PROM PACT

PROM PACT is a romantic comedy on Disney+ about a teenage girl who wants nothing more than to get out of high school and into her dream college, Harvard. She becomes willing to step out of her comfort zone by manipulating the high school basketball star to achieve that dream.

The outspoken main character, Mandy, firmly believes that everything about the stereotypical high school experience is useless except for her best friend, Ben, who is a fellow social outcast. She’s happy to stay in the same routine, like speechifying about feminism and other woke values to Ben while judging and ridiculing the classmates around her, who are abuzz with excitement over the upcoming prom dance. Ben is supportive but expresses a wish to be popular and have the same stereotypical experiences that Mandy openly hates. She promises to go to prom with Ben since neither of them has been asked by anyone else.

However, Mandy only does this to make Ben feel better in the moment. She prefers to focus on the college she’s been working at attend, Harvard University.

Mandy learns that Harvard has her on its waiting list. Her lesbian guidance counselor hints that Mandy get a letter of recommendation from a local Senator and Harvard alumni. However, Mandy hatches a less than moral plan to get what she wants. She decides to get close to the Senator’s son and convince the Senator to write her the letter she needs. The only problem is, that the Senator’s son is Graham, the high school basketball star and Mandy’s least favorite classmate.

As Mandy gets closer to Graham, she realizes that her prejudices about the most popular boy in school may have been wrong. Even after she and Graham begin to fall in love, however, Mandy continues a pattern of selfishness that sets her on a path that will destroy her friendship with Ben. Happily, though, the same path also begins to lead Mandy to stop judging others and putting her own desires before the feelings of the people around her. It all comes down to Mandy deciding how to balance the things that are most important to her. Is she willing to break a pact with her best friend to get what she wants?

PROM PACT is a sometimes charming romantic comedy. It engages viewers with well-timed visual elements, several scenes of fun chemistry between talented actors, and several callbacks to 80s romantic movies. It boasts a storyline that challenges teenagers to open their eyes and seize opportunities in the present instead of having tunnel vision on selfish goals in the future. That said, the plot is nothing new, and the cast delivers their lines and facial expressions with an over-practiced style that quickly gets old.

Also, PROM PACT’s main storyline, which grows the main character from a selfish activist to a genuinely selfless friend, is handicapped by politically correct woke elements. Scenes of innocent and funny awkwardness between teenagers are often interrupted by homosexual content, examples of underage drinking, or crude sexual humor. It doesn’t help that nearly all of the lead character’s dialogue features some reference to her feminist, environmentalist, socialist worldview, usually in the context of a preachy rant that renders her unlikeable. These unnecessary moments, along with some examples of foul language, are jarring in an otherwise charming movie. When contrasted with the positive content in PROM PACT, they make the entire experience feel disjointed and contradictory. So, ultimately, PROM PACT has excessive, unacceptable negative content.