Prom

Though geared exclusively towards young teenagers, Prom, despite its plethora of superficial and stereotypical attributes, ultimately manages to establish itself as a perfectly watchable (albeit utterly forgettable) little drama detailing several characters’ efforts at preparing for the title event. Among the myriad of subplots on display here are the class president’s (Aimee Teegarden’s Nova) growing friendship with the school rebel (Thomas McDonell’s Jesse), a shy dork’s (Nicholas Braun’s Lloyd) attempts at finding a date, and a longtime couple’s (Yin Chang’s Mei and Jared Kusnitz’s Justin) realization that their time together might be coming to an end. (The latter is, it becomes clear, a highlight within the proceedings.) Prom is, at the outset, awfully difficult to wholeheartedly embrace, as scripter Katie Welch’s places a continuing emphasis on cliches and tropes of an almost unreasonably hoary nature that is, to put it mildly, somewhat distracting. The charisma of the various actors generally compensates, and it doesn’t hurt that Welch has included a few genuinely entertaining subplots (eg Lloyd’s ongoing and elaborate efforts at asking someone out). There’s little doubt, too, that filmmaker Joe Nussbaum does a nice job of handling some of the movie’s more overtly familiar moments, with the most obvious example of this Jesse’s encounter with Nova’s well-meaning yet disapproving father (Dean Norris’ Frank). And although the movie begins to palpably run out of steam as it passes the one-hour mark, a feeling that’s perpetuated by an increased emphasis on melodramatic moments, Prom, buoyed by an impressively romantic finish, manages to establish itself as a passable time-killer that isn’t quite the arduous ordeal one might’ve anticipated.

**1/2 out of ****