy duck into a swan" implying theres something wrong with being butch?? nice one lmao
I thought about that too!! Like being butch does not equal being ugly 😭Emma’s not even close to butch
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Also there could’ve been potential with this high class older male broadway star taking a young butch lesbian out to get fitted for a proper suit instead of a dress. Have him tutting over the poor stitching and fit of her 100$ bargain bin suit she bought because she has no one to guide her in more masculine presentation (further reinforcing how in Indiana she’s isolated from both other queer people and her general community and family such as her father) rather than a dress that’s so absurdly ugly I have no idea why she’d even own it, or even suggest the suit in the first place because she’s not comfortable in any of the dresses they try. As a gay man and young butch lesbian, gender, gender presentation and masculinity as it intersects with their queerness, identity, and how other people see them could be an interesting point of bonding between them and would make it far more meaningful and fresh than the same she-cleans-up makeover we’ve seen a thousand times.
You shouldve written this movie, this is so incredibly better.
I don't know if there's a term for this, but whenever you check the casting for a movie, and you see that one certain actor/actress that makes you go "Oh, this is going to be bad."
I KNOW there's a name for this type of effect/law, but I don't know what it's called.
I hope that I'm not the only one who thinks this.
lol you didn’t even have to say who you’re talking about. We all know who you’re talking about.
The James Corden Effect
I just call it the opposite of the Midas touch.
@@tavern2468 the Sadim fingerprint removal
@@MissMyceI used to call it the Will Ferrell effect, but Cordon’s got a much lower batting average
i can’t tell if “why didn’t they get famous people to play these two” while having one of the arrows point to NICOLE KIDMAN was a joke or not but i love it either way
(also andrew rannells is one of the bigger celebrities to come out of broadway, not like patti lupine levels but still enough to be known for his work off stage, though the arrow pointing at him was justified)
The cishet jokes made me laugh
It’s really awful how much Emma and Alyssa got overshadowed in this. I knew about the musical before this movie came out and my only exposure to it was through listening to the broadway soundtrack which I love, so I was really excited for the movie since I didn’t have access to anything else really. I wish it was better… I also have this strange experience of watching that when it first came out and being mad on Twitter because I SWEAR they cut out Emma and Alyssa’s portion of You Happened, but then when I rewatched it like a month or so later, it was there? I feel like I’m delusional, but I remember it, and I even made a comment while reacting to the movie so hmmm
part of their section in you happened got cut iirc. i haven’t seen it since it came out so maybe it changed but i know that when it was released they cut out at least half of it (honestly probably more)
it was cut from the movie but they did record it, so the soundtrack has the entire song (but i still prefer the original musical version of the song so.. lol)
its okay, as a lesbian myself, i laughed at 25:52 too. the line delivery is just so. tell her you’re GÆ
also, can confirm that i do take on a rural southern accent in fits of emotional outburst
about the homecoming dress thing, 1) i didn't notice it until you pointed it out, 2) homecoming dresses are typically short because homecoming is semi formal and prom dresses are normally long because prom is formal but like??? if they all cared so much about prom why didn't they go all out with their damn dresses
I believe they did it for the dance numbers
As someone who grew up in rural Indiana, part of me is going "this is a slanderous depiction of the Midwest" and the other part is going "well...maybe the movie's got a point."
I love your new content man, keep up the good work, and I can't wait for the Lab Rats: Elite Force review!
I know the feeling. I was getting pissy at everyone sucks in Indiana but then "well its okay if Hoosiers say it."
As someone who lives next to Indiana...the Midwest Kinda Sucks. A lot.
@@SpaceandGoats idk, I think the movie definitely exaggerates the homophobia, but acting like there isn't that kind of thinking in that part of the country is just straight up denial.
@@MmmMmph1968 i wasnt denying anything. I was saying Hollywood, rich cali progressives say it was beyond annoying while if a hoosier says it im cool
As a hoosier
@@SpaceandGoats Ah. My bad.
My (performing arts) school is putting on the Prom this coming year and I was cast as Kevin, one of the jocks. Not only am I very obviously gay, I am also literally a wheelchair user. My joints make it so I physically cannot be a jock. This will be interesting.
