An awkwardly late review of the Dear Evan Hansen movie.
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- The movie adaptation of the Dear Evan Hansen movie seemed to have literally everything going against it. Was it the catastrophe everyone said it was? The answer may surprise you.
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#DearEvanHansen #Musicals
BEFORE YOU TYPE THAT COMMENT: I never watched the Muppets movie, thirty other people have commented it, and I apologize. 😅.
Watch Perks! You’ll love it! It’s nothing like that haha
I literally came too the comments to say something about the Muppets Movie lmao. Watch it. It's literally my most favorite movie in the world. I'm biased, but it's still a good movie. xD
Well go watch it instead of this garbage
Strongly recommend it!
I love the Muppets and all their movies! I recently watched their Halloween one!
The main problem of Platt reprising his role, other than looking FAR too old, is that he plays Evan exactly like he did on stage. Film and stage productions are completely different mediums, and while exaggerated performances are acceptable on stage, they don't work quite as well in film.
i’m tired and i misread “platt” as “patti” and now i’ve got the image of patti lupone as evan hansen in my head thanks
Right!? And it really sticks out compared to his other costars.
I saw someone point out that the way that he is doing these big mannerisms alongside the more subtle actors makes him look like he is affecting a really unflattering caricature of someone neurodivergent or on the spectrum and now I just cannot unsee that.
I was trying to figure out what felt off about his performance (besides the obvious age issue) and this is it. It very much felt over exaggerated
@@ramu-silly Yeah even before casting and acting decisions, i feel adapting it into a movie in the first place was a mistake because the complex morality of the plot and Evan as a character *needs* the full runtime and song list of the stage musical to work (at least, in the way that it's written). With it shortened but not changed it does become a negative portrayal of neurodivergence.
Getting rid of "Good For You" was such a poor choice. It's the only point in the stage version where ANYONE calls Evan out on what he did. You need that moment in there (even if he doesn't get any actual punishments, he does at least lose his only friends and gets the whole "the reason you suck" speech).
I’ve never felt like Good For You does an adequate job of calling out Evan though. Like Jared is just as culpable as Evan, and he’s calling Evan out for *check’s notes* being a “bad friend.” Despite the fact that he is the one who actively encouraged the fake emails, was using the whole thing for his own profit, and never even really saw Evan as a friend in the first place. Alana is in a similar boat, where she’s really just mad that she won’t have a good ending for her college essays. Her anger is very much selfishly motivated. And then Heidi probably has the most legitimate criticism, but even her’s stems mostly from her own insecurities. The lyrics they write for her are all centered on “why do you like them more than me” rather than “why would you hide this part of you life from me” or “why did you feel the need to lie to me.” It would be far more impactful to have a song where the Murphy’s sing at him and call him out, you know the people he actually hurt. And I stand by the fact that Jared is a shittier person than Evan in all this lol.
@@Broadway_Ben Yeah I'll admit, I'm not that mad that they left Good For You out. Based on the lyrics it's somewhat hard to understand why Heidi is so angry rather than remorseful that she missed so much of what her son was up to. And yeah, Jared is just a jerk... and so is Alana really.
Spoilers: I do actually think that the film did a much better job at rehumanizing Connor after all the drama of Evan's doings. I feel like the stage play just used Connor as a device-- we never really learn anything about him other than that he really was an absolute monster that no one really cares about except maybe his mom. And it's weird because I *thought* the message of the Dear Evan Hansen is supposed to be that everyone matters and deserves help. So I like that the movie ends with Connor's recording.
@@Broadway_Ben Good for you is one of my favorutie songs form the show, it's just really energetic
Aha, someones a TV Troper
Am no we don’t - you will be found is good by itself
This is one of those shows/movies that becomes a horror film if it’s shown from another character’s perspective. From Zoe’s perspective, her violent and threatening brother kills himself, this random guy seems to be his only friend and immediately invalidates your experience with your brother, then turns out to have weaseled his way into your grieving family as a way to get close to you. Turns out he didn’t even know your brother and had creepily stalking you and projecting his love onto you when he’s never even spoken to you.
I actually wrote up some lyrics for a version of Sincerely Me where she’s aware he’s lying.
Dear Evan Hansen
You creep me out a bunch
Don’t think I didn’t notice
You stalking me as I went to lunch
But I should tell you that you fill me with such fright
I make sure to look around and lock my door real tight
I love my parents
But I see them cry every night
And if you stopped lying then
Everything might be alright
Didn’t want your comfort
You’re not exactly covert
They’re bound to find out
Wait and see
'Cause all that it took was a little reinvention
It's easy to pretend who he was if you give it your attention
All you gotta do is just be true and who you are not want to be
Sincerely, Me
@@avacatherine5646 i love those lyrics! good job ava
Honestly I still see it as a horror film but from the villain’s perspective.
Yeah. I was initially pretty swept away by the songs, even though I immediately found Evan Hanson to be a terrible person when I saw the show. But the more I think about it, the more poorly it ages for me. Not really because the harm Evan Hanson caused to Connor's family, but because of how the show left the serious topics of mental illness and healing under-explored to focus on relatability and a ham-fisted feel good message. The pandering is so apparent that it almost feels predatory to me.
The funny thing is, Stephen Chbosky (the director) put out a pretty solid horror novel the same year this came out, and the movie is far scarier.
honestly i think the fact that ben platt's dad produced the movie is very telling lol. imo evan hansen should've been andrew barth feldman or jordan fisher - young, amazing broadway talents who could have had an opportunity to shine on such a big production. i will add the caveat that i've never really been a dear evan hansen fan lol
Yeeeeessss Andrew Barth Feldman would be better Evan for the movie
I say Andrew. He looks like a high schooler
People keep suggesting Jordan Fisher as Evan but if we're going with a black actor Roman Banks looks the part way better than Jordan. That said Andrew is still my favorite choice as Evan and if not him they should've cast someone with the same look and vibe.
As someone that was a huge DEH fan and still really likes the original show. I completely agree with you 😅
I’m sorry but Jordan Fisher is waaaayy too handsome and smooth to be Evan, I never believe him as any outcast, he’s the popular kids
It works as accidental horror. An ancient ghoul pretending to be a human child sidles his way into a grieving family's life and defrauds a whole community with no hint of remorse.
Maybe the real Evan Hansen really did die over the summer, and now the thing wearing his corpse is getting a feel for its powers and limitations. That is why it is so unaccustomed to stepping into sunlight or crossing the threshold without an invitation, things it could not do in its previous form.
I would kill to see this version of the movie
Dear Wendigo Hansen.
Starkid should make this 😭
“the last time we heard Amy Adams sing was in Enchanted” the Muppets (2011) disrespect 😤
Oh no, I inadvertently dunked on a classic 😅
No one ever Remembers Amy Adams was in the muppets movie the same way no one ever remembers Amy Adams was in the DC Snyder-verse 👀😳😔
Seriously, she didn't have a whole Me-Party just to be disrespected like that.
Muppet gang assembling in the comments section
she was in the muppets movie??
My problem is that if Platt is gonna be on such a high horse about HIS OWN CASTING, then he has an OBLIGATION to deliver a well-rounded on-camera performance as well
At best, this was a laughable vanity project. Platt - and dear old dad - thought that pulling a Rex Harrison was gonna be a given. Ambition can be good but you also have to admit when it won't. Clearly they didn't!
