I have sadly underrated Say Anything… The 1989 romcom made a hero out of a hilariously normal guy. Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) wasn’t smart or rich or ambitious or ultra-handsome or showy. He wasn’t a Clark; he didn’t go by “McLovin’,” he wasn’t headed for the Ivies. He was just a nice guy. That’s it. And to the crowd of 1989, that was enough. (Of course, the other lead was the class valedictorian … You can’t have everything; where would you put it?) Still, in the world of the exceptional, the mundane hero is quite refreshing.
In the style of every romcom since Say Anything …, Prom Pact gave us a the well-above-average hero. Mandy Yang (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) has Harvard on her mind. The upcoming prom isn’t even on her radar. Waitlisted by America’s #1 college, Mandy needs something to occupy her time, so she comes up with the Prom Pact.
Wait. That’s not it at all. Prom Pact is simply some stupid agreement with her bestie, Ben (Milo Manheim, the unholy lovechild of David Schwimmer and a slide-rule). In fact, while the prom does dictate a fair amount of the film’s sub-plottery, it’s really little more than an excuse for cuteness. The high school these seniors attend treats prom the way a North Pole elf treats Christmas. They are all big into “Promposals,” which are exactly what you think they are, except –given their prom’s 1980s theme- come with a fair amount of cosplay. Some of the specific Promposals in the film pay homage to Back to the Future, Dirty Dancing, and Risky Business.
Mandy don’t play that. She comes up with a scheme to collect her coveted Harvard invite. This involves cornering the BMOC, Graham Lansing (Blake Draper), and tutoring him in a hidden quid-pro-quo whereby Graham’s father, Senator Lansing, punches Mandy’s ticket to Harvard.
Oh, Mandy. Be careful; if you come and you take without giving, I’m going to send you away.
Meanwhile, Ben “No Nuts” Plunkett is acknowledged in a positive way, which seems impossible, even for a Disney. 
Miraculously, Ben starts making a connection with his would-be GFF, LaToya (Monique A. Green) at the exact same time that Mandy is figuring out there’s a lot more to Graham than popularity. Oh, goodness, what are these two going to do if genuine real people want to start dating them? Will their Prom Pact evaporate?
For a standard color-by-numbers teenage Disney romcom, Prom Pact is all over the place. It had me cheering one minute and gnashing my teeth the next. It’s a film that likes its characters – ok, that’s a plus- but it doesn’t like them enough to keep them from doing really selfish and stupid things. I suppose if they don’t there’s no plot, but still, Mandy, can you at least pretend cynicism isn’t your driving force? And Ben, when you are granted the dream date of your ultimate desire, it’s ok to include her in your thought process when shit goes south. This is one of those films where I dunno if our leads deserve their happy endings, but we are happy for them all the same. Is that good enough for you? It was good enough for me.
There was once an exceptional Mandy
Who made Harvard her number one plan-dy
But the Ivy said “wait”
So Mandy said, “Great
I’ll make scheming my modus operandi”
Rated TV-14, 99 Minutes
Director: Anya Adams
Writer: Anthony Lombardo
Genre: AP Teen Angst
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: “Misunderstood” teens
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Understood” teens
