Senior prom is fast approaching for Jess and Hannah, two inseparable besties who made a pact years ago to ensure this milestone event is one for the memory books. But when relationship woes threaten to derail their carefully laid plans just one day before the big dance, they find themselves in a panic seeking new dates prone prom. What follows is a chaotic scramble around town as they venture to parties and clubs in desperate attempts to salvage their prom night dreams.
Directed by Kim O. Nguyen, Prom Dates draws inspiration from modern teen comedies like Booksmart and Superbad that balance raunchy humor with realistic portrayals of adolescent angst and discovery. At its best moments, lighthearted laughs arise from the absurd dilemmas Jess and Hannah encounter on their prom-procuring prowls.
Yet despite charismatic leads in Antonia Gentry and Julia Lester, the film falls short of classic status. Beyond superficial stereotypes, characters remain underdeveloped without genuine motivations. The plot plods predictably through expected hurdles to a simplistic resolution rather than delivering insightful commentary its peers offer.
While promising premises can produce pleasing popcorn entertainment, Prom Dates focuses more on forced farce than nuanced narratives. This leaves the audience amused but not fully engaged, missing opportunities to tap deeper issues facing modern youth. The quest for a prom date provokes pleasant prejudices but lacks poignancy necessary to elevate it among the elite exploits of its genre.
Promised Perfection
Hannah and Jess have been best friends since middle school, bonded by their shared vision of having the perfect senior prom. As teenagers often do, the two made an impulsive blood pact to help each other achieve this dream.
Now in their final year of high school, Hannah and Jess seem poised to fulfill their promise. Hannah is dating theater nerd Greg, even if she secretly questionsher sexuality. Jess is the popular girl, staying with her boyfriend Luca who helps boost her social standing. Though neither relationship is ideal, Hannah and Jess have dates – the most important part according to their younger selves.
But when realities come crashing in, both girls are left dateless just before prom. Jess catches Luca cheating, while Hannah reaches her breaking point with the overbearing Greg. This sends the pair on a desperate mission to find replacements, an odyssey through college parties and social mingling in the hopes of salvaging their perfect night.
The friendship between Hannah and Jess serves as the heart of the film. Yet Jess herself feels more like a surface-level stock character than a fully realized teen. We understand her drive to be prom queen, but there is little exploration why this dream defines her or matters so much. The movie would have benefited from greater examination of both girls’ motivations beyond their childhood pledge.
In contrast, Julia Lester shines as the complex Hannah. Her journey of self-discovery, realizing her sexuality and struggle to come out, brings nuance to the role. Lester plays both the comedy and more tender moments with nuanced care. She makes Hannah’s storyline the most intriguing part of Prom Dates.
As for supporting roles, Greg in particular seems an afterthought. The character elicits more eyerolls than laughs, with no clarity around his infatuation with Hannah or what makes him tick. A stronger conception could have elevated the humor or drama of their storylines.
While not a perfect film, Prom Dates finds its footing when focusing on the friendship between Hannah and Jess, and Lester’s grounded performance. With more care given to character development overall, it could have been a true high school comedy gem.
Friendship and Funny Business
The strong bond between Jess and Hannah serves as the comedic backbone of Prom Dates. Their witty banter feels authentic, like conversations between longtime pals perfectly in sync. Whether teasing each other or teaming up to take down targets of ridicule, they exhibit the playful rhythm of best friends who find the absurd in anything. Gentry and Lester showcase their comedic chops, improvising off each other with superb timing and expression. Their scenes are where the film shines brightest.
Besides the leads, other moments that induce laughter include an assembly where Greg serenades Hannah with an overly elaborate song-and-dance number. Though sweet, his overeagerness provokes secondhand embarrassment and chuckles. Adding to the amusement is John Michael Higgins as the eccentric principal. His finest bit involves maneuvering a condom over his entire head, the ridiculous visual selling the joke’s surreal quality.
However, not all gags land with the same impact. An Italian exchange student who confesses to murderous urges is a missed opportunity, as the subject veers into uncomfortable rather than humorous territory. Also uneven is Chelsea Handler’s brief participation as Greg’s smothering mother, fixated on teaching vocabulary to their dog. While her energetic delivery hints at comedic potential, the underdeveloped character adds little.
Perhaps the most uneven laughs originate from Greg himself. Though meant as a lovable doofus, his clingy behavior comes across as aggravating and kills any chuckles. The film would have benefited from mining humor from his missteps rather than making him so one-dimensionally obnoxious. In general, some situations aim for outrageousness over actual wit, prioritizing shock value over smarter forms of fun.
At its heartiest, Prom Dates demonstrates how chemistry and natural rapport between leads can elevate even the silliest material. Its weakest humor shows how hit-or-miss manufactured gags and thinly written characters can be. With a sharper, more consistent comedic voice, this high school romp could have been a full-blown riot. As is, the leading ladies’ antics provide enjoyment enough.
Friendship to the Test
The bond between Jess and Hannah forms the heart of Prom Dates. From a childhood blood oath to have the perfect prom, their friendship faces one of its toughest challenges during a crazy night in search of replacement dates. As the pressure of living up to their pact mounts, long-hidden truths threaten to ruptures their bond for good.
Nowhere is this tensions better realized than in Hannah’s storyline. For years she buried her sexuality to avoid disrupting their relationship, dating Greg despite her lack of feelings for him. When that facade finally cracks, Hannah embarks on a joyous journey of self-discovery.
Meeting other lesbians kindles feelings of belonging she never knew, yet confronting who she truly is also means disappointing her closest friend. Her rising confidence and Angie’s playful flirting light up the screen, yet Hannah’s willingness to finally be honest with Jess brings their friendship to a dramatic cliffhanger.