Sorry for resurrecting the thread but did it happen yet?
So how’s that going?
pls update I need to know
Bestie update us
respectfully you did Not just say that keegan michael key is more famous than meryl streep and that nicole kidman isn't a famous actor. please say sike i beg of u
I know I felt like I'd entered a parallel universe lol
That statement is weird. I what world.
I’m assuming because he graduated three yrs ago that this was a generational gaffe but even apart from that….lol, yeah, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman are a big deal
@@KariIzumi1 I was born in 2000 and even I know Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman are more famous than Keegan-Michael Key.
@@KariIzumi1 i graduated high school two years ago this guy has no generational excuse smh (i'm joking but also. bro how lol)
24:50 she said that because people usually wear full length dresses for prom, not danceable skater dresses
I like how Keyan realized he was spelling LGBTQ+ wrong but continues to say Luh-juh-tuh-buh-quoi, which would still be LGTBQ. Never change Keyan, great video. Also she 100% stole it, LEGO needs to sue her
The entirety of Herbie Fully Loaded staring Lindsay Lohan lives in my head rent free, so hearing it randomly referenced made my day. The demolition derby scene is the best part of the movie
That was the one scene I saw and the one scene I remember.
At first I watched the movie because "Ooh, Andrew Rannells" and because I'm queer, but I always found it really disturbing how they managed to make a story that's premise is a lesbian not being allowed to bring her girlfriend to the prom into "look at Barry! Do you know how much money we spent for him to be here?"
The Prom could have been a sincere drama about growing up gay in a red state, or it could have been a black comedy satire about how celebrities try to make everything about themselves, but it tried to have it both ways at once, and so it failed at both.
So far I agree with a lot of these points HOWEVER the songs are not better in this movie. Sure, Love Thy Neighbor is better, but you cannot tell me what Tonight Belongs to Us, You Happened, and Alyssa Greene are better in this movie than on Broadway?? (Excited for the rest of this video tho!)
I think they’re all better because the orchestrations in this movie are far richer.
@@guystudios thats true, but i think the vocals in the broadway one were better (in my opinion) their voices seem less ig "fake" from editing and i also find that they seem to sing with more emotion in the broadway versions (although the dancing is nice in the movie i rewatch you happened a lot bc i love the promposals lol)
Being closeted absolutely sucks but I always cringe at films that act like it's worse than... being safe? If your mum's going to go so far to ban proms and lead homophobic movements, yeah, she's likely to abuse and kick you out onto the streets if you come out
i was a background actor on the set of this and james corden is so terrifying… and they gave me the absolute ugliest most foul side part i’ve ever had but anyways back to james corden i saw him talking to some other extras and laughed really hard but when he turned around (like towards my direction) to leave, his smile dropped so fast even though his laugh sounded really genuine and he was so smiley when talking LMAO unfortunately i don’t remember what he smelled like bc this was a while ago but he was scary to me
The so long gay bowser absolutely murdered me and the second I recovered you hit me with a second one 😂
I’m so glad you also critique the source material. I’ve only seen the show but as a former high-school lesbian I really found it weird that the relationship was so shafted and the camp was so overdone.
It’s a shame because I actually really love the stage version. It’s a shame that they refused to even audition almost any of the Broadway leads- Emma’s actress did but I got the vibe it was just as a courtesy. Part of the joke of the show is that Broadway performers are not names outside of NY and theatre nerds. Casting Meryl Streep doesn’t have the same effect as using Beth Leavel, who’s absolutely fantastic but doesn’t have a recognizable name. Even aside from James Corden being straight (and Brooks is not), he’s also too young for the character as written.
It’s also a shame because I saw The Prom a week before it closed and the energy was amazing. The audience was full of teenagers in prom dresses who felt represented by Broadway in a meaningful way. Even then there was a vibe that Ryan Murphy would screw it up. The show deserved better. The actress who plays Emma is way too smiley in the movie, where Caitlin really got across the angst and real trauma of the character. The show does put more emphasis on the relationship between Emma and Alyssa.
bruh wish i could like this video twice the editing was HILARIOUS and it’s so refreshing to see someone not a part of the community genuinely defend us and get the issues any gay person would have with this movie :’) appreciate it!
