Prom Pact

This movie has all the makings of your run of the mill DCOM coming of age film, but it weirdly overindulged on the 80's nostalgia. Kind of odd to make a movie for Disney channel age teens and pre-teens with so many 80's references and tropes. The kids did not understand the John Cusack or Molly Ringwald references nor did they enjoy the soundtrack made up entirely of 80's songs. Disney is clearly trying to branch out with a more edgy teen film, but at the same time ended up making a Kenny Ortega meets John Hughes film. While the movie still made for an entertaining watch, I definitely think that Disney missed their target audience with this one.

Mandy Yang (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is the school misanthrope. She is desperate to get into Harvard. Both her and her best friend Ben Plunkett (Milo Manheim) are class outsiders. Graham Lansing (Blake Draper) is the popular senior. Ms. Chen (Margaret Cho) is the school councilor. After getting waitlisted by Harvard, Mandy needs to befriend Graham and get help from his Senator father.

Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim are naturally endearing performers. It's too bad that Mandy is so snarky. I get the idea of character growth, but it's an off-putting start. The more interesting premise is that Graham is not an idiot. I would play with that even more although the plot device is that she's tutoring him. It needs to sort out his character, but there is potential there. It tries to reference a lot of 80's teen movies, but this movie doesn't have their essence. It seems to be trying to overturn a couple of those 80's tropes and I am interested in seeing what this movie is trying to do. This is a borderline case. I would like to like this more for the actors, but there are cringe issues.

While in some ways it felt like a rehash of many high school rom com movies, "Prom Pact" was actually a pretty good movie. It wasn't as cheesy as some of Disney's other recent movies, the acting was pretty good, and the characters were dynamic. Mandy was one of Disney's better female lead characters in recent movies--strong, confident, but also vulnerable and willing to change as she learns more about people.

The movie is also pretty spot on with contemporary teenage culture, with the omnipresence of phones and social media, as well as the idea of these big glamorous "promposals." The movie is fun for a wide audience, but very relatable for teens.

And by children I mean anyone younger than 12 simply based off of one scene where the young cashier talks about the mc's best friend hooking up with girls. "I mean have you ever put your P in a V" and I know I sound like THAT mom but it was unnecessary and the only added benefit was that I now won't let young ears watch the movie. Not everything has to be sexualized.

Other than that, it's a cute movie. Sure the mc is a bit of a pick-me girl with her "that's not feminist or environmentally friendly" attitude but she's a fairly good actress and the storyline is cute, even if a little predictable. But that's what I want in a Disney original movie.

Predictability and a lack of vulgarity.

I thought this was a fun, well paced high school movie. I found it quite reminiscent of 10 Things I hate about you (an absolute classic if you haven't seen it and definitely one to watch if you enjoy this as it's even better - Heath Ledger and Julia Styles are magnificent).

The plot is, of course, somewhat predictable (what teen movie isn't?) but I really enjoyed it. It has some good tunes (lots of 80s tracks), sweet characters and conversations, and a really nice messages about friendship, not judging a book by its cover and friendship. I recommend it for an easy and enjoyable watch with the family (good for tweens and teens - my 10yr old loved it!).