None of this is to say that The Prom didn't have me, a sap, crying by the end. But it also proves that, no matter how hard notable celebs try bathed in neon light, sometimes a glitzy film can't match the thrill of live theater.

There's too much of Corden to ignore in The Prom, but there isn't much to like.

There were moments when I simply lost my courage and had to look away, as some people do during the tooth-drilling scene in "Marathon Man."

By the third act, I felt the length of this [movie] musical.