Since you showed Grease as an example, not that it would fix everything else but I suppose they should have had an older cast to better match Platt. Since I heard that's why they used adults in Grease was because they really wanted Olivia Newton John and she told them she thought she was too old for the role until she heard who else would be there. Sure you can tell they're not high schoolers but at least no one stands out miserably as the adult in the room trying to hang with the kids.
(Granted Grease is a lot more lighthearted, had better pacing, and took advantage of wide shots, so it very well may still have never worked out here.)
This is the problem I had with the last version of Hairspray i saw, where they cast two 30 something year old women as Tracy alongside actual teenagers. When Tracy kissed Link, I kept wanting to shout AMBER ALERT!
It really feels like this movie is "let's get Ben Platt an Oscar"
And he ends up being the downfall of the whole thing. DEH will be the beginning and end to his stardom it seems
Yeah, but even with a different lead it would still be an uphill climb. Hansen is suffering the same thing Hamilton is starting to suffer. Over time the shine is waring off and the glaring issues in the plot are showing more and more.
Hansen: the character the audience is meant to follow and sympathize with is exploiting the lost of life to get popular and a girlfriend without any serious repercussions.
Hamilton: colorblind casting of slave masters and oppressors without meaningfully discussing slavery, or the impact of marginalized groups on the founding of the country, "indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans."
I had never heard of Ben Platt until he did a guest spot on the Will & Grace reboot and looked him up because of his over-acting. Can you imagine over-acting the cast of W&G? He is a Broadway actor and probably should only be.
@@MrHootiedean he's been in films before. I remember him from Pitch Perfect. He was fine in that, nothing great but nothing terrible either
Poetic
That was my biggest problem with it (and I have a LOT of problems with DEH, both the show and the movie) - it was clearly a star vehicle for Platt. And tbh, given his entitlement, I’m glad it backfired.
To be fair, Alana in the show also is dealing with her own issues. She sings a brief reprise of Waving Through a Window, then in her argument with Evan she admits that she feels alone too. It's way more subtle (probably to drive in the point that she's putting on a front). But I totally agree that what they did in the movie was better.
Thank you for pointing this out! It was definitely more subtle because I completely spaced the reprise.
Walk it off. I'm tired of depressed assholes thinking the world should work around them.
Buck up or get left behind.
@@barbraseville8984 I… the fuck?
@@songbird6414 whatd they say???
@@theMyRadiowasTaken god damn I don’t remember but now I’m curious. Prolly something inflammatory about teen suicide but honestly who knows
DEH makes me feel existential dread. I was suicidal as a teenager, the thought of someone like Evan using my death for self-gratification and manipulating my family makes my skin crawl. I don't think DEH has good execution in general because it's sending mixed messages. DEH is an accidental dark comedy that is trying to be the champion of mental health and acceptance.
It’s totally a dark comedy, there’s so many jokes in the stage play, but the movie sets itself up as a very serious sober display of mental health, straying far far away from a dark comedy... All that was charming about it was sucked away in the movie version
Now that I'm thinking about it, the black comedy parts of this show are probably why it shares many of its fans with Heathers
Heathers knows what it is though, it leans into that dark comedy and doesn’t shy away from it to make Veronica and JD seem like good people.
@@pyroshayniac1090 That’s the beauty
i was also a suicidal teen, however i never really thought of it as a champion of mental health? i mostly saw it as a very dark comedy that critiqued how schools always use suicides to benefit themselves rather than those in need
The main problem with this - from someone who already hates the musical for personal mental health reasons - is that the film cuts out all of the non-Evan related shit (including Good For You) painting Evan as Goodest Soft Mentally Ill Twitter Boy™ and thus sucks whatever surface-level nuance the musical had out to replace it with treacly garbage platitudes for neurotypical people to pat themselves on the back with and put on posters and Etsy/Redbubble merch.
Perfect
Well said!! sir or madam🤗
Yeah... They take the musical and instead of fixing the problem it had, they made them worst.
literally evan is just:
“wdym i lied about this kids suicide, im neurodivergent and a minor???”
I feel the same way
The book has it end with Evan giving Connor’s former boyfriend Miguel a way to contact the Murphy’s and tell them some true things about Connor. But it just doesn’t happen here
I actually really like the book. SO MUCH MORE info about connor.
I liked what the book did a lot as well, in that it took the very questionable-under-scrutiny story of deh and made it something with more substance. Connor was a character outside of Evan's imaginings of him, and as you said, the ending is better. Though what watching this video made me realize was that Jared's moments of levity in the show, at least for me personally, weren't funny and instead were even more painful than some other stuff in the book. sometimes I just had to skim through them because the secondhand embarrassment I was getting was just too much. but it's a different medium, so it's allowed to handle the characters and story beats differently, and also I get secondhand embarrassment really easily lol. still, I kind of wish they had used the book as material for the movie because its plot points and ending definitely could've translated well to screen.
My main problem with "Dear Evan Hansen" is how having anxiety is a justifiable excuse for what he did.
He puts this family through psychological torture, manipulates his crush into being with him, and we're supposed to feel bad because he has anxiety, so he didn't mean it.
I have anxiety, and I acknowledge that it is not as severe as Evan's. I do feel sympathy in the first few scenes, but when he's psychologically abusing this family, he becomes the villain and I cannot condone using a mental illness as excuse to justify awful actions where we say, "aw but he feels sorry in the end'.
EDIT: personal anecdote; I just remembered when I saw the live show, the playbill did not offer any added material about s**cide, or anxiety, no hotlines to call, no websites to reach for those who are struggling. It rubbed the wrong way. It felt like the illusion of taking this issues seriously, without actually doing the work.
I've seen people say the same thing. I have social anxiety, like Evan. And I related to a lot of the stuff in the early part of the show.
I think my biggest gripe is that it doesn't handle mental health the way that it claims to/wants to. It is a mess. I think it is *trying* to say "mental health can explain an action, but it doesn't excuse it." But it tries to excuse Evan's behavior because he has anxiety. Heck, I've seen people say that he has anxiety, therefore he doesn't need any consequences.... Which, WTF? I have social anxiety (obviously not identical to Evan's), but being mentally ill doesn't relieve you of wrongdoings! I've also even seen someone say that you can't say anything negative about Evan unless you have social anxiety.
So here I am. I got diagnosed with social anxiety as a college student. And I despise the show and the way it handles social anxiety. I honestly liked the show when it came out. It was the first time I saw someone I thought I related to. But then I saw that they just used social anxiety as something to spur the plot along. After You Will Be Found, it seems like his mental illness goes away. And he stops his medicine! (And NOTHING bad comes from that??? That's honestly dangerous to put out there.)
Anyway. If people like the show, I'm not gonna bash them. These are all my thoughts and opinions. I know there's people like younger me who loved the show because it was the first time they related to someone onstage. I'm just... frustrated that this show claims to be a show that portrays mental health in a good light, yet it does the exact opposite. Next to Normal is a much better show imo. It's a LOT darker and I would recommend reading the plot because it could be triggering to some. But it handles mental illness with a lot more care and caution.
