It's not amazing. It's a little tone-deaf, and over-simplified. But I WISH there was a movie like this out there for me and my gay friends growing up.
We're in our thirties now, and it's tough to take ALL the scenarios LGBTQ+ kids face today and put a face and story to them in one film. The songs are pop and a little saccharine (but not unlike similar musicals like the very successful Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors, Bye Bye Birdie, Grease, Dear Evan Hansen, The Last Five Years, Baby, etc.) and Meryl Streep is phenomenal as always. I also loved Keegan-Michael Key as a straight ally with a voice. As is I went in with low expectations, sat on the fence for a bit, and came out with the overall feeling of my title and first paragraph. If this movie had been out there when I was in high school, the conversations I've had since the early 2000s with high school friends could have happened a LOT sooner, with a lot more understanding, empathy, and love expressed at a time kids need it most.
I appreciated the tongue-in-cheek jabs at celebrity liberals, and how the animosity posed at small towns was also highlighted as being bigoted in its own right. The message overall is to stop making assumptions-whether it's about your Trump-supporting neighbor, or your Biden-supporting other neighbor.
Growing up gay, or in the alphabet community, or even as an ally doesn't get solved by a solo on the Internet. BUT films like this will continue to balance out perspectives and understanding, and are important overall.
Side note: I don't care at all that James Corden is straight and played a gay man. I don't know any other gays who feel that way either. If a character is being honestly and fully represented on screen, who cares who the originating actor is? It's a CHARACTER. If they successfully fulfill the role of that character, it doesn't matter who that person is in real life.
