The biggest news that’s circling around this movie is the controversy surrounding Ben Platt’s age, who’s a 27 year-old playing a senior in high school. The notion of casting actors that are in their mid to late 20s playing characters in high school has happened more often than one might think. The biggest and maybe the two most notable and prime examples of this issue is when Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield did their first Spider-Man movie. Maguire and Garfield were roughly the same age as Ben Platt is in the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, and that’s not to say that it can’t be a passable trait for certain actors but it’s almost as if pundits and critics are acting out that this the first real time that Hollywood made this type of decision. Be that as it may, a good musical can be a special moment for the genre and typically a great musical will have legs and will do nothing but spread great word of mouth. La La Land and The Greatest Showman are some that come to mind that stayed in the box office for weeks due to how much people were eating it up. The Musical genre is a one that has so much legacy and power to it and it’s really a once in a lifetime when we do get one because they don’t happen as often as other genres tend to do. However, 2021 has been an impressive year for genres with In the Heights and especially what’s yet to come with Disney’s Encanto and the remake West Side Story. With Dear Evan Hansen creeping into theaters this weekend, the verdict seems to be obvious; the movie makes the musical genre feel hallow. Dear Even Hansen is sadly a missed opportunity. It has great music and solid performances from the entire ensemble. Unfortunately, the adaptation of the stage play to the big screen never worked properly nor did it have a flow to it.
Based on the hit 2015 stage musical, Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of an anxious and isolated high-school student who suffers a great level of being social and depression. He walks around the halls of school with his head down and keeps his mouth shut when he’s sitting alone while eating lunch. So because of these mental struggles, Evan’s therapist assigns him every day/week to write letters to himself in order to cope more positively. One day at school, he’s in the library and prints out the letter that his therapist assigned him and another student, Connor, mistakenly grabs it and reads it before storming off with the letter that Evan wrote himself. Days go by, Connor hasn’t shown up to school for days, that is until Evan gets called in to principals office with Connor’s parents addressing to Evan that Connor took his own life. Evan is in shock and becomes even more speechless when they found the letter that Evan wrote in Connor’s pocket, while under the impression that Connor wrote it to Evan. This leads Evan on a journey that he never asked for, however it turns out to be a path of self-discovery and acceptance.
When it’s all set in stone, the biggest problem with Dear Evan Hansen isn’t Ben Platt’s age, although it is a slight concern. The biggest issue with Dear Evan Hansen is the notion of it being a musical to begin with. Let’s face it, realistically speaking, no one is going to just suddenly break into song when they’re out at the gym, work or at a restaurant. One has to suspend their disbelief in a scenario such as that. However, the problem with Dear Evan Hansen is that it seemed as if the musical aspects seems to fit more on stage than it did on screen. That’s not to say that the music in Dear Evan Hansen isn’t great because it is. By it’s nature, it’s catchy and well-built music that has heart and soul to it. But in the context of this movie, the execution comes off as impractical. When your musical has music where it’s hard to suspend your belief, things start to feel distrusting.
Let’s go ahead and address the Elephant in the room. In this particular situation, Ben Platt should not have been cast as a 17 year old high school student. It’s not a huge problem in the movie, but it’s definitely a distraction and it becomes more noticeable as the film strolls along. The problem it also contributes is the notion of how unbelievable things come off when Evan interacts with. His character also comes off as insufferably selfish and bit disingenuous. No one wants to stumble upon a situation like this, but based on the traits and decisions that Evan makes, coupled with the age of Ben Platt, the entire notion of his character comes off as deeply unconvincing. The rest of the cast does somewhat of a serviceable job with the material, especially Kaitlin Dever, who might of outshined everyone else, including Ben Platt.
Dear Evan Hansen, like every musical, had so much potential to be huge and so much promise based on the heartbreaking and stunning trailers that were released. The musical notes don’t seem to fit or have a kinetic relationship with the movie it’s in and as much as some want to give Ben Platt the benefit, who has the voice of an angel, his age does carry to much baggage and a lot of diversion from the experience.
My grade for Dear Evan Hansen: D
Zane's take at the Cinema's 