It's the movie... not the musical.

"Dear Evan Hansen, turns out this wasn't an amazing day after all."

The Broken Hearts Gallery Poster — Dear Evan Hansen Movie Poster (c/o Collider)

Dear Evan Hansen

PG-13

24 September 2021

2h 17min

Available on Theaters and NBC's Peacock

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

Screenplay by Steven Levenson

Based on the musical stage play with music and lyrics by Justin Paul Benj Pasek

Starring Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Colton Ryan, Danny Pino, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams

Synopsis:

Dear Evan Hansen (film) is a 2021 American coming-of-age musical teen drama based on the 2015 Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical. The movie follows Evan Hansen, an anxious, isolated high-school student who’s aching for understanding and belonging amid the chaos and cruelty of the social media age. He embarks on a journey of self-discovery when a letter he wrote for a writing exercise falls into the hands of a grieving couple whose song took his own life.

Contains social anxiety, suicide, and suggestive themes.

Disclaimer: We all already know that Ben Platt is playing a high school kid when 9 years ago he was singing acapella covers in college. So please understand that we won’t be focusing too much on this and instead more on the story and film itself. Also, SPOILERS AHEAD.

Jhanya: Wow. We actually had a movie adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. Not that we needed one anyway.

Ria: The trend right now is to have musical movie adaptations, so naturally, this award-winning musical should have a movie adaptation. I wouldn’t say this wasn’t needed but I would say that it was done poorly.

Anyways, I had high hopes for this film because I loved the musical (I watched it through various clips + a high school performance + soundtrack + research (lots of it)). Those hopes were all letdown and I definitely need to watch them play live to redeem DEH in my heart.

We also loved In The Heights too much which made our expectations even higher LOL

TRUE!! In The Heights has set the standard for all musical movies :”) good luck to all the other movie musicals coming soon.

Jhanya: Okay. Let’s talk about technicalities. The film’s cinematography was able to convey its intensity and heartwarming/wrenching vibes. To a point that it can make you feel uncomfortable at times. The transitions between scenes were also distracting. There were too many fade-to-blacks between scenes that it took you out of the film experience. The transitions to the songs were good, but the sudden cuts at the end of each one weren’t the best way to snap the audience back to the story.

Ria: On this side, they really took to the musical aspect. Fade-to-blacks are used in plays to move the props, set up/move things around. In movies, you don’t need this. It’s a movie because you want the scenes to flow better, to have better cohesiveness with each other, and essentially have more content.

Jhanya: This film highlighted the story of Dear Evan Hansen rather than distracting us with its musical performances. But that doesn’t mean it was good. If I’m being honest, the film also highlighted how meh the plot of DEH was since the start. I understand that it has such a beautiful message regarding mental health awareness and that’s what really made DEH so popular, but the overall plot itself can be seen as pretty creepy and disturbing.

There were also scenes they removed from the musical which I believe were very essential to the story. A good example would have to be the removal of Jared’s confrontation with Evan and the song “Good For You”. These parts really showed how Evan’s character changed in the story, but removing them from the film just made Evan even more psychopathic (I guess??) than he already is. They made it seem like Evan’s turning point was during “So Big/So Small” and the tree scene before that, but it felt off because it didn’t seem like people were really mad at Evan. Everyone was just peeved at his betrayal. As a viewer, it could also leave one confused as it looked like the cast simply chose to leave Evan alone and got over it without ever confronting his wrongdoings.

Ria: The screenplay of the film lacks the emotional depth and proper research regarding the themes it wanted to show. I feel like it took out parts from the musical and just placed the rest together without revising it to make it flow and cohesively come together. The message would have been a lot better if it were displayed in a more sensitive way as well. That, essentially, is what made the musical “boom”, in the first place.

Jhanya: The biggest critic I have with this film is the pacing. It was all over the place. There were multiple times (especially in the 2nd half) where I felt that the plot was dragging, but at the same time was also rushed in terms of the flow??? I’m not really sure how to describe it, but it made the film feel a lot longer than it should be. There were parts that were unnecessarily long and made me think how they could’ve just added a scene from the musical instead.

Ria: I definitely agree. The pacing was super unbalanced and very confusing. It feels like you’re going full speed ahead and then suddenly stopping because you ran out of fuel, then after recharging you go full spread ahead, again. It became really confusing because of that.

Jhanya: Now, about the music as this is a musical after all. All the musical performances were good which was to be expected given that the majority of the cast are known for their musicality. The standout performances would have to be Julianne Moore’s “So Big/So Small” and “You Will Be Found”. Moore absolutely stole the show, and it somehow drew me back to the film because I was already uncomfortable with what happened in the previous scenes. “You Will Be Found”, on the other hand, reminded me that this was originally a Broadway musical. It was pretty much as impactful as the original performance (if you don’t mind 30yr old Platt ofc).