Some of the film’s most poignant moments stem from glimpses of Hannah and Jess’ formidable bond before it breaks under the weight of their mistakes. Their verbal sparring plays as a delightful showcase of deep understanding turned sour. And in a heartfelt scene where Hannah tells Greg the truth about her orientation, flecks of restraint shine through as she wonders what this will cost her friendship.
While Prom Dates deserves praise for prioritizing Hannah’s story with subtlety and care, it’s heavy-handed moralizing feels tacked on and trite. The climactic friendship resolution, though sweet, reeks of melodrama compared to the messy reality most viewers know.
Perhaps the film would have been better served focusing solely on vividly rendering the nuances of Hannah and Jess’ relationship under strain, without trying to neatly tie everything in a bow. Their powerful storytelling deserves recognition without relying on preachy lessons most teenagers have already learned.
Prom Night Dynamics
Prom night is a rite of passage like no other, where friendships are tested and dreams can come true or be shattered in an instant. In Prom Dates, Hannah and Jess are desperate for their senior prom to live up to the promise they made as fresh-faced middle schoolers. But getting to the ball at the end of their high school royalty may prove rockier than they ever could have imagined.
The film sets the stage for hijinks during its lively opening, where we see young Hannah and Jess share an enthusiastically clumsy moment forming their pact. This helps us understand the depth of their bond from the start. As the story jumps ahead, director Kim O.
Nguyen ensures the party scenes crackle with commotion. From Hannah’s nervous attempts to flirt at her first college mixer to Jess’s misguided maneuvering between dubious dates, you can almost feel the pulse of the music and smell the spilled drinks. These rowdy gatherings give the girls’ quest for dates an ecstatic, Anything-can-happen energy.
However, that turbocharged tone is sometimes the only motor driving the plot. With their prom problem solved by the end of act one, the stakes fade, and so does some of the urgency. More complexity could have emerged from exploring how Hannah and Jess’s partnership is evolving beyond childhood dreams as adulthood approaches. A tightening of beats may have also prevented predictable moments from sounding a touch like scenes we’d seen in other films.
Still, Lester and Gentry remain delightful anchors, lending warmth and wit to every comedic collision. Their bond keeps viewers invested in hoping their special night can salvage the magic of their memory and solidify the unbreakable nature of real friendship. If the conclusion leaves you craving just one more dance, that partnership has done its job in getting your feet moving to the prom night beat.
Prom Style With Substance
This coming-of-age comedy truly transports viewers back to those hallowed halls of high school. From the neon locker decorations to spangly prom dresses swishing down corridors, production designer Eve McCarney nails all the nostalgia-inducing details. You can almost smell the Axe body spray and feel the scratch of starched polyester uniforms. McCarney outdoes herself with the climactic prom itself, draping the auditorium in glittering sea of taffeta, silk and corsages.
Costume designer Gabriella Jaramillo equally dazzles with her array of Looks. Antonia Gentry works plaid minis and crop tops with insouciant aplomb as the poised prom queen hopeful Jess. But it’s Julia Lester who steals many scenes, wielding an unruly libido of loud sweaters, knee high socks and Converse sneakers in her star-making turn as Hannah. Her tomboy style blossoms engagingly over the course of one life-changing night.
Fine performances abound beyond the charismatic leads. Kenny Ridwan brings geeky charm and nuance to overly-enthusiastic suitor Greg. Zión Moreno is a scene-stealing force of pure liveliness as the self-styled “Vodka Heather.”
JT Neal effortlessly oozes smoldering good looks and menace as Hannah’s brother Jacob. And Terry Hu radiates cool confidence with just a smile as prospective love interest Angie. Under astute director Kim O. Nguyen’s guidance, this talented ensemble ensures Prom Dates remains an utterly engrossing watch from opening blood pact to final fateful dance.
Prom Dates’ Potential Mostly Untapped
While Prom Dates had the pieces to craft a truly hilarious high school romp, it ultimately didn’t capitalize on its premise and talent. The movie provided plenty of laugh-out-loud moments thanks to its witty dialogue and charismatic cast. But it failed to bring together all the funny parts into a cohesive story with meaningful characters.
The concept of two best friends scrambling to find dates the night before their senior prom teased a night of unforgettable misadventures. And Jess and Hannah’s genuine bond showed promise for exploring deeper messages around feminism and self-acceptance. But inconsistent characterization and reliance on cliches prevented their journey from resonating. The film also tried to do too much, from slapstick gags to melodrama, diluting its comic voice.
It’s a shame then that more wasn’t done with Julia Lester’s nuanced performance or the compelling core relationship. With sharper writing and direction focused on these strong suits, Prom Dates could have been riotously hilarious while also leaving lasting impact.
As it stands, the movie may not go down as a generational classic. But those in the mood for a lighthearted romp featuring really funny moments won’t be completely disappointed. Prom Dates showed signs of bigger things while delivering chuckles, even if its potential sadly went largely untapped in the end.
The Review
Prom Dates
While Prom Dates had memorable laughs, its uneven storytelling and missed opportunities held it back from greatness. The promising premise and leads hinted at possibilities not fully developed. Overall, Prom Dates provided some giggles but left this reviewer wanting more from such a talented cast and concept.
PROS
- Strong chemistry between leads Julia Lester and Antonia Gentry
- Witty dialogue and some genuinely funny scenes
- Timely exploration of coming out and self-acceptance
CONS
- Inconsistent tone switching between raunchy and serious
- Predictable, cliche plot points
- Underdeveloped supporting characters
- Failed to capitalize fully on premise and talent involved
