Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a theatre kid. But oh my gosh, do I love “Dear Evan Hansen.” I was fortunate enough to see this musical performed live during the 2018 national tour, and ever since then I have been obsessed with the show. So I’d like to think I’m qualified to review this movie adaptation.
“Dear Evan Hansen” follows the story of a high school student, Evan Hansen, and his struggle with depression and anxiety. As an assignment by his therapist, Evan is tasked with writing letters to himself beginning with “Dear Evan Hansen,” hence the title of the musical.
Another student, Connor, grabs one of Evan’s letters from the library printer and seeing that Evan was writing about his sister, becomes angry and storms off with it. But Connor then takes his own life, and thinking that Connor wrote the letter to Evan, Connor’s parents mistakenly believe that the two were best friends. Not wanting to hurt Connor’s family, Evan plays along with the lie which – spoiler alert – hurts his family even worse.
Poor casting
This movie stars the original Broadway Evan Hansen, Ben Platt. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ben Platt as Evan Hansen, but one large critique of this movie is that Evan Hansen is 17 years old, when Ben Platt is actually 28 years old. Even though Hollywood is notorious for casting adults to play teenagers, Ben Platt did feel a bit out of place in a high school setting. I’m not sure if this was due to the age gap, but the chemistry between love interest characters was almost nonexistent. Once Evan starts dating Zoe, Connor’s sister, I could not buy into the idea they were attracted to each other. The song “Only Us” is supposed to be a love song between the two, but when I was watching it, I felt as though the two characters felt awkward and very far from being in love.
Ben Platt’s Broadway acting did not translate to the screen very well. In certain scenes, I could tell that Platt was just doing what he did on stage, but it was unrealistic in a movie setting. The acting came across as “too much” and made serious moments more comical than they should be. On top of this, some of the editing was cheesy and almost looked like it was made in iMovie. These two factors together evoked laughter from the audience when they were not supposed to.
The music
One reason why I loved the original musical so much was because of the music. Words cannot describe how much I love this soundtrack. Each one deals with such heavy topics and emotions in such a beautiful, and at times comical, way. To say I was devastated when my favorite song got cut is an understatement. “Good For You” is a song sung by Evan Hansen’s mother when his actions start to affect her. This song adds depth to her character and emotionally portrays the damage that Evan’s lies are causing. The other songs the movie cut include “To Break in a Glove,” “Disappear,” “Finale,” and “Anybody Have a Map?”
This then brings me to my problem with cutting out “Finale.” In the Broadway show, this reprise ends the musical. Instead, the movie closes with a new song, “A Little Closer.” This song actually adds character depth to Connor, who in the musical is one of the most undeveloped characters, while providing him with a redemption arc. While I have no problems with this song, the original ending has a special place in my heart. There is something that feels right closing with a song that was once fiction, made up by Evan in an elaborate way to cover up his lies. This once made-up song is now being applied to Evan in his own life as he starts his journey to get better. This song to me shows how we are not necessarily supposed to forgive Evan in the end but acknowledge that he is working to become a better person.
mental illness awareness
Speaking of songs, there was another new song added to the movie called “The Anonymous Ones.” This song dived into the mental illness struggles of a side character, Alana, who did not get much of a story in the Broadway musical. I thought this addition actually worked really well within the movie, shedding a light on people who are struggling but work hard to conceal it. To me, this made the topics in the movie more relatable and brought attention to certain mental health issues that are not always discussed. This song was definitely one of the high points of the movie.
The story that “Dear Evan Hansen” tells is one that I hold very close to my heart, dealing with such complex themes in a beautiful, artistic way. But overall, this movie does not meet the standards that the original Broadway musical set. If you are a fan of this musical, you may be disappointed when you see it. On the other hand, if you have no prior knowledge of this story, you may like the movie, blissfully unaware of how amazing the live show is. Maybe it’s just because I’m a giant “Dear Evan Hansen” nerd, but this movie just missed the mark. Of course, this is all just my opinion, but you can decide for yourself by watching “Dear Evan Hansen” in theaters.