If you’re looking for an intellectually stimulating, world-altering film that illuminates the truth behind human spirit, let’s face it, “Prom” will probably not be the movie for you. But one cannot watch “Of God and Men” on every cinematic outing, and for those of us who never had a classic high school experience, “Prom” provides a sweet, if not completely clichéd and miraculously wholesome, account of everything we missed.

In the new romantic comedy style pioneered by the makers of “Love Actually” and ripped off by “Valentine’s Day,” the movie follows the prom-exacerbated relationship dramas of ten-some-odd high school students. It focuses on class president, Georgetown-bound Nova, the head of the prom planning committee who is forced to rebuild all of the prom decorations when they are destroyed in an accidental fire. The school’s bad boy Jesse is coerced into helping her after he is caught riding his motorcycle on campus and skipping last period every Monday (it is later revealed that he must pick up his little brother from school).

Jesse and Nova’s animosity toward each other softens into an unlikely friendship; Jesse accompanies Nova on her dress shopping expedition, they share milkshakes at the local diner, and sneak into a neighboring high school to scope out their similarly themed decorations. Despite Nova’s father’s efforts to keep them apart, the stereotypically unlikely couple comes together in the last moments of the movie, provoking a wave of adorable interjections from the audience.

Other characters include a longtime couple faced with attending different colleges, a sophomore in love with his chemistry lab partner, drama between the Prom King and Queen-to-be, and an adorably awkward senior who spends the majority of the movie trying to find a date. The relative anonymity of the actors and actresses in the film contributes to the sense of reality; the characters and their problems could easily be transposed to any high school in the country. The characters are identifiable and supremely real. The soundtrack to the movie is also excellent, featuring music by Those Dancing Days, Neon Trees, and Passion Pit.

In the end, the movie, like the prom experience itself, is what you make of it. If you come into the movie cynical and expecting to hate it, the stereotypes will reinforce your opinion. But if you want to love it, the movie has no shortage of sweet moments and likeable characters to uphold your view. As the characters demonstrate, whether you go to “Prom” with the love of your life or with your stepsister, it will still be a night, and a movie, to remember.