Ryan Murphy‘s The Prom (Netflix 12.11) might be an excellent thing on its own terms, but the trailer is really rubbing me the wrong way.
Too flashy, too pushed, too glitzy and sparkly, too “aren’t we wonderful?”, too James Corden-influenced, too instructional, too Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, too shallow, too self-congratulating, too Fosse-ish, doesn’t seem to touch bottom, not my cup of tea.
Four Broadway stars reeling from a career crisis (Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells) come to the aid of Emma (Ellen Pellman), a gay teenager from a small Indiana town who’s been told she can’t take her girlfriend Alyssa (Ariana DeBose) to a high-school prom. Jaded New Yorkers visit Bumblefuck town, open people’s hearts, discourage anti-LGBTQ bigotry, make the world a slightly better place. Awesome.