"I was in theater in Portland, i saw every single one of my friends come out" I'm glad this is mostly a universal experience. Only I'm in Virginia and all my friends were band kids that came out
Watching this with my mom who doesn’t know I’m lgbt and having so much to say about how bad the gay representation while being closeted was extremely frustrating.
Did you know that, in the SAG Awards for Best Ensamble Cast, the rule says you need a "solo" title card to be nominated, so... If The Prom has been nominated, neither of the teenage girls would be, as they share a title card. Just, a funny little trivia that is kind of perfect for the way this story is told.
Random complaint: why is it in every movie where a girl wears a suit to the prom, does she wear a weirdly cut frilly shirt?
i bet the costume designers were just too afraid of make a girl too masculine, so they attempt androgyny instead
I wasnt interested in the prom but I thought the two girls wouldve been the main characters, focusing on their love story but its somehow about the celebrities which is really disappointing. This film maybe still couldve had some problems like how the visuals play out in music but wouldve been better if they follow the trailers by making it a love story about these two girls and the celebrities at the side (and not have a straight woman kiss a gay man, that was just disgusting)
I’ve never watched the movie, and now I’m entirely distracted by all the mall scenes bc they were filmed at Northridge Fashion Center. I went to Northridge for college and it’s a popular film location, it was very normal to see my campus in a movie, but the mall is a new one for me lol
The fact that Kevin Chamberlin and Andrew Rannells are both gay men and they got James Corden to play the gay lead male is such a weird choice
If I had to swapped those three, I wouldn't want Andrew as Corden's character, sure he would've been great but we wouldn't have gotten the most fun and best aspect of the movie which was "Love Thy Neighbor" if Andrew wasn't part of it (that song fits Andrew so well that I just couldn't imagine without him especially with that choreography where he had to dance a lot)..Kevin Chamberlin should've had Corden's place
A lot of British people's fake American accents tend to overcorrect and land in vaguely Texan. I think that's why Barry sounds like he's from a ranch whenever he gets emotional. James Corden was struggling to keep an American accent up while sounding emotional and next thing you know... yeehaw!
Are there schools where the PTA is in charge of the prom?? This was not the case at my high school. Iirc it was like, the student council
Pre-COVID, I have no clue.
Post-COVID, I know tons of schools just stopped doing dances (because they didn’t want responsibility) & wealthier parents banded together (and charged TONS of money for tickets) to do homecomings and proms.
Obviously that’s not the case in this movie/play, but I’m just noting.
Also iirc it was the Class Officers that were supposed to organize prom at my school? Idk
The book (from what I can remember, I read it two years ago) was a lot better and it actually had flaws :(
1. One of Alyssa's friends (I think it was Shelly?) Wasn't actually accepting.
2. I don't remember the whole principal/dee dee thing?
3. Alyssa and Emma had a plan to hide who they were going to prom with, but Emma was low-key stupid and didn't come up with a name before hand and wrote down "Anna Kendrickson". Yeah...
4. Alyssa and Emma were actually main characters in their own book!!
5. When Emma finds out that the Broadway stars didn't actually come down to help her, she actually gets mad at them. She doesn't say that everything's fine and it doesn't matter.
the fake video end screen at 0:34 is scary accurate to my watch history.
You are honestly killing it lately with topics and videos.
Small error at 36:20 - Angie is played by Nicole Kidman. She's very famous
I was really excited for this movie in 2020 since I like Andrew Rannells and ofc a lesbian love story is great, and I thought at least a few of the songs on the og soundtrack were good! It was such a huge disappointment tho. I knew smth was really off when Emma sang about how being gay in Indiana sucked while just... smiling passively.
I'm just glad that Andrew Rannells saved this movie for me (Meryl Streep can do no wrong and so can Nicole Kidman but Andrew is next level imo). "Love Thy Neighbor" was my favourite song in the show and I'd be devastatingly disappointed if they screw it up, Andrew fits the song so well that it became my favourite part of the movie, hell i might've liked it even more than the original show (maybe i'm just biased on Andrew 😂)
James Cordon’s “gay” accent feels so weird. Its going to make me homophobic and I AM GAY.
the most unbelievable thing about this video is that your principal took away the lightsabers, then LISTENED to you when you told them what you were using them for, and gave them BACK.
