Review: Dear Evan Hansen

Source: Dear Evan Hansen (2021) (imdb.com)

In 2021, we truly are getting spoilt for musical movies aren't we? Some have been better than others, we can all admit that.  And ever since this was released, it has been a mixed bag, with a lot of people full on hating it. 

My Halloween film turned out to be the cinematic release of Dear Evan Hansen - but was this one big trick like the critics say it is?

For those who haven't heard of it, Dear Evan Hansen is a musical written by Pasek & Paul and Steven Levenson. It is a HEAVY piece, covering teenage mental health, suicide, grief and the harmful effects of social media. 

Since opening on Broadway, to say it has become a smash has been a BIT of understatement, so it is perhaps no surprise that a film version was inevitable. However, as I said before, but it has been slated like no tomorrow! 

So the question is, what happened? 

I feel like I need to get the elephant in the room out of the way. How do I feel about Ben Platt returning to the part that won him a Tony Award? Well let it first be known that casting "older" actors as teenagers is nothing new, look at Grease for goodness sake! And boy does he try his best with it - this is his part after all. I cannot help but feel while I was watching it that is was hard to see him as a 17 year old, especially when paired up with the younger characters who could pass for that age, if not very close. 

However, whatever you feel about Platt's casting, there is bound to be one piece that we can all agree is PERFECT, and that was Amy Adams as Cynthia Murphy. I have wanted her to do a movie musical since Enchanted; and as the sequel to that is coming soon, we're getting 2 at once! 

For those who know the cast recording, the majority of songs are still there. Not all of them made the cut and some might have been put in the wrong place. For example, I wouldn't have opened the film directly with Waving Through A Window as we haven't fully got an idea of who Evan is yet. Having said, they're performed well; plus Pasek & Paul have written some new material for the film. The Anonymous Ones is a new solo for Alana, performed well for Hunger Games alumnus Amandla Stenberg. The other I don't want to spoil... when I realised what was going on, that was close to making me shed a tear. 

Is it a perfect film? Nah. Is it as terrible as everyone says it says? No I don't think so. It does have its issues with the script, but I am not sure whether it from what's on stage or not; an as I haven't seen it on stage yet, I will hang fire on that for now. Having said that, I don't think I will be going to London specifically to see it. I think I will wait for the tour for this one. (Which will be inevitable sometime)

If you loved the show, then perhaps you may enjoy this. Or critique it, I don't know. However if you don't like it, and I know some who really don't then stay away. 

In all honesty, this has been a hard one to write; typical of middle in the road stuff like this. Dear Evan Hansen is not a perfect product, but I truly believe it is something everyone is going to have their own opinion on. you may love it, you may hate it. The only thing I will ask is to respect what other people may say. And please don't troll any of the actors - not cool.