Movie Review: Dear Evan Hansen
It goes without saying that the past few years have been trying on a majority of moviegoers and the films this year have reflected that in the respect that several of the new films released (and to be released later this year) are musicals. Many of these, such as the new adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, succeed despite being more forgettable than not given that they simply make one feel good rather than bad.
Platt reprises his role from the stage play as the anxiety-plagued, slightly maladjusted high school senior who is searching for some semblance of belonging to something, be it a school clique, family, group of outcasts, whatever will work. One of his current coping strategies, assigned by his therapist, is to write letters to himself with instructions on how he wants to live his life. However, when a fellow classmate commits suicide, the student’s parents mistake the letter as one from their son to his friend, Evan. They contact Evan to gain some understanding of their son and, at first eager for the attention and human connection, Evan is keen to play along with the ruse. But as things of this nature typically do, the situation explodes far from the reach of Evan’s control and he then risks hurting the adoptive family that has taken him in as well as his birth mother, who is struggling to understand exactly how unhappy he is.
As directed by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower [2012] and Wonder [2017]), Dear Evan Hansen is a well-intentioned film with a solid heart behind it. But, it is also one that occasionally gets lost along the way amidst a plethora of overwrought dramatic turns that seem designed to steer you towards a certain cathartic emotional release. That being said, if the tale of outcast Evan fails to elicit a response on some level, it would be shocking. Adapted for the screen by Tony winner Steven Levenson along with the music and lyrics of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, there is a slight emotional weight to the story, but it somehow remains on the surface without finding its core. Then again, this is some heavy dramatic turf that is being tread upon by, of all things, a musical so it is astounding how effective it is when it does succeed.
Ben Platt in “Dear Evan Hansen.” Photo by Photo Credit: Erika Doss/Universal – © 2021 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. All Rights Reserved.
That success is easily attributable to star Platt who, even as a nearly thirty-year-old actor, still comes across as an endearing sort of adolescent in his late teens. Overall, the rest of the cast is fine, but there is a familiarity to everything that echoes of formula. Amy Adams and Danny Pino are recognizably grieving parents who desperately want to reconnect with their son through Evan. As the couple’s remaining child, daughter Zoe, Kaitlyn Dever plays the equally bereft sibling with ease and a relatable suffering.
Perhaps the best work throughout the entire film is that of editor Anne McCabe who manages to create emotional responses and crescendos by simply juxtaposing and intercutting different scenes and locations together.
There is nothing really that condemns Dear Evan Hansen to servitude as a schlocky manipulating musical, it just kind of ends up that way all on its own. That being said, however, there is still something of an uplifting story at work here, despite it being one so heavy-fisted in nature.
Mike Tyrkus
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