Principal Dasilva for President 2024
this is one of the funniest videos ever made. "note to self, don't be gay-" made me cry laugh
Jfc this whole movies just “look I know your parents are homophobic but…..you need to come out of them!!! No matter what!!!” Like holy fuck that’s a dangerous message
Lucky to be one of the first few people to start watching The prom video from Keyan.
This seems way to forgiving of homophobic parents, like on top of all your good points her saying “we didn’t kick you out you left” reads like those narcissistic parents who deny their past actions and like she’s still actively married to a homophobe.
It's so fucking problematic I fucking hate them for adding that
That fake out ending at 0:35 actually got me because all those videos are things that have been/look like something that has been in my recommended,
i watched this with my best friend and we both were cringing at every single thing in this movie
p.s: also the intense grinning emma had through every moment even while breaking up with her girlfriend give me chills
If it was more like Annie where they push the girl towards the front and try to make her a little more of “icon” but in an ironic way that hurts her and she hates it then they actually conclude it in a meaningful way, this could have gone right... AND most importantly keep ALL of the love interest parts.
Then break the movies in 2 parts with a sad ending first so we can decide if we want to watch more but trick us into a second terrible second movie.
Oh or do none of that and just dump James Corden.
36:17
Excuse me, I will not tolerate Nicole Kidman/Anthony Rannells slander
Exactly, like that’s Whizzer Brown
Andrew Rannells is by far the best part of this movie
It is very telling that a musical movie starring MERYL STREEP came out two years ago and I am only just hearing about it right now. Who does Meryl owe money? I can only imagine she's in debt to the mob if she's doing something like this.
"The whole point of broadway is to make shows worse than they were originally"
as someone who just watched the stage version of hunchback, I'm inclined to agree
20:03 “because the whole point of broadway is to make shows worse than they were originally” - shows be more chill
Me: PREACH
i got the opportunity to play emma in the prom a few months back. i watched the movie a few years ago, but looking back, one thing threw me off more than anything else (james cordon asked, of course). emma is smiling pretty much 24/7. she’s grinning when the broadway crew first arrives during deedee’s song, when in reality, she’s absolutely terrified. she doesn’t want any attention, the entire beginning of dance with you is about that. the entire show, she’s barely excited in the slightest. she wants literally nothing more than to get away from everybody but alyssa. and that’s not just a character choice i made, it’s literally in the script. she’s absolutely miserable. their emma here is just.. so smiley and cheerful. it’s a mess
Actually, the book explains how everyone knows about her taking a girl to prom. In the book everyone has to sign up with a date because of limited tickets, and she writes in a fake name of a girl in order to not out Alyssa. And then the sugar honey iced tea hits the fan.
I feel so bad for Jo Ellen Pellman. She's genuinely talented but hasn't gotten the chance to do anything else after this (I'm sure that your complaints about her performance are easily fixable). I feel like the general outlook on the movie would be very different if they didn't cast James Corden and actually kept all the Emma/Alyssa scenes (or even expanded on them!). Maybe then Jo Ellen would've actually become a big name. I hope she hasn't quit the industry yet, I'd like to see her again in something else someday.
I saw this musical w my mother (and am currently closeted lol). The original show that I saw already so many problems, but knowing the movie is worse…doesn’t surprise me. I wish they didn’t like play into stereotypes so much! I wish the characters were fleshed out more :(
52:35 you should see Day Shift, there’s a few scenes about a Boss Vampire and Exposition about Types of Vampires and it’s never brought up again since they’re setting it up for Spin-offs it seems
I got to see this show on Broadway and I had tears streaming down my face at the end. It was not the best show at all but goddamnit seeing all those happy gay teens got to me. The ending of the movie is still a bop and keeping the choreography definitely helped but it still didn't have the same effect
i can agree as one of your gay friends that i do not sound like a southerner, love that i am supposed to view james corden as my gay icon king
Thank you Irelie, I was thinking of you as I made this video.
