Dear Evan Hansen | Review
Dear Evan Hansen is the highly-anticipated film adaptation of the hit musical of the same name, and it’s, apparently, not about a gay teen with a broken arm. Well, half of that is still true (the broken arm).
I didn’t know anything about Dear Evan Hansen except that it was a hit musical, and I love musicals! People I know raved about it, and there was a huge online fanbase. It earned nine Tony Awards, winning six, including Best Musical. But then I saw the theatrical trailer and… it was not what I expected. In fact, I thought the plot looked a little sociopathic. I wasn’t alone.
The film, like the original show, follows unpopular high school student Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) as he navigates his senior year while dealing with his severe social anxiety. A writing exercise given by his therapist has him writing positive letters to himself (hence the “Dear Evan Hansen”). But when fellow social outcast, Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), discovers Evan’s printed copy of one of these letters, he takes Evan’s letter and storms off. A few days later, Connor’s parents, Cynthia and Larry (Amy Adams and Danny Pino, respectively), tell Evan that Connor died by suicide and they mistakenly believe Evan’s stolen letter, which Connor had on him when he died, is Connor’s suicide note. They believe Evan to be Connor’s only friend. He doesn’t correct them. This leads to a series of larger lies, with Evan falsifying emails between him and Connor, and making up positive memories to share with Connor’s family, including Connor’s sister Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever), whom Evan has a crush on. It’s a hot mess.
Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan) and Evan Hansen (Ben Platt)
Even if you can get past this shaky premise, the film is just remarkably unremarkable. Under Stephen Chbosky’s (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) direction, the film lacks vision and, more importantly, energy. The musical sequences—the reason why any of us show up for a musical—is lifeless and, honestly, a slog to get through. I was disappointed by the surprisingly unmemorable songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land & The Greatest Showman); maybe it’s just me but they felt too slow, boring, and sounded too similar to one another. The few exceptions include the breakout anthem “You Will Be Found” (which sounds way too similar to the songwriting duo’s other hit song, “This Is Me,” from The Greatest Showman), and “The Anonymous Ones,” an original song created for the film. And even though I liked these two songs, I am reminded of my original complaint about the poor direction. “You Will Be Found” is supposed to be this uplifting and powerful moment where Evan’s message of “you are not alone” goes viral, but the way it’s depicted on screen doesn’t match the energy the song deserved.
Ben Platt has shown his acting chops in previous projects, like Netflix’s The Politician or even his Tony Award-winning performance of Evan Hansen, a role he originated. But he’s hilariously miscast here. There’s a huge precedent of older actors playing teenagers, something Platt has pointed out in response to the criticisms that he’s too old to portray the character in the film. But the issue with comparing his role to the actors from Grease is, not only was everyone too old for their roles for that film too, but both movies have bad plots, so it’s not a great comparison. The problem is that 27-year-old Platt is trying to play a 17-year-old but he looks 35. The attempts to make him look younger—the messy hair, the shiny arms (from shaving off his arm hairs), the gaunt body language—make him look older. The film’s many close-up shots don’t help the matter. The weird thing he does with his upper lips, or his acting decisions to include tics and sticking his tongue out at random moments, are distracting. Perhaps this all looked better on stage, where you can’t see every minor detail. The only praise I can give is that Platt can sing the hell out of a song.
Ben Platt as Evan Hansen
The film’s supporting cast is top-notch (Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg), and they’ve also all been in much better films. In Dear Evan Hansen, their characters all lack depth, as if to give greater screen time to Platt. There’s an interesting sub-theme involving the film’s mothers and their relationships to their respective kids, but it appears almost out of nowhere because the film doesn’t do a good job of dedicating time to it. After seeing the film, I read this article which details how the film adaptation leaves out a major theme involving the mother characters from the original show, which confirms my issues with the film’s story.
And most importantly, none of these actors, aside from Platt, are professional singers, a curious decision that only lessens the impact of already unmemorable songs.
Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) and his mother Heidi (Julianne Moore)
I can’t say how the writing compares to the original show, especially since the film format is completely different, most notably the difference in runtime. But speaking of the film itself, the script (from Steven Levenson, the show’s original writer) is filled with too many poor decisions. I didn’t like how the sole Black character in the film makes a disastrous third-act decision that partly puts her in the wrong for bad actions Evan, himself, created. Evan’s comeuppance doesn’t fit the crime. The film’s ending, which differs dramatically from the original (which I read on Wikipedia), shows that the filmmakers knew the original ending was a bit problematic; their solution isn’t exactly great, is too tidy, and still leaves you head scratching (Are people even allowed to film therapy sessions, and, if so, what sensible person would share it without the subject’s permission?). There could’ve been a version of this film that’s told differently, whether ironically or with dark humor, which could have played better. But what we get is a film that can't decide between being an uplifting film, or melancholic.
Look, I went into this film with an open mind, despite already knowing about its overwhelmingly bad reception. It didn’t leave me furious at its premise like other critics felt, but it also didn’t leave me feeling emotional or entertained like fans of the musical. It just left me feeling… nothing, which isn’t something you should say about a film that claims to have an important message about suicide and mental health.