I swear the movie needs a trigger warning. Like, some of the imagery is pretty suggestive/graphic. Like the flashback to Evan's accident and the bit of the sister in the car??
THIS!!! I also have anxiety and this show really rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn't explain why.
I remember this great quote. “Your mental illness is not your fault. But it is your responsibility.”
Honestly, a normal person with anxiety wouldn't do this. I can understand them panicking and saying they were friends with a dead kid, so they can comfort the parents, but that's about it.
Evan Hansen has something seriously wrong with him.
Getting rid of anybody have a map was also terrible because it gets rid of any real connection the audience can have with actual Connor as well
I wish they had kept Connor in as a ghost watching from the sidelines, sort of like in the book. I think it would've added an interesting dynamic because holy shit the movie is so boring.
Great review! I agree with your take on Evan being the villain. In the words of Jenny Nicholson "Maybe Evan isn't a nice boy...just a quiet one."
Not every story needs a villain, but if one wanted to find a villain in this particular story's character roster, it would be Evan. 100%.
Having people finally discuss the issues I have had with this show since the beginning makes me so happy. It makes this cranky theater snob's heart so happy.
As a teen I described myself as having "resting old face." Ben Platt looking old represents all of us who looked like we were in our 30s at 16 😆
LMAO, like those kids in high school who got mistaken for teachers a lot.
People were saying he was too old for the role even back when it first debuted when he was 23, and I really don’t think he looks much older than he did back then. I think he just doesn’t have what people consider a “teen face” for a movie: ie, stick-like, with a shiny small face. He doesn’t really pull off looking like a real teen, but barely anyone on the screen looks like a real teen anyways.
I never really liked the show, but I found the movie unwatchable. I tried watching it but a combination of ben platt's stage acting, the overdramatic, boring direction, and the never ending second hand embarrassment I got from the dialogue made me just skip ahead to the songs. It was not bad in a fun/campy way, just dull and uncomfortable. I will die on the hill that the premise of dear evan hansen would work much better for a dark comedy than a serious mental health movie.
it's awful
hard agree. even horror comedy works.
That’s originally what it was supposed to be, so this totally makes sense.
This movie/musical feels like someone suggested that, and then a bunch of accountants in suits popped up singing a barbershop quartet version of Abba's "Money, Money, Money."
It makes me so sad that Ben Platt could go along with this interpretation of the show. I think the whole story is impossible to enjoy if you feel like you're supposed to like and agree with Evan. Part of what makes the stage version work is showing the effects of Evan's actions on the people around him. The stage show starts with Does Anybody Have a Map which does everything you mentioned in your video, full agree, and also introduces the audience to these other characters. The mothers introducing us to them and their families and daily struggles. Instead the movie starts with the Evan singing about how he feels sad and alone. Ultimately, I think the largest crime the movie adaptation committed was more or less completely ripping out Heidi's story.
I don't know much about Ben Platt beyond him being an actor in DEH and Pitch Perfect, but his role in this film's creation makes him seem so...self-centered? He effectively casted himself because his dad was a producer, and then the movie feels like it completely misinterprets Evan's behaviour to ultimately make the character seem more heroic and less at fault for his mistakes, which in-turn seems like a ploy to make Ben Platt himself not look bad. Jenny Nicholson's video about the film really put it well when she said that this film feels like propaganda Evan wrote, and I feel like I could argue the same for Ben Platt himself. It genuinely feels like the film focuses primarily on Ben Platt and his own glorification of the character he is playing at the expense of the people his character harms (minus Alana, who is the only character treated better by the movie, including Evan himself who is sucked dry of a lot of his depth).
This movie must be the only case where casting the original stage actor has proven to be the worst possible choice (also the movie doesn't come out in the UK for another couple of weeks so technically you're not late to me)
Indeed, it didn't help that Platt's father is a producer on the film. While he deservedly won a Tony for his stage performance, they should have cast a younger actor for Evan.
The worst possible choice would have been James Corden as Evan. But it wasn't the only case, RENT also didn't do itself any favors with bringing back the original cast for the movie.
@@fabianhebestreit3240 it was kinda ok for rent as they blended in iirc
@@alostnerd7032 They all were way too old to play young bohemians. It wasn't charming anymore, they seemed like failed artists in their 30s.
@@fabianhebestreit3240 pls i would of lost it if James Corden was evan. imagine if he was connor's dad and they didnt cut To break in a glove
So I loved the show for a number of reasons. My brother died very unexpectedly when I was a kid and I didn’t know how to process that, so I saw a lot of my younger self in Zoe. My teenage son suffers from Anxiety so I could identify with Heidi. Then watching Cynthia Murphy mourn her son was very personal given what I saw my own mother experience. However, I refuse to see the movie, As a parent now to a teenager, it feels like the movie really cuts the parents out by removing Does Anyone Have a Map or the hurt that Heidi conveys in Good For You. I also hate the fact that they made Larry a stepdad and his last name isn’t even Murphy. That was the beauty of the stage show, the juxtaposition of this working single mom against what appears to be the perfect family in the Murphys. By making Larry a stepdad, I think that really took away from that seeming perfection, I mean knowing that Zoe and Connor’s dad died at such a young age affects a kid and trauma like that contributes to mental health. I think it is more powerful when you have Connor from a seemingly perfect family suffering from mental health and a father coming to terms that while he was a good provider, his absence did more harm than good.
They definitely went way too far into the realistic angle on the movie. The musical itself is pretty bare to begin with but with theater there's already that suspension of disbelief that makes it easier to process the whole sudden singing thing. It was so jarring just watching the trailer because everything from the costuming to the editing made it seem like a realistic movie right up until Evan starts singing You Will Be Found. Stage musicals can be realistic and stripped down but it seems that the better film adaptations always keep the inherent campiness of musicals that makes the singing more believable
my thoughts exactly
Cinema is supposed to be a more realistic and grounded medium than theater. It's part of each medium language. If you don't want it that way, you have to go full on Moulin Rouge! and not all filmmakers are capable of doing that.
The only DEH movie review I care about because he actually understands musicals
Why did this make me cry? 😂
This was good, I’d also recommend Jenny Nicholson in general and her DEH review in particular.
you didn't mention Connor, although I guess he is one of the Murphy's which you said are the best part (I agree). The book handled Connor a lot better. LISTENING to the book we got Mike Faist to tell his side of the story. The movie, glosses over Connor completely and just uses him or his memory, or whatever part of him they deem useful. Connor had issues too and his are summarily dismissed.
I had a whole section on Connor that I had to cut for time and because I made some grammatical mistakes lol. I get what they were going for, the whole “leave the audience in the dark so really no one knows who Connor is”. It was bold, and I actually think it made the ending when his secret is revealed to be pretty satisfying. :)
@@WaitintheWings except from the book that wasn't his secret. His secret in the book was WAY more satisfying. The song was good though. and Colton Ryan did a good job. New subscriber btw. Loving your content.
18:29 I honestly don’t think Dear Evan Hansen should be seen as a show with heroes or villains. We’re so used to stories having protagonists framed as heroes that looking at their actions with a morally grey perspective is much more difficult.
