This movie is awful. Not going to lie, I fast forwarded through most of it thanks to the beauty of Netflix. Teenagers are nothing like this and the acting is shoclibg. Not only that but the casting? It seems like they tried to find cheap actresses and actors who mildly resembled people from other strong sitcoms and movies, New Girl, I'm looking at you. Madelaine Petsch is the only redeeming quality and she should run far far away from whoever put her in this movie.

The choice to put a young youtuber as a teacher a d dress her in old clothes? Does not make them old. It makes for a bad cameo.

Don't waste your time.

Although they were very close friends all the way until the 8th grade things change between "Cole Reede" (Joel Courtney) and "Maddy Datner" (Danielle Campbell) once they begin high school. As it turns out, Cole becomes a target for cruel jokes by some bullies and rather than endanger her popularity by sticking up for him Maddy keeps her distance. Unfortunately, Cole isn't the only student picked on but since none of them are able to do anything about it the harassment continues for four long years. Meanwhile, Maddy has become the most popular girl in school. Then one day Maddy's best friend, "Marissa" (Madelaine Petsch) not only steals her boyfriend but also announces that she intends to compete for the title of Prom Queen in an effort to elevate her own popularity while at the same time humiliate Maddy in the process. Needless to say, this devastates Maddy who then reconciles with Cole and all of the other students who have been subjected to ridicule for so long and together they conspire to get back at everybody responsible at the most important event-the prom. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, even though it clearly lacked realism, I still liked this film to a certain degree. To that extent, I liked the peformances of Meg Delacy (as "Felicity Stufts") and the aforementioned Joel Courtney and Danielle Campbell who all seemed to genuinely enjoy working together. Be that as it may, while this isn't a great comedy by any means, I thought it was worth the time spent to watch it and for that reason have rated it accordingly. Average.

RELEASED IN 2017 and directed by Benny Fine, "F the Prom" is a campy high school dramedy about two inseparable neighbor-friends, Cole (Joel Courtney) and Maddy (Danielle Campbell),who separate when they enter high school wherein Cole is relentlessly teased while Maddy becomes the most popular girl. When they reunite two and a half years later, they scheme to destroy the Prom (the ultimate teen popularity contest) teamed with a ragtag gang of outcasts.

There are a lot of 1 Star votes (out of 10) of this movie on IMDb, which is absurd. While this may be a low-budget teen flick, it's not THAT bad. Many of these critics lament how unrealistic the movie is, which is ridiculous in light of its campy tone. It would be like criticizing the 60's Batman TV show for being unrealistic. In other words, there's a lot of silliness and exaggerations in "F the Prom," but it's intentional. Underneath it all, the movie reflects several real-life issues, mostly pertaining to popularity and the drive to be liked. Others argue that the point is elusive and characters contradict themselves. No, the point(s) are obvious and some characters change their minds because they're fickle teens.

This is a solid low-budget high school flick, but it's a little too talky for my tastes. And I guess the staple "gay" character is here to stay at this juncture, but the movie wins points for boldly illustrating that even gays have their cliques and shun those who don't conform.

Campbell and Madelaine Petsch are solid on the female front, but the director could've showcased their beauty better (and I'm not talking about nudity). Meg DeLacy is intelligent & winsome as Stuft (aka City) and has a beautiful face, but needs to gain some curves.

THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 32 minutes and was shot in Southern Cal. WRITERS: The Fine Brothers and Molly Prather.

GRADE: C