The not-so-strong performances imho would be “The Anonymous Ones”, “Requiem”, and “Only Us”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the message and lyrics of “The Anonymous Ones” but it felt so off for me knowing that Alana will be doing something so wrong in the latter half of the film. The start of the song also felt kind of forced and the lyrics didn’t seem to match the melody at the start. As for “Requiem”, I loved the song in the original Broadway show, BUT Kaitlyn Dever’s performance was super duper lacking. She had the same facial expression throughout the song which bothered me a lot. The same goes for “Only Us”. I never really liked this song because the romance between Zoey and Evan has always bothered me, but what I didn’t like was the harmony/blending of Platt and Dever’s voices. It didn’t fit at all???

Ria: DUDE THEY TOOK OUT SOME OF MY FAVORITE SONGS?!?!?!?! The thing I love most about DEH, the musical, was the songs and the messages and context it gives to the story. So the fact that they removed some of the best songs sucks so much. And many lacked “stage” presence. In the musical, it is a must to have stage presence, since they’re actually performing in front of people. In the film, “stage” presence contributes to their acting. So I can definitely say that some really lacked that aspect. It was like they were singing to a wall instead of people watching the movie. Aside from that, I actually don’t have more to say, Jhanya pretty much encompassed all that I want to say.

Jhanya: Before moving on to the cast, I’d just also add my thoughts on “A Little Closer”. The song was so beautifully touching that I almost cried. But I couldn’t because the fact that someone took a video during a group therapy session and SHARED IT really bothered me. I get what they were trying to do in the film, but it was really disturbing how they got that video in the first place.

Ria: For the casting, Ben Platt being cast as a teenager was definitely not the best decision of the film. The film’s attempt to de-age Platt was pretty unsuccessful and, frankly, I got creeped out at first with the make-up on his face. However, Platt’s vocals definitely stole the show. I saw the growth in his vocals from Pitch Perfect. I guess his Broadway career really helped him shine!!

Jhanya: As much as I’m bothered with Ben Platt’s casting in this film, all his musical performances were just so emotional and well-executed. So I can’t hate on it too much. What I’m peeved the most about, however, is how the movie tried to redeem Evan as a character in this film, whether on purpose or not, by removing many of the songs that depicted more about the characters. In the musical, they pointed out how much of a bad guy Evan actually is/became (“Good for you”). The main thing that this film did is show how twistedly wicked a lot of the things the characters did are. By taking out almost all, if not all of the choreography makes one focus more on the story rather than the musical performances that the broadway show had.

Ria: Definitely mistake number 1 was redeeming Evan as a good protagonist. He isn’t “good” in the sense where he was morally right. He is the protagonist but in the musical, the protagonist’s story really starts with a bad decision making him wrong. They instead made everyone else horrible and twisted which made them unrealistic.

Two casts that I loved were the two moms. I feel like they were both able to act the character really well and with the depth they need. Heidi, played by Julianne Moore, would probably be the character who I feel is an actual person out of all characters. She was the most consistent and well-drawn character who shows the hard work she’s doing to afford college for Evan.

Jhanya: I agree with Ria here. The moms were the highlight of the film. This is why I felt robbed when I realized they removed “Anybody Have A Map?” and “Good For You” from the film. Amy Adams acted so well that I was so annoyed at Cynthia for most of her scenes.

For the other characters, the one that stood out to me the most is Alanna. Her character was the most selfless one in this story, to be honest. Everyone else seemed unrealistic and inherently selfish most of the time. They also added more to Alanna’s story by giving her the song “The Anonymous One” for the film. BUT I really hate how it feels like the writing purposely brought her character down when she’s the one who sabotages Evan in the end (this also happens in the musical btw). I also really wish they could've done more with Jared’s character near the end, instead of just having him angrily stare at his phone when he sees Evan having the time of his life because of the lies he started.

Final Thoughts

Jhanya: Even though I had a huge Evan Hansen phase back in 8th Grade while I was going through mh issues myself, the movie made me realize why I felt uncomfortable watching the musical and decided to focus on the soundtrack instead. Plots start with lies haven’t always appealed to me, and Dear Evan Hansen isn’t an exception. Dear Evan Hansen is a story of a villain and/or tragic hero (?) guised in its emotionally moving musical performances and message for mental health awareness.

If it isn’t already obvious, I was disappointed in the film. It wasn’t well executed and lost a lot of the parts that I loved about the original musical. I’d also recommend watching that instead of this film.

Ria: I never really had a Dear Evan Hansen phase. I learned about DEH from the musical club we had in high school. And it was because of their stellar performance that I looked DEH up. The rendition in our school stuck to the original musical which is why it was so beautifully done, and I can definitely say that it was definitely better than this movie. I just feel so disappointed because I feel they lost the true essence of the musical and the morale that it teaches. What I’d recommend is watching the musical itself, if you can.

Rating

Criteria	Jhanya	Ria
Screenwrite/Plot/Flow (1.5)	0.75	0.75
Cinematography (1.5)	1	1
Visual Effects/Realism (1.5)	1	0.75
Casting/Acting (1.5)	0.75	1
Morale (1)	0.5	0.5
Soundtrack (1)	0.5	0.5
Originality (1)	0.75	0.75
Loop Value (1)	0	0
TOTAL	5.25	5.25
Final Score	52.5