Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story (2004)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This entire movie is based on personal interests and one way thinking. It presents the catholic church as the one who dose not accept other's thoughts but still the movie does not give place to the catholic way of thinking.I'm not a catholic and I'm not homohsexual but still how a case can be build by laughing at other's beliefs.Therefore the movie is really unbalanced and does not prove why shall Marc be allowed to attend the prom.It's really sad to see that we became so blind and that we do everything we can in order to destroy our culture.Thank you for reading.

Greengoose: You are most definitely entitled to your opinion, but I think there's a limit as to just how harsh one can be. Considering all the negative things you said regarding the film, I'm actually pretty surprised you managed to watch the whole movie. I actually enjoyed the film. You said that the characters were poorly and inaccurately represented...that Aaron Ashmore was too old to play Marc; what you're escaping to keep in mind is that teens in movies are rarely ever played by teenagers anymore. You also said that they made a mockery of the story and the people in which it is about...I don't think it is a mockery--I think the film makers wanted to portray the story in a less intense light. And those three girls--the bimbos--you were talking about, I happen to be friends with one of them. If this seems abrupt, I am sorry...I just think you should have thought a little more before posting what you posted. You didn't like the film, alright, that's your right. You don't have to like it; but please give those who worked on the film credit for doing so.~Pastoila

For those of you who wish to condemn gay and lesbian relations, shame on you. This movie, although not the greatest quality had a lot of meaning behind it which I admire and is greatly needed in today's society to teach the bigots of the world that society is changing. How long ago did we separate church from state anyway? As the story shows, the rights of every human being is the first priority ahead of the priority of the church and this is as it should be. I would like to thank all of those that participated in this film as they helped to send a message that all people regardless of their sexual preference, are equal.

"Prom Queen" is indeed a modern-day "fairy" tale, complete with the happily-ever-after ending. And the film regrettably has all of the depth of a fairy tale.The film tells the story of Marc Hall, the Canadian gay teen who fought the Catholic school system for the right to take his boyfriend to his high-school prom. Hall is presented as a knight-in-shining-armor hero slaying the fire-breathing dragon of archaic church doctrine. Needless to say, in this "fairy" tale, there are no damsels in distress.The film is deliberately calculated to offend Catholic sensibilities. Title cards at the beginning of each segment make direct reference to articles of Catholic faith. For instance, Marc's coming-out is called "Annunciation". There are crucifixes, plaster statues and holy pictures everywhere, and Marc himself is shown (not once, but twice) framed by a crucifix of light, thus casting him in a saviour role.A telling detail is that a rosary hangs from the mirror in Marc's room, with little evidence that it serves any more than a purely decorative purpose. Even more telling is that the rosary is juxtaposed with photos of Marc and his boyfriend, not to mention the mirror itself, as if to suggest where Marc's real interests lie.There is never any indication that Marc has never struggled with his own sexuality, or that his spirituality has ever been anything but skin-deep. Indeed, the "good guys" in the film are all stoutly secular and anti-clerical, and all the "bad guys" (read: pro-Church) are pained, cramped and anal-retentive.Curiously absent is any reference to Dignity, the gay Catholic organization with chapters in Canada and the United States.To be fair, "Prom Queen" does show a few bumps along the road to Marc's newfound gay freedom. His boyfriend is closeted and not terribly supportive. His lawyer (played by Scott Thompson of "Kids in the Hall" fame) is probably using Marc as a stepping-stone in his career. To Toronto's gay newspaper, Xtra!, Marc may be nothing more than a front-page poster boy.The film is also reductionist in its vision of what it means to be gay. Marc's mother (played by Quebec actress Marie Tifo) sums this vision up in a nutshell when she responds to Marc's coming-out by saying, "Your hair is blue. You have a poster of Celine Dion in your bedroom. We know." Ah, if only coming out were so easy for us all!The Marc Hall story made me uncomfortable at the time, and the film version leaves me with the same feeling. It seemed like such a trivial matter in the broad scheme of things, and it was trivialized even further by the media circus/feeding frenzy/cult (gay and straight) that developed around Marc Hall. And where is he today? Did he -- or anyone else involved, for that matter -- really live happily ever after? Somehow, I doubt it.