Dear Evan hansen movie review

By Lily Date, 2023

Published 9/29/21

Dear Evan Hansen, the movie, was released in theaters on September 24, 2021. The movie is based on the wildly successful Broadway musical of the same name. It follows Evan Hansen, a teenager with anxiety, as he navigates the suicide of his classmate and a series of misunderstandings and lies that follows. At the time of writing this article, the movie has a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critic reviews did not seem good, and I had always found the musical a bit problematic, so I didn’t have high hopes for this film. However, there were still a lot of things that surprised me.

Starting with the cast. Ben Platt was, as expected, an awkward fit for this role. Not only was he noticeably older than the character he was playing, but it was also clear that he was used to singing on stage by his mannerisms and weird head movements. Julianne Moore, who played Evan’s mom, got very little time on screen. Nik Dodani and Coton Ryan, who play Jared and Connor respectively, were also given very little screentime. Since Jared was the musical’s main source of comedic relief, this was disappointing. I also found it disappointing that Colton Ryan’s Connor Murphy was given very little screentime, even when his character was a catalyst for the entire plotline. Kaitlyn Dever and Amy Adams ended up being the best performers in this film as Connor’s sister and mother.

The musical performances were also disappointing. Waving Through a Window, For Forever, The Anonymous Ones, and You Will Be Found took no risks and were boring to watch. In If I Could Tell Her, Platt’s awkward facial expressions made the song uncomfortable. Later on, in Only Us, it is clear that Platt and Dever have very little chemistry. Requiem, sung by Dever, Adams, and Danny Pino was actually good and showed how much hard work the three put into making the movie work. Words Fail and So Big/So Small didn't have a big impact on me, despite being the most emotional songs in the musical. Sincerely, Me was by far the best performance. It’s upbeat and sarcastic, and my friends and I could sing every word.

One of the main problems I had was the removal of many key Connor and Evan scenes. In the Broadway musical, Evan manifests his inner monologue as Connor Murphy, who encourages him to create the Connor Project and keep pretending they were friends. In the movie, instead of convincing himself that he is helping people, his friends do it for him. The way Evan comes to this conclusion in the movie made it seem, at least to me, like a way for the producers to make Evan a better person. At the end of the movie, the producers also decide for you that Evan should be forgiven since he apologized.

Overall, I would score this movie a 4/10. Did it need to be made? No. Was the moral clear? No. But it still does its best to send the message that “you will be found”, and the Sincerely, Me performance will never leave my mind.