Film Review – The Prom

“The Prom” is an adaptation of a 2016 musical, which worked its way from Atlanta to a 2018 shot at Broadway, welcomed by audiences and winning a Drama Desk Award along the way. It tells the tale of four musical theater players from New York City who descend on a small Indiana town currently working to prevent a gay teenager from attending prom with her girlfriend. With broad antics and big tunes, the material seems like a proper fit for Broadway audiences, playing huge to fill the theater space. Director Ryan Murphy doesn’t fully understand how to translate that specialized energy to the screen with “The Prom,” retaining the material’s theatrical presence while trying to preserve sensitivity when it comes to issues of equality and humiliation. Murphy isn’t the guy for this job, and his inability to balance eye-crossing camp and broken hearts turns a well-meaning offering of hope into a hostile viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com