About 84.4% better than I expected since I expected so little. Yet another squeaky clean prom-based teen romcom from Disney? But I gave it a chance and it was sweet and funny and both did – and did not – follow all the usual clichés.

Prom Pact is about a teen girl who wants to get into Harvard so she cozies up to a senator’s son who desperately needs tutoring… and they fall for each other. But since this is a rom-com, there’s that timebomb of truth and misunderstanding waiting to go off.

This movie is charming and manages to be a bit different than the usual high school comedy. Not a lot different but just enough… the best friend’s side story doesn’t exactly follow the clichés and when the Truth Bomb hits, it hits in a slightly different way. It’s not much but its enough to NOT make my eyes roll in exasperation.

The two leads – Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Blake Draper – have cute and adorable chemistry to spare. I wish their story didn’t ultimately adhere to the usual rules, but the movie handles it better than expected.

I laughed a decent number of times and was invested in how the various romances would play out. That’s more than I can say for a lot of movies. And yet there’s something not quite there… not quite funny enough or not quiet subversive enough… that I can’t love it the way it wants to be loved.

This flick is genuinely pretty funny and sweet and if you like teen rom-coms, you’ll probably enjoy this one. It’s got its head and heart in the right place (even if its pop culture references are suspiciously ’80s) and sometimes manages to be a little different. The leads are super charming and cute. I liked it.

Score: 84