Tracker Pixel for Entry

The Prank: Moreno earns her teacher’s salary in otherwise weak horror-comedy

Cinema | March 19th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The chief reason to see “The Prank,” a lumpy and unappetizing stew that could use a lot more salt, is legend Rita Moreno. The now 92-year-old phenomenon and EGOT winner (who was also the first Latin American woman to collect an acting Oscar) continues to perform like an unstoppable force. As the last working star who appeared in “Singin’ in the Rain,” Moreno links the present to Hollywood’s shimmering past. In 2021, she was the subject of Mariem Perez Riera’s worthwhile documentary feature, subtitled “Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It.” That career retrospective, which acknowledged the often cruel realities Moreno overcame to reach the summit, implicitly argues that the icon deserves to have her pick of projects.

Unfortunately, director Maureen Bharoocha’s movie, limping into theaters after languishing on the shelf since its 2022 premiere at SXSW, will be but a Moreno footnote. In the slight horror-comedy, Moreno plays high school physics teacher Mrs. Wheeler, a sharp-tongued disciplinarian known for her stylish bob, sleek black wardrobe (including ever-present kid gloves) and withering stare. Despite working well past the common retirement age, Wheeler strikes fear into the hearts of students like Ben Palmer (Connor Kalopsis), who is sweating it out over his need to secure a college scholarship. Following a cheating accusation, Ben and his bestie Mei Tanner (Ramona Young) cook up a flimsy plan to accuse Wheeler of murder.

The screenplay by the married writing team of Rebecca Flinn-White and Zak White deserves the largest share of the blame for the movie’s failing report card. Plotted with no concern for even the most rudimentary internal logic, the narrative stumbles and lurches from one incomprehensible sequence to another, ignoring both the rules of coherent storytelling and whatever legal policies and procedures we might expect to be followed by the investigating authorities. Even when the boy-who-cried-wolf “twist” veers into the absurd territory of severed heads in jars, Moreno gamely sticks it out.

The well-established trope of the awful teacher pops up in all kinds of cinematic contexts and genres: Imelda Staunton’s Dolores Umbridge, William Atherton’s Jerry Hathaway and Cameron Diaz’s Elizabeth Halsey are just three disasters who should be kept far away from pupils of any level. Some viewers might remember Helen Mirren’s Eve Tingle, the vindictive history teacher in “Teaching Mrs. Tingle.” And movie and television nerds of a certain age will conjure happier memories of Christopher Lloyd as the nightmarish English instructor B. O. Beanes in the 1986 “Amazing Stories” episode “Go to the Head of the Class.”

Golden Arm” (Bharoocha’s previous feature directorial outing), was superior to “The Prank” in every category. The ridiculous competitive arm-wrestling comedy, which I argued deserved more attention for the way it grounded its cartoonish subculture in real pathos, consistently piled up laughs that are notably absent from most of “The Prank.” As a rated-R addition to the teen movie pantheon, “The Prank” is also shockingly light on youthful hijinks. Despite the homicidal happenings, few of the supporting characters — including Meredith Salenger as Ben’s mother and Keith David as the principal — express much alarm, even when things start getting strange. Class dismissed.

Recently in:

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.comIt’s been eight years since the Water Protectors were cleared off the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. It was a bitter ending to a battle to protect the water; and for most of us…

By HPR Staff We’re all a part of building strong, healthy and inclusive communities. But the region’s non-profit organizations do a lot of the heavy lifting. Now it’s time for these organizations to step into the spotlight.…

February 6, 6-7 p.m.Plains Art Museum, 704 1st Ave N, FargoLove local art? You won’t want to miss out on this Artside Chat with two-spirit Chippewa artist Anna Johnson. While you’re there, check out her exhibition…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com As I write this article, it’s January, and the temperatures in North Dakota are negative. I’m living in a house and our furnace just died a forever death after years of quick fixes. Yet,…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comHow billionaires with brain rot are creating bedlam in the USAOn January 21, 2010, the Republican-dominated United States Supreme Court approved a death sentence for American democracy of 250 to…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com So far in 2025, announcements for new restaurant openings in the metro far outnumber closings. This is good news going into the new year for us hungry folk. In my opinion, the positive trend will…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com In a little more than a quarter of the 20th century spanning the 1930s, 1940s and part of the 1950s, Humphrey Bogart built one of the quintessential American filmographies. Stubborn, tenacious,…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…

By Jim Fugliejimfuglie920@gmail.com A friend of mine, a well-known Bismarck liberal (I have a few of those), came up to me after church the other day and asked, “So, are you moving out of the country?” I knew he was referring…