The raunchy teen comedy Prom Dates is about a couple of teenage best bud girls getting in trouble in the runup to prom. The term is not new and has been around for decades, but it seems to have reached its 21st century peak in “Superbad” and taken a leap to the social media era in the film “Booksmart.” The film is directed by Kim O. Nguyen and has a screenplay by D.J. Mausner who primarily worked in TV sitcoms and therefore the film has a sitcom vibe to it although it was shot in a large format and has the creative aspect of a movie that is meant to convey “this is different, it is cinema.” It feels more like the pilot of a Netflix show that is eventually going to get made and become quite popular for its two seasons, only to get scrapped so that the streaming platform does not have to shell out extra cash when the series is extended to three seasons. The cast has a lot to offer though.
The protagonists are Hannah (Julia Lester) and Jess (Antonia Gentry) who were best friends for the longest time. The two girls, aged just 13 at the time were able to sneak into a prom and made a pledge during the event while hiding under a table that Jess would be the most famous high school girl and Hannah would have a husband among her prom date’s classmates.
Five years later senior prom approaches and everything looks like a dumpster fire. In an attempt to win the crown, Jess decides to take a wealthy boy toy named Luca (Jordan Buhat), but the night before prom, she finds him cheating and breaks up with him. (As Luca’s third concubine leaves the shadows, he dodges the shrapnel and presses “Siri, pause Sexy Time Playlist.”)
Hannah on the other hand does not have a date yet but has the pleasure of being asked out, during a school assembly of all places, by her devoted Number One fan Greg (Kenny Ridwan giving Mike Yanagita from “Fargo” a run for his money). She agrees but her head isn’t really in the game, not only because Greg seems like a rather trying person with absolutely no personal space, but because Hannah hasn’t even come out to anyone including, for some reason, Jess.
For a fraction of the movie, college students are seen at a mixer party where students drank lots of alcohol, consumed a range of drugs and attempted, but mostly didn’t engage in, sexual acts. The narrative bends and folds in upon itself multiple times and does it spoil anything to say that at the end, the girls discover that all they needed was each other? Well that and a little bit of wishing that does feel quite satisfying when it actually does come together.
Most of Prom Dates manages to sound and feel like they came out from that post millennium trend in the film industry cliches in the psychological scripted comedy most of which involve gore and surprise throws up sequences in which moments of change happen but get interrupted (this one gory includes vomit and blood) or scenes where characters talk to…such as a party attendee who is totally bizarre (there’s quite a peculiar ensemble here, including an aspiring killer, and a young woman who goes by Vodka Heather after gaining confidence from booze).
A lot of talk appears to originate from a Hollywood configured for the comedy television show; it is blustering, somewhat experimental and stressfully scattered as if designed to be absorbed in a tweet. It is out there at every level of the system, and so Prom Dates is unique in that respect. Of course, the script takes many shots at the target at such a high velocity that high percentage of them land despite the inherent challenges and much of it is quirky and even memeable, particularly the parts of Hannah, the most savage, over bitter, and angry woman who sounds as if she will write a movie like this one when she matures.
She taunts her loyal brother Jacob (JT Neal), saying, “all the women in your playlists are ghosts who are oh so sad.” Other than this, when Heather is on the lookout for a prom date and texts every butch and possible butch cracker, one responds, “Um, sorry! Not queer, but really into softball,” which angers Heather because, she grumbles, “That’s false! This year she hit forty two round trippers.”
The star cast is quite enjoyable even though the film forces them to conform to the kind of characters that the show is about. And it is nice to see so many young stars at the same time allowed to be quirky with their personalities and also be expected to do a lot of classical ringing character work. I could easily watch more movies featuring Gentry and Lester, as the two have such an effortless spark (especially while arguing). The most extreme turn is taken by Ridwan, who plays Greg as a dorky but fierce teen reminiscent of a young Nicolas Cage in films such as ‘Valley Girl’ and ‘Peggy Sue Got Married.’ Towards the end, there is a very vulnerable moment between Hannah and Greg that is surprisingly brutal in its truth.
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