BY MIKEY MIGO
I was flipping through the channels in the early afternoon this past Sunday and came across a fine little independent movie on one of the cable channels. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s so I’m going to always have a place in my heart for a well written high school movie. “Prom Wars” fits into that category. It’s an indy for sure, but it has some recognizable folks in it. Ricky Ullman stars as the dude with a crush on his dream girl. Yeah, this IS a high school movie. There is the “ultimate crush” in pretty much all high school comedies. His crush is Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development fame. They pull the whole “he has a friend who is a tomboy girl that has a crush on him and that is obviously really cute under her slacker attire. This time is played by a very cute Rachelle Lefevre. I’ve never seen the Twilight movies, but I guess she’s in them. The story, tone, cuts, and everything were pretty solid. The only complains are small ones. What the hell was up with those little kids showing up all the time as transitions? They were cool and I got what they were there for but there was a few portions that the dialogue seemed really forced. It took me out of the plot if anything. Speaking of which, finally… the plot. An all girl school sets up a competition between the two local rival all boy schools. The winning school gets to join the girls at their prom. There is a more douchey school the main character’s school is going against. Before they can unite to take them down they have to all get along themselves. It doesn’t sound all that amazing, but it’s pretty well done and way wittier than my description does justice. The rag-tag cast was pretty cool. I enjoyed the nerds, the jocks, the snobs, etc. I didn’t expect all that much, but I was amused and it kept my interest and attention. This movie felt like something formed in the middle of Superbad and Rushmore. Both great movies in their own right, but this movie has a strange tone. It’s MUCH better than other cheesy high school indies, but it has a weird energy to it. I enjoyed it, but it felt a little odd. I can’t really put my finger on it. It was filmed in Canada. That’s probably it. Any who, this movie was definitely worth checking out. B
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