I always like to compare Evan with Joel from The Last of Us. His actions are morally dubious, but the player understands why he made that decision by the end of the story. Even though that was not right, you’re able to understand him.
The main difference between them is that Evan didn’t doomed humanity, but even then, there are more people wanting Evan’s head on a stick than Joel’s.
I understand your point, but there should be consequences in the show because there would be in real life. If Hansen was a real person he would be hated. The public was turn their back on him. He would be the talk of the town. Kids at school would be mad at him. Connors parents would be angry.
If they are going for realism then give realism.
It would be interesting to see how Hansen deals with his anxiety and everything else when his fears are realized and everyone hates him.
I think it also helps that, in Last of Us, you are PLAYING with Joel for a long time. It conditions you to immerse on the emotional state of the character (even though the choice at the end was railrolled...). Also parental instincts.
In DeH, Evan does something that people generally really, really hate in real life and in fiction: lying and duplicity (that is why sometimes people accept "frankly, I am a jerk and I like it" type of evil more easily). If Joel was at least doing something wrong for the sake of another, Evan on the other hand was ultimately benefitting only himself.
@@raaid22 I disagree in reality people lie and hurt people for self serving reasons all the time and there are no consequences… they just continue with their lives. Maybe they feel bad about what they did and maybe they don’t.
@@mikaylaeager7942 you are free to disagree. Evan isn't a regular person. He becomes internet famous. So a lot of people are following the story and have opinions. Think similar to James Charles. His career has survived scandals but he is very much still hated online. At the height of his scandals there were hundreds of CZcams videos and articles about him.i would imagine in real life Evan Would suffer a similar fate.
@@raaid22 Your need for retribution worries me. Especially when we are taking about a completely fictional character here.
I haven't seen the film yet but saw the show twice. Out of all the changes, I am absolutely baffled that Good For You was cut-as you said, it's what the whole show builds up to! It's one of the few high energy numbers the show has and it's so crucial in showing the fallout of Evan's actions.
This is an almost perfect review. In fact there was only one thing I disagree with.
Evan is not the Villain in the show and he’s not the Hero either, he’s the protagonist. DEH is not the type of show that has hero’s and villains just flawed people navigating an unfair world. The way the story ends reflects the unfairness of reality. The Murphy’s didn’t deserve what Evan put them through, just as Even didn’t deserve the grace they showed in forgiving him. In a just world there would be consequences for his actions, but in a just world Heidi would be able to spend more time with her son, Evan could go to college, Conner would be alive, and no one would have to go through what the Murphy’s did.
Ok. Now I’m just gonna talk about my own feelings on the movie…
In another review someone said that You Will Be Found felt like a slap in the face because it wasn’t true. No one found Conner. No one found Even. They were alone. That’s the point. It’s a nice inspirational tag line that people want to believe but rarely practice in reality. In my mind it’s a commentary on the performative compassion of online communities or real world communities when there’s a tragedy. In the show there’s a bit where a girl is crying at school not because she knew Conner, but because she would never know Conner.
I think that’s a big part of the shows message that was left out of the movie. Along with taking out every one of the parents songs (which were the emotional core of the show showing that the adults are struggling to get this right as much as the kids) but they also took out Disappear where Even justifies continuing the lie and even escalating it because he convinces himself it’s what Conner would want, when in fact he’s just projecting his own feelings on to someone he didn’t even know. It’s self serving and that’s the point.
The point isn’t to like Evan, it’s to emphasize with him. He’s not a great person in the show, but he doesn’t deserve the pain and isolation he feels. Conner is similarly not perfect, but he didn’t deserve what happened to him. Everyone deserve compassion even if they do things you don’t agree with. In a perfect world you would be found. That’s just not the world DEH exists in or the one we all exist in.
Anyway, I do love the show, and I’ll admit I enjoyed the movie, even if it disappointed me in so many ways. I was alone in the theater so I turned it into my own private singalong. They just shouldn’t have taken out any of the songs. I will never understand why movie musicals do that! #JustGiveUsMoreProshots
I feel like the people who made this film had an idea about how it was going to be received, as a grounded and emotional musical, by the general audience and especially the critics during award season for 2022… and it turned out that Tick Tick Boom is fitting that slot instead.
As someone whose seen a grieving family mourn the loss of their daughter, this musical rubbed me the wrong way. The family was so broken after their daughter died (due to gun violence) and I’ve never seen people so broken before. It shook me to my core and made me change my perspective about a lot of things in life. (Warning: Critique of DEH. If you do not agree, just don’t read it. Thank you.) I had heard about Dear Evan Hansen and loved the songs; they really helped me through some tough times. But after I heard the plot, I instantly moved away from it. I couldn’t imagine anyone being so twisted and cruel as to use a grieving family for his own twisted gain. I couldn’t fathom it. Haven’t the Murphys suffered enough? And what was even worse is that every where I looked, there were people supporting Evan and thinking he was this innocent little cinnamon roll who wouldn’t hurt a fly. That didn’t sit right with me. I haven been able to listen to many of the songs since (Good for you and Requiem are amazing though.) After learning about the plot, the whole story felt fake to me. Like plastic pretending to be diamonds. I felt like Connor’s death was being taken advantage of by Evan to propel himself foreword. It wasn’t a horrible tragedy which caused people to spring into action to prevent anything else like this happening ever again (like how that girl’s death was.) It was more of a necessary death that caused Evan to be popular. And after learning about Evan’s motives and lies, his whole speech in You Will be Found just sounds fake and disingenuous. It didn’t feel like a horrible trashed that shook Evan’s world, made him rethink life, cause him to reevaluate his own life and choose to keep it. It felt like Connor’s death was the best thing that ever happened to him. It never affected him other than helping him. I have a lot of feelings about this musical (clearly) and if I were to keep talking, you’d have a book longer than all the Lord Of The Rings books combined.
I agree with the issue of the pacing; dramatic scenes alongside back to back to back ballads slowed everything up. Severely.
I thought the movie would end after 90 minutes. I was VERY wrong
I saw DEH on Broadway when it came out and thought the premise was extremely problematic. There were some nice melodies from the score. But the plot was creepy and really bad messaging for young ppl that overwhelming obsessed over it. I don’t see why theatre critics did not see it and gushed over it with their reviews. Maybe it was just Broadway bc when the show had its first international sit down production in Toronto it closed 3 mths later bc it couldn’t sustain enough ticket sales despite all the fanfare leading to it. Perhaps ppl in Canada saw the problematic premise.
I really have no desire to pay to see the movie in cinema and be trapped as a captive audience. I’ll wait until it gets on streaming so I can fast forward certain scenes.
And y’all wondering why Ben had an iron grip on that role. Think about it. I believe he thought after the Tony momentum and NY reviews this was his Oscar chance with the film adaptation so he had daddy buy the rights and made sure no one else got the role. Well, that backfired spectacularly, didn’t it? LMAO Poetic justice, Ben. 😆
The Annonymous Ones is by far the best original song written for a musical movie since probably Dreamgirls in 2006 (some great additions to that film, but I’m partial to Listen if I had to choose one). It’s been A WHILE since we’ve had a good one (looking at you Suddenly from the Les Mis).
