MOVIES: Bart Got Room @ Tribeca

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the whole “prom-disaster” teen movie genre.

Unfortunately, it’s the premise of Bart Got a Room, which is otherwise a quite interesting film, which had its world premiere at Tribeca.

As far as I’m concerned, the whole prom element is simply boring and over-done. However, the film did have a few great things going for it:

1. It’s set in a retirement community in Florida. This makes for a great comedic backdrop for the kooky characters, and it’s not generally the setting for a coming-of-age film (more like a coming-to-the-end-of-life flick).  

2. There are great performances from Cheryl Hines, William H. Macy—in fact, it’s worth seeing if only to spend an hour and a half in the presence of his fabulous perm alone—and a solid effort from Steven J. Kaplan (in his feature film debut).

3. Quirky, quirky, quirky. Can’t say it enough. The characters, the parts of the plot that don’t have to do with prom—it’s great.

SPOILER ALERT.
One of the most endearing aspects of this film is the depth of concern that the characters clearly have for one another. Case in point? When the main character, Danny, calls his father (Macy) in an absolute panic because his last-minute prom date fell through, saying “You have to help me!” Macy is determined to get his son a date. He trawls a bar mitzvah (all the girls were too young or too old) and ultimately cruises for a hooker, who he picks up and delivers to the prom venue.

Now that is fatherly love!