Prom Pact
★★★
I'm not extremely well-versed in Disney original movies, but we needed a laid-back family movie night and this one caught our attention. Prom Pact does an amazing job of fulfilling the tropes of a high school rom-com, but the romance takes a back seat to the friendship between Mandy (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and Ben (Milo Manheim). Their romantic pursuits with people that are deemed much cooler than themselves threaten the day-to-day beats of their reliance on one another. Who can't relate to feeling dumped by a best friend when they start spending time with their new love?
I really liked that the movie forces us to invest more in the drama of their friendship than with their dating lives, but there's a point where this movie really starts to drag its feet. As much as I loved the '80s references, I was a little shocked to see that the runtime was 98 minutes because it felt like a full two hours. Still, Prom Pact is a ball full of cuteness, but know going in that it leans more PG-13 than PG. This was beyond shocking to see characters in a Disney World making sex jokes and drinking underage. It felt akin to your grandma breaking out into an Eminem rap.
