Yep, it lives up to the meme status.
This has no reason to be over 2 hours long. This is pain.
Simply outstanding. Ben Platt is amazing :heart:
This movie is hard to watch.
When the guy makes up a song about the good times he shared with a person who committed sucide that he didn't even know, and sings it to the deceased boy's family, it bothered me.
This is the one musical where the music seemed like it shouldn't be there, and that people were singing for no reason.
I am wondering if this is popular because people like the story, or if they just liked the songs.
Maybe it's better enjoyed as a soundtrack instead of a movie.
"Dear Evan Hansen" is one of the most overrated Broadway musicals of recent years, with its superficial treatment of teenage depression and its cloying songs. In the adaptation to the cinema, the little inspiration of the musical numbers, which use similar structure, does not help (with pandemic limitations or not). One of the dullest musicals ever made, the director even manages to go against the actors themselves.
was i suppose to be sympathetic to/for Evan Hansen? because he was, literally, the worst!
I've waited so long for this.. it was just amazing
Didn't know it was a musical, didn't know it was a broadway show. Both are a no for me to begin with.
Apart from that, it started a bit ok but then i went bad and crazy. Having him singing to the sister "the letter" and explaining that i love you but as it was her brother was awful. Evan was a bad person clearly. The good part was the song on the stage.
The rest fell flat and 2 hours and 20 minutes super long and unnecessary.
As a person that never saw the Broadway show or knew the story, I think I can be a little objective here. There are about 2-3 good songs...maybe even great. The story is set up to be a bit of a dark comedy and then falls in love with the dark. It gets so far away from being fun, funny, or inspiring, that I just couldn't crawl into that love affair it was having with the consequences of the main character's actions. Yes, we all know it won't end well for him...when has that mattered before. It feels like how a young author would try to fix his story when some stodgy editor would give him feedback. Quit watching after the school assembly and thank me later.
I was really looking forward to watching the film version of „Dear Evan Hansen“. I did not see the musical on Broadway unfortunately but heard „Waving Through a Window“ somewhere and immediately fell in love with the music. And now after having seen the film I will listen to soundtrack a lot in the near future. Every song on the soundtrack has something special to it and I really love it. The film itself is well made and I think the actor‘s did a great job in their roles. Overall I really enjoyed the movie and can recommend it to anyone who likes musicals.
First of all, this film is a musical. If you can’t handle dialogue being sung, don’t see this film. Second, this is not a classic musical with rousing show tunes and great dance numbers. This is a movie that sings stream of consciousness thought and the thoughts are angst driven. Those two disclaimers might, possibly, have detoured most of the haters away from the film. Otherwise, this is a film about struggles, false solutions, anxiety and eventually courage. I have a friend who saw this on Broadway over a dozen times, and it has won Tonys, a Grammy, an Obie and an Olivier. Ben Platt’s vocal talents soar. The cast is stellar and the performances are solid. I think the highest praise comes from people who resonate with the character themes for they can speak to you in a very personal way. However, those moments come and go. There is not a consistent pace. I give this film an 8 (for perfect moments) out of 10. [Musical Drama]
The story in this film is very real, kinda dark and interesting, talking about real problems real issues….. then the characters all sing about those issues and I feel like it takes away from the realism and cheapens the message. I know it’s based on a musical and I’m sure the musical is good, but maybe they should have kept the music for the musical and tried to create a serious film with a serious message about people who are struggling and how they are not alone. Instead of making high school musical if all the kids were anxious and depressed.
I think that people are too harsh on this adaptation. I wouldn't say it's perfect, it is definitely not. The adaption itself is the biggest problem in my opinion. But most themes the original musical touches on, are there. They even added a new one (+ a new song) about medication and depression which I thought was also very good. So I think storywise there is almost everything there.
Where it fell short was the directing and in some parts the script I think.
The film feels a little bit loose und somehow unstructured. The musical scenes are sometimes bland and doesn't always fit the music. But I have to admit, that this is also veeeery difficult with these songs.
The songs, while often having an upbeat instrumentation, always have a kind of sadness in them. And I think that "Waving through a window" with a dancing or choreographing Ben Platt would not have been better, at all. At least this way, the overall story and the acting isn't harmed by these musical numbers, because they are so focused on the text and the meaning.
I also didn't have a problem with Ben Platt even though he is a little too old for the role. His performance brought tears to my eyes several times. But that's maybe because I can relate to this real inner self he's hiding because he's afraid that people might not like him a lot.
Also, while Nik Dodani's performance was quite funny, the character lagged the small connection that Conner and he should have had, I think. He really wasn't a friend of Connor here.
Oh and the musical number of "You will be found" could have been the only number with a singing crowd I think. I really wanted to see a choir stepping in and sing this "anthem"! But they instead tried to recreate the way that the musical presented this song. That didn't translate well to the screen.
But overall... In the end, as I said, it brought tears to my eyes. I don't care if it was just the story or the performances and that a lot was bad like most people say. I felt all the things the characters sang about and... that's enough. ;)
It's painfully obvious this script was not intended to be a film. Hard to believe it's from the same director as Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Ben Platt is just amazing. I would die to see this on stage. He has such raw emotion, I've seen an interview with Stephen Colbert where he said that Ben's performance made him cry for the entire 2 hours. He really makes you feel. Even his music videos can do that. I've never seen anyone sing so emotionally.... It's beautiful. People who dislike this film clearly dont like it, dont understand it, and aren't the target audience. More the type of people to talk during a live show and ruin it for everyone else
Didn't actually realize it was a musical when I started it (my bad). Overall it was intriguing, but the story itself was just a bit too cringe for me, and I just really don't like musicals. The acting and singing was great however. Could be great if you like musicals probably, but it just wasn't really for me. Too long for no reason too. It's becoming a thing, and I don't like it.
Before going into this, I had only ever heard the sound track, (never seen the stage version). I think this film is absolutely beautiful and it's one of those musicals where I feel like every song has its purpose and adds to the overall ambience. My main gripe with the film is that they still chose to cast Ben Platt as Evan Hansen despite him being at least a decade older than the character that he's meant to be playing. Don't get me wrong, he played the part beautifully but it bugged me. if they'd cast a good actor that was a little more age appropriate then this may have been a 10/10.
I kind of liked it because the plot is very interesting and believable: a kid with social anxiety can't stop the grieving mother and say no from the beginning. I liked the acting, and I enjoyed the main song, but I really couldn't understand why this was a musical. I found completely unnecessary almost every song.
As befits a musical, strong and memorable songs. The message is of course important and it is good that a film adaptation was made. It has a chance to reach a wider audience.
The story is morally complex and it doesn't always satisfy. Platt is good, however, even though he is a decade older than his character's age.
It was insanely LONG! I actually watched it in 3 days. The story was fairly good; but the things is, I just don't like musicals.
Shout by JacobBlockedParent2021-12-22T23:13:36Z
A miserable adaptation of the stage musical. All of the moments that work on stage, fall flat. Not worth it.