Prom Dates Parent Guide

Best friends Jess (Antonia Gentry) and Hannah (Julia Lester) have always planned to have the perfect prom together. But you know the saying about “the best laid plans”…

The day before prom, Jess catches her boyfriend cheating and Hannah finally decides to come out of the closet, and accordingly breaks up with her boyfriend. On the eve of prom, both girls find themselves dateless, with their plans in tatters. Desperate, the pair head off to a nearby college to crash some parties in hopes of finding someone, anyone, who will be their prom date.

If that plot sounds familiar, you’re right! It’s almost exactly the plot of Booksmart, except that movie had clever writing and well-developed characters (plus a ton of negative content). Although Gentry and Lester are talented actors, they simply can’t overcome the weak script they were given. Jess is a frustratingly stupid character who makes horrible decisions, and Hannah has no backbone. The writers fail to give us any indication of why these two are friends, as they don’t treat each other very well, nor do they seem to have much in common. The plot itself feels unbalanced, with a far too short first act, a dragged out second act, and a rushed conclusion.

This film isn’t complete garbage; it got a few good laughs out of me. The humor is overall well done, and there are some fun stabs at frat boys and party culture. Some of the side characters are fantastic. Jess’s boyfriend, Luca (Jordan Buhat), is deliciously smarmy and steals every scene he’s in. Unfortunately, the glimmers of brilliance aren’t enough to outshine the lazy plot, bad pacing, and high levels of negative content.

Although featuring teen characters, this is not a movie for teens. The script is burdened by a heavy volume of profanity, sexual content, and teen substance use. It’s thankfully free of nudity, but there are multiple sex scenes and some explicit discussions. A teen character snorts cocaine, which is played for laughs and lacks any consequences. I don’t know about you, but that just feels irresponsible to me.

Although I laughed a few times, the poor writing and extreme levels of negative content do not earn this production a recommendation from me, for any audience. No date at all is better than this dud of a prom date.