Yeah a lot of times they are written just for an Oscar. I think Evita's "you must love me" is one of the best because it fits the show and still stays in line with the character development.
"Listen", although great undermines the character and is one of the biggest issues I had with the movie. Beyonce was too good of a singer to truly make the point "beauty over talent" . When you hear listen you are like, Deena has it all. Curtis was justified in pushing Effie to the side.
I'd argue that Ladies' Choice and New Girl in Town were great additions to Hairspray (2007), that being said it's still been a long time lol
It was best new song in a remake
Better than the Disney remake New songs for sure
@@20maximilian03 I forgot about those. New girl in town was good And it helped move the plot along.
What are your thoughts on Dear Evan Hansen? It's a polarizing piece so I really want to hear your take on it! If you liked the video, click that like button so hard it has to wear a cast that gets it caught up in an uncomfortable lie involving a rich suburban family.
It’s a steaming pile of 💩
I may be biased because I was a HUGE DEH nerd in grade 7, but I really loved the film. I adored “Sincerely Me” and it’s editing, couldn’t believe how close Evan sounded to the og soundtrack, and, though I really missed “Good For You”, I was thoroughly satisfied :)
Idk maybe I was just in a good mood that day, but I’d give a 7.5 - 8/10
When I saw Dear Evan Hansen on Stage it was with Andrew Barth Feldman was literally WAS 17 then which to me made Ben so much more jarring. The age and his over dramatic acting just had me completely out of the story constantly. And also the overdramatic performance made Evan seem like a really insensitive portrayal of someone on the spectrum, and as an autistic person I was INTENSELY uncomfortable with the whole thing.
Also I'm sure someone else already said this, but the stage version does imply Alana has her own issues; she sings a brief reprise of Waving Through a Window. The Anonymous Ones is very good though and should absolutely be added to the stage show. It would make her character a lot clearer.
I'm less sure of Evan as a villain exactly (and the use of sociopath like that is uhhhh questionable). A cautionary tale about how things can spiral out of control DEFINITELY, but as a person with pretty bad social anxiety every step in the lie going out of control made sense to me, and I don't so much think Evan is a bad person for it. He DEFINITELY should have faced consequences for it in the show though ffs.
It sounds like ben was either let down by his director or he wasn't able to take direction.
I really think it’s a mix of the two
When we forgot about Amy adams singing in muppets 2011 sad face
😬😬😬
I feel like there were two ways to make this work. They could have gone with Ben Platt, *or* gone for a more realistic approach. They chose to do both, and it didn't work.
His age really bugged me. He looks older than he is, especially with the horrendous haircut he had in the movie. Which is fine. You can have people in their late twenties and thirties playing teenagers. Grease the movie looks great because none of the "teenager" are actually teenagers. All of the "adults" in the movie are clearly middle age, or older. It's all believable because it's very consistent. It's extremely rare that mixing teens with people who are nearly thirty works, and frankly, it works better for women than for men. (See: Stacy Dash in Clueless, playing opposite Alicia Silverstone who is nearly ten years younger.) They could have kept Ben Platt if they aged up *all* of the other teenage characters.
Ben Platt's theatricality also didn't work. And again, it could have worked fine. But establish that style of performance as the baseline for the the whole production. There are far more melodramatic movie musicals that work. His completely different acting style, coupled with the glaringly obvious age difference just looked wrong.
I feel like this movie made the "split the difference" mistake. They wanted something more realistic, but also grandiose like a stage musical. They could have leaned hard in one way or the other and made something probably rather good. They split the difference, and made something lukewarm and awkward.
I always felt that the stage show ending was the most realistic one. It would just die down, people would stop talking about it and everyone would move on. Which already happens in the story btw, which is why they have to keep making it bigger. Also the implications of this teenager blasting his lie to the world are scary. Imagine how people would react if they found out the parents couldn't recognise the writings of their own son? My experience on the internet taught me that not many people would understand that you were this desperate to have a little bit of your dead son left, but instead they would call you a bad parent, wish you dead, etc. This story wasn't about an internet personality making an apology video, it was about one boy's lie, that admittedly blew up, and one family's loss being exploited. Most people would just be caught in a lie and hide in shame, and everyone would move on... like it happens in the show
The film was not made for fans of the musical it was made to be in Ben Platt's portfolio and maybe he'd get an Oscar nomination. That's why it's a train wreck.
Platt coming back feels like Connery with James Bond: I feel like he's tired at this point, the role has defined him so much that nobody will know him for anything else, and getting him back in a role he already did what he can with feels like it's done for the business of it rather than for any good filmmaking.
"You can only take so many 11:00 numbers until you go, dear God is it 11:30 yet?!"
note to pasek and paul.
Honestly it is the worst film I've seen this year. The longer the movie went on the angrier I became that the movie is trying to get me to sympathize with Evan. As you said he's not a good person but the movie keeps trying to get you to say but he's just troubled. I think the moment it lost me is when he yelled at his mom. Just completely lost my sympathy. For the record I never saw the stage show (was too young to head into the city on my own to see it) but if this was a modified ending I probably would have hated the stage ending even more.
I haven't finished the movie but I've seen the stage version and it's awful
"You are the ONLY-... The one good thing that ever happened to me, Evan! I'm sorry I can't give you more than that."
"Yeah well it's not my fault someone else can"
like Brah
The moment when he yelled at his mom is a significant example of how bad an adaptation this is, because in the stage musical she explodes right back at him and gets a whole angry song berating him. The movie just cuts that song and she slinks away with a "I'll see you at home, Evan".
@@fabianhebestreit3240 yeah, like the point of good for you was that Evan went too far and started treating everyone in his life like crap because of his big lie, and without it there's so much less actual pushback for Evan's actions. It's a very weird choice.
Overall I think the musical did a better job of not taking Evan's side.
Irl he would be bullied relentlessly for his horrible lie and that makes me happy ☺️
I was prepared for this to be an entire video of the first 47 seconds
I won't because on stage you can empathize with Evan because you can feel physically disconnected and leave, whereas the film is close up and you no longer can feign "Evan's naive he doesn't know how to socialize so this is what it comes to" and it looks as if he's more of a sociopath than Gary
I know the movie wanted to look more grounded and realistic, but I could not really get into the musical numbers in the movie at all, especially as a fan of the original Broadway musical despite all its flaws. (I remember looping the soundtrack over and over for months when it was first released)
For lack of better words, but at times, it feels like the movie is embarrassed that it is a musical. The weird sing-talking thing for some of the songs really frustrated me, especially when I know they were supposed to be belted out in the musical. "For Forever" just felt super sanitised to me and didn't give me any chills as the soundtrack did.
While I appreciate they gave Alana more personality, as you said, in the musical, she was rather dimensional, I feel it sort of backfired badly as they still followed the plot thread of Alana uploading the "Suicide Note" online. I just felt it was super out of character for Movie Alana to do so, and it sort of undid all the development they gave her.
However, I watched it with my friends where we drank every time 1) Ben Platt's does an intentional voice crack for no reason, 2) A song is mostly one character walking through an endless hallway, 3) The over the top stage acting that made us wince. Needless to say, we absolutely lost it when Evan naruto ran away from Zoe.
