Meryl Streep Double

The Prom

★★★★

• Where: Netflix
• When: Streaming Now
• Cost: Netflix Subscription Fee

Directed by Ryan Murphy, The Prom is a movie based on the Broadway musical with same title. It begins by presenting two separate storylines that merge later on. On one side we follow two unsuccessful Broadway stars—Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep) and Barry Glickman (James Corden)—looking for an opportunity for their fame to grow. At the same time, an Indiana high school prom has been unfairly cancelled in discrimination to Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman)—a student who wants to take a girl as a date. When Dee Dee and Barry hear about this, they decide to organise an inclusive prom for every student regardless of their sexuality.

Based on a true story from 2010, The Prom is entertaining, combining a series of musical performances. Despite reinforcing queer stereotypes and being predictable at times, this movie will leave audiences with a heart-warming message of acceptance.

Let Them All Talk

★★★

• Where: HBO Max US
• When: Streaming Now
• Cost: £11

Starring Meryl Streep as the main character, Let Them All Talk is a drama telling the story of Alice Hughes (Meryl Streep), an American writer who has won a Pulitzer Prize and has been invited to attend a prestigious gala. In the first scene of the film, her agent Karen (Gemma Chan) meets Alice and encourages her to take the transatlantic Queen Mary 2 ship to get to the United Kingdom for the ceremony. We soon find out that in reality, the reason of the meeting is to find out what topic is Alice’s next book going to tackle and whether it will be a sequel to her best seller.

Alice invites her nephew and two old friends to accompany her on the trip. During the journey, we learn the dynamic of the long lasting friendship between the three women. The pacing of the movie was surprisingly slow, with the dialogue and interactions between the characters forming the bulk of the storyline. Soderbergh takes advantage of the unconventional setting by capturing the beauty the ship (which ends up being a character of its own). As the film progresses we slowly discover the secrets and true feelings of the past between our female leads, all of whom give amazing, three dimensional performances. (For example find out later on that Alice’s best sold novel is actually based on the disastrous love life of one of her friends, Roberta.)

My expectations for this movie, taking into account the immense talent of the director and cast, were very high, and perhaps the slow pace and lack of clear structure in the plot is why I found it boring at times.

Overall, Let Them All Talk explores how money and jealousy can confuse people over what truly matters, as well as how each person that crosses our life impacts it.