Xeridian Marc Hall is an openly gay teenager in a private Cathloic high school. His conservative school requires students register beforehand any date they plan to bring to the prom. Because he wants to bring another male his request is denied. Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story portrays his struggle to take his boyfriend to the senior prom and the legal, emotional, ethical, and personal issues this journey entails.With that plot summary out of the way, this movie really typifies the poor standards for film in the gay genre. It was made for TV release so I'm trying to take that into consideration, but with every turn there is another cinematic pothole to fall into. Like too many other gay themed movies, Prom Queen has all the hallmarks of bad storytelling. If this were made back in the 80's then perhaps it would have been more acceptable as in those days anything that touched on homosexual topics, especially in a positive light, was treasured by the gay community because there was so little out there on the subject. But now the bar has been considerably raised and movies such as Prom Queen only drag the gay genre down and further the idea that because a movie is on a gay subject it shouldn't be held to the same light as a mainstream film that we'd expect more from.The most glaringly obvious mistake of this film was that it largely trivialized the subject matter. While they could have gone the very dignified and professional route of analyzing issues of religion (since Marc Hall attended a Catholic school), teenage homophobia, educational homophobia, general intolerance of gays by society, and various other issues, they instead opted to make this a light-hearted inspirational movie apparently aimed at gay teenagers (the American Pie type subplots, like the three straight boys trying to book a hotel room for prom night, gave a clear indication of the audience they hoped to appeal to). Some of the aforementioned topics were touched on, but only in a very superficial manner and with 2-dimensional characters that formed very dichotomous themes, such as the Catholics being the bad guys and the pro-gay individuals being the good guys. I'm not Catholic but I'm open-minded enough to know that a good movie on what should be a serious topic should portray the struggles of both sides of an argument and not dehumanize/marginalize either party.The irony of this movie is that it's based on a true story and yet is completely unrealistic. In real life there was little support from any of the straight students, no inspiring rally by the student body around Marc Hall, no students running through the school with rainbow flags, and no heartfelt limousine scene to carriage the boyfriends away. This story was dowsed in fairy dust and veers far away from what really happened in all but the most basic details.Additionally, the acting was mediocre (at best), though as previously mentioned this was a made for TV movie so you can't really expect Oscar winning performances. One element of Prom Queen that no one else has commented on is the CGI added eye twinkle that the characters get when they have overcome a milestone or come to some important realization (and the accompanying tinkerbelle chime). Why was this included? It's at best unneeded and amateurish and at worst insulting to the viewer as it attempts to spell out the fact that a character has had a revelation or turning point.The user 'directsci' on here commented that, "The gay boyfriends did not look gay in any way. They were both heterosexual actors playing gay roles." Aside from this comment being insulting (most gay people do not "look gay"), it's also inaccurate. The actor that plays Marc Hall is Aaron Ashmore, who is gay in real life (he is an out actor and I've also seen him at various Los Angeles gay establishments). His twin brother, Shawn Ashmore, is straight in real life and plays Iceman in the popular X-Men movie trilogy.I also have to comment on something else that same user said: "They were masculine and extremely good-looking. Most people in general are average looking. I know that it's wrong to stereotype, but most gay males have feminine qualities." Yes, Directsci, it is wrong to stereotype when you have no idea what you're talking about. First, I didn't find any of the actors that played gay characters in this movie to be extremely good-looking… perhaps average to moderately attractive at best (but to each his own on taste). Second, I don't know what your background is but it seems fairly obvious that you've had very limited contact with gay males. Most gay males are not effeminate, and you probably unwittingly know many gay people that are masculine (thus you do not know to identify them as gay). Not only are all of my gay friends masculine (enough to be completely indistinguishable from straight males in casual conversation), but at the many gay establishments in my city I've found effeminate males to be the minority of the crowd. So please don't assert points that you have no backing for.If you really want to see some great gay cinema that focuses on gay teenage/high school/college issues then I highly suggest Edge of Seventeen, Get Real (1998), Sommersturm, Denied (2004), and to a lesser extent The History Boys. I also recommend Torch Song Trilogy (1988) and Longtime Companion simply because they're good gay themed movies (though not teen related) and The Celluloid Closet as a wonderful documentary on the history of homosexuals in cinema.

