PROM PACT

Name: PROM PACT
Item: PROM PACT
Author: Gaby Gaduh

"Spoiled by Too Many Politically Correct, Woke Moments"

Family Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

PROM PACT is a romantic comedy on Disney Plus. It follows Mandy Yang, an activist high school senior who’s goal is to get into her dream college, Harvard. She’s supported by her best friend, a fellow outcast of the social scene named Ben. Mandy and Ben agree to be each other’s date for prom, but Mandy learns she’s been waitlisted by Harvard. Her friendship with Ben is put to the test when Mandy decides to manipulate the high school basketball star to earn a letter of recommendation from his father, a senator.

PROM PACT has a few genuinely funny moments. Also, the friendship between the two main characters is charming. However, the plot is nothing new, and the cast delivers their lines and facial expressions with an over-practiced style that quickly gets old. To make matters worse, the movie styles itself as an innocent high school romance story with a positive message about treating people well, but it’s peppered with strong politically correct content and promiscuous, immoral elements. PROM PACT also has some light foul language and a glorification of underage drinking.

Content:

(B, PCPCPC, FeFeFe, EE, SoSo, HoHo, L, S, N, AA, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Light moral worldview and premise where treating others as if they have inherent value is the main point, but marred by and filled with very strong politically correct, feminist, woke ideology, including the characterization of the main character as a feminist and environmentalist with dreams of political activism and socialist transformation of society, many other references to politically correct worldviews, plus strong pro-homosexual content includes several same-sex characters pair up and guidance counselor is a lesbian who has a same-sex marriage

Foul Language:

Five obscenities and eight light profanities

Violence:

No violence

Sex:

A same-sex couple is interrupted in the middle of making out, a freshman ridicules a senior by implying he’s never had sex, several sexual innuendos are treated as jokes, several background characters are seen kissing or making out throughout the film, all four of the main characters kiss on the mouth, and the guidance counselor is a lesbian with a same-sex marriage

Nudity:

Three scenes with upper male nudity

Alcohol Use:

Implied alcohol use and glorification of underage drinking

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Strong miscellaneous immorality includes lying, rudeness, inconsiderate and selfish behavior, name calling, and overall manipulation as well as several examples of teenage disrespect to parents.

More Detail:

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.