I think this is another case where they got a director who was simply uncomfortable with the medium of a musical and thus ended up trying to downplay the musical aspects, which defeats the point.
I agree with ur review, anybody has a map should be in the movie. Andrew Barth Feldman would be better Evan since he looks more like high schooler. I wanna like the movie but ended up questioning did I like the stage production. I guess the edit made the movie not as impactful as the stage production.
I actually really enjoyed it. There were parts that fell a little flat and I wished they didn’t have to cut, “Good for You”. But overall I think most of the changes worked to the movies benefit.
That’s totally fair, and I agree. The video was running too long because I was talking about everything that worked well. I really really liked the ending before they got to the orchard, I really liked them making Larry the step dad, and I liked the new pacing of “If I Could Tell Her”. Lots to like in this one and if they take the good things from the movie and mix them in with the good things on the stage, it could be fantastic.
What kind of codependent, needy, "everyone wins" movie watcher are you?
The movie sucks, Evan is an a hole, and Nepotism Platt is an embarrassment.
@@matth3w2002 nah its fine to judge this choice. it sucks
Knowing NOTHING beyond that it had won some awards, my mother and I both went into the tour of Dear Evan Hansen blind.
Probably not the best idea since one of my friends had recently committed suicide.
The shock of the death in the first act, along with Evan's basically complete forgiveness at the end of Act 2, left a horrible taste in my mouth. There is absolutely no way, in real life, that Evan gets away with it all with basically a "well, you have anxiety, so no foul".
I knew I was in for something ghoulish when Evan and his buddy were putting words in a dead kid's mouth specifically to make Evan look like a great friend. There is something so skeevy about knowing that Connor killed himself and then you see him dancing around all excited and happy with Evan's self-serving words coming out of his widely smiling mouth. And then the fake buddy-buddy scenes too, it was just...again, ghoulish.
I used to be a big fan of DEH, but as I've grown as a person i've actually grown to hate it lmao. I also have an anxiety disorder, and i'd say that in 2016-17 mine was easily as bad as Evan's is portrayed in the show. I think the show is disengenuous, twee, and tonally frustrating. Having an anxiety disorder fucking sucks. Its stressful, paralyzing, and can really tank your quality of life! However..... At the end of the day, its something that makes you incredibly self centered. Because you are constantly picking apart your behavior and words and actions for any percieved flaw, you become obsessed with yourself in a really unhealthy and cruel way. I think that creating an entire musical about a boy with anxiety is almost indulging that self obsessed urge, and it really doesnt do anything to challenge the assumptions those with anxiety develop about themselves. The show doesnt really care about Evan's anxiety, its just used as a prop so he can essentially pull the 'im a mentally ill minor' card after months of emotionally manipulating and lying to an innocent family whose son has just died. Its really frustrating and telling from a storytelling standpoint to see how his anxiety suddenly just gets better during the timeskip at the end. The writers clearly dont know how anxiety is treated to the point of remission, so they just skim over it. Which is especially frustrating because the inner turmoil of someone fighting anxiety and coping with the voices in their head telling them they're not a good person is one that is probably the MOST suited to a musical number with lietmotifs, ensemble participation, and a triumphant final verse where they have a dramatic breakthrough! Its just lazy writing, poorly thought out plot, and bland, overly sentimental pop songs from beginning to end, specifically designed to make you feel like it's deep while saying nothing at all.
as someone who absolutely loves the show, i absolutely hated the movie. it’s actually impressive how badly they managed to adapt the stage show.
correction: jared isn't evan's cousin
he's a family friend
Honestly, I wish it was more like how Hamilton was filmed, I'd love to see how they would have recorded the stage play but of course, we will probably never get that
I feel as if the biggest misstake of the movie was removing "Disapper".
Oh my gosh, I completely forgot they cut this one. My god what a lot of cuts.
Nope, it was removing good for you
I’m gonna have to agree with both of you, cutting both of those songs are huge mistakes for the movie because both songs are huge insights into Evan’s character. Disappear being how Evan tries to make good out of a bad situation but in reality is him trying to justify his actions and his further involvement with the Murphy’s (aka a selfless deed to disguise a selfish desire). And Good For You being the first time Evan gets called out for his behavior/actions which leads to Evan almost breaking down and telling the truth before the climax. It’s Evan finally admitting the truth that what he did was selfish and for himself primary and he’s still trying everything in head to make himself not be honest.
Cutting both of those songs severely damage Evan’s character to the point of no return (for me at least).
I haven’t seen the movie but just hearing the song cuts breaks my heart.
No song from the original stage score of *Dear Evan Hansen* deserves to be forgotten.
Yes, they changed Alana SO much!! There was some reading between the lines to do with with her motivations in the theater version but the movie version they actually give her depth. I can't tell if it was a better or worse change. To me it just made no sense for her to open up to Evan about her medications and history, it just didn't make sense to me.
I feel as if Dear Evan Hanson would make a much better dark comedy than it does a serious piece about mental health; especially considering that the ideas of mental health in the OG play are often seemingly written by a person who seemed inspired by the themes of depression/suicidal behavior more than they were actually trying to inform people about it. It would also make more sense as a dark comedy considering the farcical plot and the fact that Evan got off with a slap on the wrist at best.
Actually, the last time Amy Adams sung in a movie before was "The Muppets" (2011)!
Still feel old, but a tiny bit less.
I haven't seen the film yet and I never saw the Broadway show. I only know the show through the Cast Recording. So I'm not sure I can fairly judge the adaptation.
Ben Platt, however, I know from Netflix's The Politician and there's something about him that irks me to no end. Not sure watching him sing will help...😅
That being said...it's kinda worrisome that the bar for movie musicals is now so low that all a film needs to achieve is "being better than Cats".
Which is why I rather they just stuck with filming stage performances.
Unless it's "Diana: The Musical".
In which case, ignorance was bliss.
I have a feeling that one is trying to go for Carrie's record as the shortest running Broadway show.
Movie musicals are really hard to get right. Casting is so important but directing is too. You need a director with experience and who understands theater. People think that anyone can do it and then you get a Joel Schumacher's phantom or Tom hooper's cats and Les Miserables.
Some of the best come from musical experienced directors like fosse: caberat and all that jazz , and Rob Marshall Chicago.
Or a even a director with a very distinct style like Baz lurman: Moulin rouge
Look for Dear Evan Hansen slime tutorials. You can probably even find one where Ben was Evan
Calm down LOL. She was also in The Muppets Movie!
Not that it’s much newer (it’s 10 years old now) but I was thinking the same thing
@@ComputerGeek1100 wait
wait no it can't be
Growing up is realizing Dear Evan Hansen is actually a REALLY messed up story about manipulation
Thoughtful insight. And you didn't even mention the accusations of nepotism ...
At this point...do I really need to? lol
@@WaitintheWings it could have affected how comfortable the director was at directing Ben and having him rein in his performance.
Answering back to not being able fitting to “Good for you” into the movie… hmm… I do actually think it is possible IF they took a more metaphorical approach; the worst way they could go for is of course sticking to their “please pity Evan” ending and add the “good for you” song somewhere in the movie to portray Evan’s guilt? Maybe through a scene where he’s alone in the darkness (In his mind) with the other characters singing their lines in the most dissapointed, upsetting and angriest expressions and tones then cutting back to real life where maybe he’s having panic attack of some sort? IDK.
