The film version of the wildly popular stage musical, Dear Evan Hansen, opened in theaters a few weeks ago to a barrage of negative reviews that ranged from humorous social media posts poking fun at the actors to professional critics slamming the film. I went into the movie theater with low expectations, but I emerged with the realization that this was one of the cases in which my personal opinion of the work and its overall reception differ wildly.
Dear Evan Hansen is undoubtedly one of my favorite films I have watched this year and I regret that I only had the chance to see it once on the big screen. That doesn't mean that it was without its flaws, but overall, I found the film to be very enjoyable and a faithful adaptation of a beloved musical.
The creative decision that angered me the most was not the casting of Ben Platt or even his hair style, bur rather the cutting of Anybody Have A Map. In the film, four songs are cut from the track list of the OBCR: Anybody Have A Map, Disappear, To Break In A Glove and Good For You. Two new songs are added to the film: The Anonymous Ones and A Little Closer. I take no issue with either of the additions, but all of the cuts made, with the exception of To Break In A Glove, which is a song I always felt tried too hard to hit a mark it failed to reach anyway, cause me a certain degree of dissatisfaction as I feel that they all contribute something meaningful and necessary to the plot. None of them more so than Anybody Have A Map. It's the opening number of the stage show, and cutting it makes it harder for audiences to grasp the central message that people from both wealthy, stable families with good support systems and help available and poor people without good support systems and poor family relationships can experience the effects of mental illness. The removal of the song also takes away from one of the other central themes of the stage production- no parent knows exactly what they’re doing and they’re all just trying and hoping that what they do is enough. Without this song being in the film, two central themes of the show and threads that can be traced throughout are severed, detracting from the meaning and impact of the piece as a whole.
Choosing to make Larry a stepfather to Zoe and Connor rather than their biological father as he is in the musical further detracts from the central theme in the show mentioned above that even the families that seem completely perfect and put together face challenges. I found the change unnecessary, but Danny Pino's performance is almost enough to make me forgive the choice. Almost, but not quite.
Despite the majority of complaints surrounding casting revolving around Ben, I had little issue with his performance but quite a lot with Colton Ryan as Connor, who I found to be severely miscast. Colton's version of Connor looks like someone who would never associate with the Connor of the stage show, (a role originated by Mike Faist, which earned him a Tony nomination. Faist will be appearing in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, opening in theaters this December.) a scrawny boy with long dark hair that curtains his face, an outfit of all black and grey and black nail polish. Colton's Connor, on the other hand, looks more like traditional football team material- he's tall and buff with short sandy hair. Beyond just his looks, Colton's performance was far from standout, though that can also be contributed to the cutting of Anybody Have A Map and Disappear, both of which are songs that help audiences to connect more with Connor.
My final complaint is a small one, but one that shall be mentioned nonetheless. Evan running through the woods and climbing the tree is this film’s version of the meadow scene from Shadow and Bone. You know why they keep showing it, but you're sick of seeing it. The creators seemed to fail to notice just how many times they were showing the same scene and by the end no one wanted to see it again.
Now, on to the pros of the film. The first of which simply must be Ben Platt's performance as Evan. Yes, Ben has been subject to plenty of criticism for taking the role in the film, the disapprovals ranging from the surface level claims of his hair looking terrible (which, yeah, ok, it kind of did, but it didn’t take that long to get over it) and him being too old for the role to deeper denunciations of Ben for being arrogant about the part he played in bringing the film to fruition that were tightly tied to accusations of nepotism. I myself had no problem with Ben. His acting was amazing as was his singing, he delivered a stellar, well-rounded performance and one that, according to my partner for the viewing of the film who has spent many years working with emotionally disturbed and neurodivergent children, was extremely accurate to how the character would exist in real life.
All of the actors gave perfectly satisfactory performances in regards to both acting and singing. No one’s voice was so overly autotuned it was what the listener spent their whole time focusing on rather than the song itself and no one sounded remotely as unequipped for their vocal expectations as Russel Crowe in Les Miserables. All of the characters are well played, besides Ben my favorite performances were those given by Amandla Stenberg as Alana Beck and Nik Dodani as Jared Kleinman. Alana is a character whose role is enhanced in the film which is a creative decision I was very happy with and which allowed Amandla to further demonstrate her talent as both an actress and a vocalist. Jared's role in the story is essentially the same as it is in the musical, a role which Dodani brought to life with all the spunk and sarcasm as the role's originator, Will Roland. Kaitlyn Dever did a spectacular job as Zoe Murphy, a character who has never been an absolute favorite of mine butt just might be after seeing the film. Despite the cutting of Anybody Have A Map and by extension the plotline and thematic thread involving the parents, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore and Danny Pino all infused their roles with emotion and realness.
In terms of run length, the film did seem long, but not in the way that it was a bore or a drag, just that it was long. Of course, that sense of length could simply be attributed to the fact that I couldn’t seem to get comfortable in my seat and I needed to pee most of the time.
The on-screen version of Dear Evan Hansen is in no way worthy of the excessive amount of hate it has been receiving across the board. Does it have its weak spots? Most definitely. Were there mistakes made in the transitioning of the story from the stage to the screen? Yep. Do those flaws make it a poor film, a bad experience or a pathetic excuse for the film adaptation of a much loved musical? No. Dear Evan Hansen holds up across the board and I recommend it to anyone and everyone who has any interest in watching it.
Comentários