The Prom [Netflix]

This was the definition of hate-watching. Not even the catchy tunes by Matthew Sklar (paired with the less catchy lyrics by Chad Beguelin) and the best efforts of Nicole Kidman (the best of the quartet but utterly wasted and mostly invisible) and Meryl Streep (great actress deliciously hamming it up and a decent singer but definitely not a belter), could save this bright and soul-less Glee-esque "very special episode" remake. But yet, the sweet, innocuous central YA romance and the desire to see bigotry gets its butt kicked, albeit way too unrealistically and ultimately unsatisfyingly, had us impatiently - and hopefully - drunkenly awaiting the end of its bloated and excessive 131 minutes runtime.

Ryan Murphy had no sense of direction (way too much unnecessary camera movements, edits and cuts, and for goodness sake, a whole Fosse-inspired number with no focus on hands, arms, legs or the whole body?!) nor any sensibility in appropriating a stage musical to the screen (just because the camera can move, unlike on a stage, does not mean it has to keep on moving!). 

However, the most egregiously of all, especially given who Murphy is and how he has positioned himself in Hollwood, why in holy Patti LuPone and Bernadette Peter's names did he cast James Corden in the role of Barry Glickman?! How infuriatingly insulting it must have been! What? Were Victor Garber or Nathan Lane or Billy Porter or Alan Cumming not available? It would not have been that bad if Corden did a decent job, but even if he could a tune, his performance was cringeworthy and inconsistent and stereotypical and just, simply put, bad.

What The Prom did well - credit where credit is due - was in the YA component of its LGBTQIA+ storyline, something Murphy had honed in his Glee days, and also in its discovery of newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman. Pellman has an earnest and sincere appeal that made rooting for her easy. It also helped that her singing voice is lovely. Then again, it was not hard to be on par with this group of non-Broadway singers bar Andrew Rannells (who really belted out in his solo, although hard not to imagine his casting was a sly nod to his Mormon days).

We also had the surprisingly touching and appropriate pairing of Streep and Michael-Keegan Key, a playing-against-type Kerry Washington who can hold a tune, and a lovely preview of Steven Spielberg's Anita in Ariana DeBose. 

Twice Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique lensed the film and although the garish, eclectic, colour-saturated palette was not unpleasing, this was definitely nowhere near what he is capable of. 

The Prom continues Murphy's trend of picking noteworthy projects but just totally missing the point of the subject matter and story, and just running it straight into the ground (or into the fiery pits of hell).