It takes a certain level of understanding, execution and depiction needed to be able to really portray the reasonability of a certain character’s actions and to get the audiences in their sides. But then again they already tried to hard and did a pretty lame job in not only letting Evan off that easily but as well as giving “please pity Evan” ending~
I'd like to see a recorded version of the stage production. I've listened to the stage recordings on youtube, they are such great songs!
your line about so many 11o clock numbers that you're just like 'surely it's 11:30 by now' cracked me up. Really enjoying the content :)
The intro alone to this video was more than worth clicking for. 🙊
They might not be intentional, but there are a lot of laugh-worthy moments in the show. Jared calling his gym coach a fascist out of nowhere is pretty funny, Evan’s bulging Arthur Fleck eyes during "For Forever" are distractingly hilarious, the outfits that Evan wears throughout 60% of the movie (I’m pretty sure he wears a long-sleeved Blues Clues-esque shirt) had me crying laughing while also constantly asking myself "What the fuck is he wearing?!" It’s not technically good on an intention level, but all of these moments were fucking outstanding for me 😂
Watching this movie was really interesting for me because of how _shockingly_ irresponsible the script was. I went in knowing nothing about the story whatsoever and was actually dumbfounded once I learned what the plot was. Then I looked to see if the laundry list of problems were additions to the movie/absent from the stage show. Turns out, no, the stage show is somehow _worse?_
I legitimately haven't seen mental health problems portrayed this horribly in a movie since, I dunno, Joker. Maybe even Split. Hell, it's 13 Reasons Why-levels of irresponsible. The fact that this show is arguably marketed toward teens and young adults makes it all the more infuriating and baffling. And it won _how many Tonys? Fucking _*_how?_*
This movie isn't a bad adaptation of a good show. Dear Evan Hansen is just bad, full stop.
SO wait a minute... you're only 25 years old?! Geez, this 40-year-old is looking back at her 25-year-old life and feeling like a bum. Bravo on all your great work here on your channel and keep it up! I will go back to being a very boring and unaccomplished middle-aged mom now.
I made a comment on your community post expressing some of my feels but I'm gonna add some more here as I watch the video.
These are coming from someone who enjoyed the original musical, the novel, and the movie. However, I think all of them have some pretty significant faults, some more than others.
Can't say I feel the same way about Alana's new portrayal. Her just walking up to Evan and being like "hey you're depressed right? what meds do you take?" was super weird to me. I understand that they're trying to make mental health issues normalized, but asking someone you barely know what meds they're taking is a big invasion of privacy, and the movie just kept going like it was fine. I also didn't care for the song and didn't feel like it added to the story as much as the songs that they cut did. As much as this is a story about mental health, I don't think it should be trying to preach a positive message about it. The marketing is a whole other issue with this, but "You will be Found" is built on a lie. The message spreads because people relate to it even though it is a lie. It's something people need to hear. It's a key part of why Evan lied and why he continued it for so long. It's a huge amount of "Words Fail". These messages are things people need to hear but they shouldn't be hearing them from Evan, and I think that holds true for the show as an art piece as well.
8:44 Even's cousin?
I don't think he's ever referred to as that in any of the iterations, just a "family friend".
Absolutely agree with your thoughts on Jared. He was severely lacking in the movie and the humor in the show. You expressed that in the best way. I couldn't find the word before but tired is perfect. It just feels much longer and more tiring without there being intention attempts at comic relief. Even the book had them.
(11:26 Note: This is how far I am in the video currently. I plan to add more to this comment once finish the rest of the video)
I actually found the Dear Evan Hansen's soundtrack before I found the show, through very well made animatics. Feels like this helped me like the show much more.
Why’s no one talking about “a little closer?!” Idk if Connor playing guitar is mentioned in the original broadway, but the way it’s set up to the pay off at the end, really has me crying so much in theatres - and almost every time I hear that song now. I think it did wonders for Connor as a character and making me feel more empathetic to him, even with all the horrible things he’d done. In that aespect, the familys ending scene was well done.
Also side note - I was alway confused why “so big so small” movie performance never had any cutaways within in it. Like requiem I guess, I just found myself waiting for them to cut to a flashback of even as a child with his dad leaving in the truck or something. I swear they only had like 2 shots in that scene anyway, really didn’t feel like a lot of care or creativity was put in that scene, which is sad. As it’s well acted, literally a turning point for our characters, and a great song.
A lot of the problems with the movie come from them trying to reconcile a lot of what is really messed up about the stage show, both in terms of content and tone, but also not really being bold enough to do that through any significant restructuring. Like yes the removal of the comedic scenes means the movie is just a slog, but also the story itself does not deserve to have those comedic scenes because it is unignorably dark and asking the audience to tehe about the exploitation of a teen suicide was always frankly irresponsible. They muted the music because the music, while stunning, has also always been wildly out of tone in a frankly manipulative way, but the result is that the music no longer carries the story and you're just left with how messed up the story is. And then having Evan apologize, good change, but "Words Fail" has always come far too late in the show so while having him take accountability is good, it just comes far too late for any consequences or reconciliation from the fallout of his choices to be portrayed. Evan IS the villain of this story, but everything about the show struggles against that, doesn't give time or respect to the people impacted, and along the way complete exploits and misrepresents the relationship between mental health and accountability. There's really just no reconciling DEH's content with its tone without a complete rework, so I don't envy the filmmakers having to attempt to do so. (Also, I'm fine with "Good For You" being omitted because frankly I don't care to hear Evan's co-conspirators complain about how he wants to keep conspiring longer than they do.)
I mean they could have made it into a dark comedy- Heathers style. The comedy directly centers on how everyone in the musical is exploiting teen suicide for their own ends. But that’s not what this musical is
I feel like good for you is in Evan’s head, so it probably could’ve worked in the movie if he was in his room, then they just started to walk in the door and sing to him. Could’ve probably even had Connor in there to drive home that it’s Evan’s anxiety talking
I really like your review of the film. Not that I haven't enjoyed at least half a dozen scathing videos about this film already, but there's always room for a more charitable approach. 🙂
Where did people get the idea that Brendan hates musicals? This channel is built on celebrating them!
The “I'm not old” 2000’s montage is the best thing I’ve ever seen
I am dying for you to do a video discussing the adaptation of Sweeney Todd, because your comment about how the songs they cut out of the movie removed all the moments of levity is EXACTLY how I felt about the adaptation of Sweeney Todd.
Hey would you do a video about Natasha, Pierre and the great comet of 1812?
robbed of Best Instrumental Arrangement
Very nuanced and mature review. Very good video as always!
Wow. I’ve never been called mature before haha this is a big day. 😂
Ben Platt is NOT a superstar...he is not even a star...he is a one hit wonder... my prediction: He will never be the lead in another Broadway musical...ever.....