jim-314 This movie was made for Canadian television, loosely based on a real-life event. It's sappy and sentimental and manipulative... and thoroughly wonderful. Two things make it better than one might expect from a television movie: a script that's better crafted and more sophisticated than the usual TV-issue-of-the-week product, and a bunch of wonderful performances. In its character development, the script subverts a number of expectations associated with stories centered on gay rights issues. The taciturn blue-collar father unquestionably loves and supports his queer son, the gay lawyer turns out to be less generous and more self-serving than his nominally "pro-bono" work initially suggests, the main character's boyfriend has doubts and depths that keep him from being the perfect prince we want for our prom-queen hero, and the hero's high school companions aren't the homophobic doofuses commonly encountered in gay-teen stories. The movie slyly suggests that a true gay-straight alliance can work to the advantage of the straight folks as well as the gay folks. Aaron Ashmore is handsome, sexy and charismatic as the central character. Jean Pierre Bergeron as the father and Mak Fyfe as the boyfriend bring complexity and sympathy to two roles with few lines, and really stand out in a cast with all the minor roles beautifully played. (Trevor Blumas and Tamara Hope are charming as Marc's straight supporters, as are the guys who play the high school media geeks). I can't imagine any gay guy not being moved by this story, and I hope straight folks would be as well. The DVD extras contain some brief documentary footage of the real-life Marc Hall that's worth looking at. The real Mr. Hall is nearly as articulate and charismatic as his cinematic counterpart, and there are a couple of moments of press footage in which he attempts to defend his dignity and equality as a gay man that are pretty near heart-breaking.

mystemo Tell me, what do you get when you squeeze as many cheesy clichés into a movie as possible? Answer - Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story. I am gay and I was very embarrassed by this film, how it deals with a very topical issue regarding religion and homosexuality and, more to the point, Marc Hall's struggle through this ordeal. The humour (or attempt at such) dominated the film, so by the time we reached an emotionally exhausted Marc at the courthouse we have not had much of a chance to empathise with him because of the annoying crap inserted everywhere. This means what could have been a moving drama with light comedic elements, now becomes a farce. On many occasions gay people are shown as the token butch lesbian, the highly effeminate hand-model, the bear, the P-Flag Mother, the twink - all superficial stuff and totally misses the point the film is trying to make that no matter who you are, we all have the ability to love and be loved for who we are (my favourite bit at the end when the schoolkids leave the school to support Marc, they all seem to find a huge crate of rainbow flags at the Catholic school and run out of the school carrying them - PLEASE!). The perception that could be taken is that gay people are so far stretched from the average joe that they are freaks and are completely different to you and me. So many other films have covered the innate meaning of being gay so much better and this film is so very naive in terms of this. I felt for the actor portraying Marc because as his character was getting so fed up with all the pressure from the public, I could see he was the only one who got the message at all and getting frustrated too. All I can say is, try again and let's not continue to push the tired stereotypes of what it is to be gay.

gradyharp PROM QUEEN succeeds not only because it is a controversial subject based on a true incident, but because of the light touch director John L'Ecuyer adds to the dimension of storytelling. Writers Michael MacLennan and Kent Staines have pieced together the facts from a now famous 'hearing' in Quebec concerning one teenage boy's challenging the Catholic Church school policies about sexual preferences in preventing him from attending a high school Prom and have fleshed out the characters to make the story not only meaningfully important but also entertaining.Marc Hall (Aaron Ashmore) is a fun-loving, blue-haired gay lad who has a partner Jason (Mac Fyfe) and is comfortable in a semi-closeted way, and who attends a Catholic high school in Quebec. He is fortunate to have a band of accepting and supporting friends like Beau (eye candy actor Trevor Blumas) and Carly (Tamara Hope) among others who encourage Marc to bring his boyfriend to the upcoming Prom. The school officials - principal and school board - are adamant that the Catholic Church regards sames sex relationships as sin and refuse to allow Marc to consider attending the Prom with Jason.Marc decides to 'come out' to his parents Emily (Marie Tifo) and Audy (Jean Pierre Bergeron) and they warmly assure him they have known for years ("Your hair. It's blue. And you have a poster of Celine Dion on your wall. We know.") With the support of his friends and a gay lawyer Lonnie Winn (Scott Thompson), Marc agrees to challenge the school/church stance and in a touching courtroom drama Marc pleads his case. Though due to the familiarity of the case the audience knows from the beginning that Marc Hall won his right to attend the Prom with Jason, it is in the telling that the story takes flight.Though 'made for TV' budgetary constraints and format are obvious, PROM QUEEN boasts some fine actors and manages to bring to the screen another important hallmark in the Human Rights field. While some may avoid this film for fear of its being a 'gay movie', rest assured that the content is handled in a touching and realistic way. Recommended for all audiences, especially the teens who need to see both sides of a bit of history. Grady Harp