I personally don’t care if a straight actor plays a gay role(though I do groan if James Corden plays a role period), but I think the major problem the movie has is similar to Love Simon(2018). It feels like a “gay” movie completely marketed to straight people that doesn’t do anything risky beyond basic ‘love is love’ mentality. They spend more time on the predatory straight romance between the older broadway actress and a younger fan than the lesbian couple the story centers around. They also gave two homophobic mothers(Mrs Greene and Barry’s mom) unnecessary/unrealistic 360 turns into becoming accepting people.
All this while giving the lesbian couple at the center of the movie little screen time. Not to mention that Emma is boring, passive, and not at all butch, while Alyssa has her entire arc brushed over quickly despite it being one of the more interesting ones in the movie. The “you’re someone in between” line hit really hard, just it’s a shame that they didn’t give her character the development beforehand for it to really land.
I wish Lady Gaga would stop taking majority control of the land in my area through dating. I mean what does she even need it for?
no i was so dissapointed with this movie, as a lesbian i was so happy that there was going to be a movie with a lesbian main character and a sapphic couple as the main focus, just to be served Fucking James Cordon
Wow, you were not kidding, this is some of your best work. I hope I'm not sounding like I'm stepping on any toes of any members of the LGBTQIA+ community (seeing as I am straight) but I feel like if I was gay, I wouldn't like how the character we should be following gets no screentime compared to James Corden acting as a gay man. This movie just takes so many weird steps and it's so laughably stupid especially in how multiple anti-gay people just shift they're values they've probably held for years entirely as if it's a 2 hour long Dhar Mann video. It's just such a weird ensemble of problems made into a Netflix Original movie. At least Bertram was in it. Bertram makes everything better.
I do indeed had to pause the video several times, in order to facepalm with both my "little lezbian" hands. At whatever this is.
Mostly the gay mam stereptype played by Corden.
As the B in the LGTBQ+ collective I felt used whenever they'd as much as have a blue and purple light close to each other like "Wow I can't believe you're appropriating my flag for glamour" then I have to die inside when Emma who's the actual character being used by them keeps worshipping the ground they walk on.
But I might just have tainted memories of her cause seeing her in her "I'm out of my shell" prom suit that looks just like the one from Tall Girl shaved 2 months off my lifespan when it defiled my corneas.
Hey, it’s normal to wait 8 hours for Applebees. I once waited 12 hours for some Applebees
fun fact: the guy who sings 'love thy neighbor', andrew rannells, played whizzer in falsettos (on-broadway)! i haven't actually watched the prom myself but as soon the clip of that song played in this video i recognized his voice lolol
I did not expect a musical movie review from this channel and I am so here for it
33:10 I think I hate this line, actually. I might be reading into it, but it feels like the implication is that being butch is a "lesser" form of being a lesbian, which is...absolutely atrocious, given how devalued butch lesbians already are.
I do love this movie, however the only thing I’m realising and what made me rethink this movie is that I feel like Emma was forcing Alyssa to come out, because if you actually look at it Alyssa has a homophobic mom who doesn’t know she’s gay, and a girlfriend who’s making (by choice) her come out at prom, but when she changes her mind and doesn’t come to Emma (in her defence it would’ve aroused suspicion) Emma breaks up with her when she doesn’t wanna come out, I really hope this doesn’t make me sound like a horrible person, and I don’t mean to if that’s what it looks like, I’m just putting my opinion out there, it doesn’t have to be right or wrong I just needed to get it off my chest
i miss the days when all I knew James Cordon from was 2 episodes of Doctor Who..
also im lmao at the idea that Ryan Murphy wasnt directly involved in these crapshow decisions, knowing how he is on set & how he treats his talent... I'm sure a lot of the bad decisions were his idea.
24:53 a homecoming dress is more casual and usually goes down to maybe the knee, whereas prom dresses are formal, and they usually go down to peoples feet
thank you i was so confused
One good thing we got out of this; Andrew Rannells as Trent. His love thy neighbor was great
One classic gay stereotype is liking men.
20:40 that is the wildest pronunciation of "cishet" I've ever heard
loved the time Andrew Rannels ended homophobia in a mall in Indiana through High School Musical-esque random musical numbers, very cool.