Ben Platt is a gifted vocalist, with a voice suited to communicate emotions and fits well in broadway.he can definitely has a future as a touring singer , tickets in Houston for next year concert here are nearly sold out , and he is not Beyonce or Lady Gaga, he definitely dont have that magnitude of Super Stars alla Michael Jackson whatsoever , but talent , yes he has , specially as a singer and stage performer. I hope your prediction dont mean the ending of a good artistic career , because he certainly has the skill to become a soulful artist
When you oscar bait too close to the sun
Funnily enough, that comment about how some people mask their depression is one of my biggest issues with Elana in the stage version, when she accusingly asks Evan "Why did Connor kill himself if he was so cheerful in his e-mails?"
I’m happy to just listen to the Original Cast Recording. I listened to it long before seeing the stage show, and, of course, much of the story doesn’t come through the songs alone. When I finally saw the show, I was pretty bummed with the full story and even apologized to the friend I’d taken with me for talking it up so much. (She also didn’t even like the songs, calling them “screamy”. I don’t think she likes musicals in general.)
The music is awesome, and I can just keep listening to that.
In my opinion, Requiem was the only part of the movie where they actually went all out in the directing. The rest of the movie feels really lacking cinematography wise. It was too bland and to an extent can sometimes feel like a student film repeating that same scene over and over making it feel like they just didn't have enough footage for the movie and whenever that happened they would just say "Slap the flash back footage in there again"
Your "I'm not old" montage warmed my fellow not-old heart.
Alana actually is strongly implied to be dealing with her own issues just below the surface in the stage version as well. Hilton Als wrote about it in The New Yorker: "...side trips into tired knee-jerk liberalism and therapeutic healing. (One of the more uncomfortable moments in the show is when Alana, a black character, played by Kristolyn Lloyd as a P.C. bully, screams about her invisibility. Levenson and the others are trying to keep up with the times and diversify, but why does it have to feel so forced and tired?)" So the movie was much better in that regard, but it wasn't necessarily an expansion of her character's depth, just an improvement in the presentation.
i haven’t finished the video but so far i really appreciate that you’ve talked about the things you liked about it instead of completely trashing the movie. i absolutely hated every second of it but i also have grown to resent the musical as a whole so it’s interesting to hear a more unbiased take on it
While I definitely think "if you like the musical you'll like the movie" is not at all the experience of those I've talked to, it's interesting to hear a more positive take and more nuanced opinions on it. I personally find it all really jarring, the characterization was at least a little off for almost every character (Zoey was great tho) and I didn't like the way they stilted the theme so much. The original musical had it's flaws but overall it conveyed the right things to me, while like you said the film makes me feel like it wants me to like Evan too much. The original had some notes that felt a little too much like endorsing his actions, but in the movie it was the overall tone.
Amy Adams sang in The Muppets (2011). So it's only been an entire decade... so it still feels old.
i feel like in order to get The Perfect Movie Musical Adaptation, it requires someone who is in love with both formats to such an extent they understand both what each part of the musical accomplishes on stage, and the best, most loyal way to accomplish it on screen. Like being truly bilingual, expertly fluent in both mediums.
i'm aware that what i'm saying essentially boils down to "this historically VERY financially-motivated adaption process should, ideally, be a passion project" and how naïve that is
My daughter is a huge fan of the stage version and really disliked the film. We both thought cutting half the musical numbers hurt the story. They also changed things that were unnecessary. Why make Mr. Murphy the stepdad? It didn't help anything and only introduced complications. We won't watch it a second time.
I've always seen good for you and part what is actually happening (when people first start to talk) then becomes a panic attack, so it could have worked from that angle.
The high point was Sincerely Me. I was actually having a good time up to that point. Then it went downhill fast. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, except maybe Jared. I was so sad they made some nice changes to his character and then ditched him :(
I have bad social anxiety. And when he had to give his speech, OMG, I was right there almost dying of embarrassment. And the throwing up from being so nervous - it had some great dramatic moments. And then Evan started to sing while everyone sat there and watched (esp when he was singing to the Murphys). So uncomfortable and took me out of the moment.
There are a few people that made versions of some of the songs (some group with Lemons in their name) and they are 100% better than the movie.
I definitely wasn’t a fan of Perks of Being a Wallflower, so I mostly like Dear Evan Hansen because I think it’s an improvement over that film. What usually makes me frustrated with reviews of both the musical and the show is how people write things like “Isn’t what Evan does problematic and sociopathic?” Yes, it is-that’s the point. I understand having an antihero protagonist can be dangerous because audiences may sympathize too much with a character who does objectively terrible things, but I do think these stories are still important in showing not only what NOT to do but how there are consequences for being un-empathetic and dishonest. Even if you feel he has gotten off too easy in terms of punishment, he does face consequences and has to learn to see beyond himself and to fix his mistakes. Anyway, that’s my main gripe with reviews of this show and movie-though not with this review, which was thoughtful and took the time to process your emotions.
Also, I know I’m getting old because I relate to the stepdad more than any of the other characters. (Even though “Good for You” is my favorite song, I was disappointed that “To Break In a Glove” wasn’t included.)
Agreed, and to add to that, I also don't get the people saying that Evan has gotten off too easy - what do they want to happen to him? It's a teenager writing fake emails, do they want to throw him in jail for that? Should he die in a freak accident?
Helpful tip, don’t decide to watch Perks of a Wallflower for the first time in over a decade during an isolated lockdown where you haven’t seen a human face in days when you in particular did not look back on high school fondly. It’s like tossing your brain down a water slide
@@fabianhebestreit3240 As of today (May 9, 2022), this question was posted seven months ago and no one has posted a single word in response. Come on, those if you who think Evan doesn't face enough consequences: what is it that you think should hapoen to him? What would satisfy you? This question is not rhetorical. Inquiring minds want to know.
You didn't mention it, but one of the things I *did* like about the movie was A Little Closer. A beautiful number that was an appreciated look into where Connor was at mentally.
The staged version of DEH has made me cry multiple times, the only other time i cried while watching a musical was during Hamilton. On the other hand, this movie makes me feel absolutely nothing.
Okay, so I have never really paid much attention to DEH, but I sobbed my eyes out after this movie… not exactly for the reasons they wanted me to, though.
I got Evan. In a lot of ways, I am Evan. His ballad towards the end, “Words Fail”, was a punch in the gut. It speaks to a very specific kind of loneliness - one born out of social anxiety and self-hatred, where you’re too terrified and anxious to show everyone who you actually are, so you hide behind lies and a constructed version of yourself.
Because, if they reject you, then they aren’t really rejecting you. They’re rejecting the false version of you.
So, I got why Evan did what he did, and I don’t think he’s a bad person because of it. That’s why I cried. Because all of the people calling him a bad person, a sociopath, whatever, for doing something extremely stupid as a teenage boy motivated by crippling anxiety and overwhelming loneliness. It basically just hurt my feelings. And I’m 26.
I’m not saying that what Evan did is acceptable, or attempting to make excuses for him. I’m not saying that the Murphys should have to suffer because of Evan. I am just trying to explain the motivation. Evan is not a Machiavellian sociopathic villain, he’s a kid who made a bad decision. Try and find some empathy for the kid, Jesus Christ.
Also You Will Be Found is complete bullshit, but I think that’s the point, it’s meant to be a trite platitude that means very little in the real world.
I don’t think this movie is that bad. It wasn’t great, but the complete lack of empathy for Evan really gets to me.