Ben Platt to Star in New Ryan Murphy Netflix Series — Page 2

With all the unnecessary, vitriolic Ben hater's abounding, how did you people ever neglect to mention his chronic farting problem?

There are some Tweets out there from a few P.A.'s at The Grammy's that this was an issue many were talking about during dress rehearsals and the actual broadcast night. Ben Platt knows how to make a rumbling wherever he goes. I also heard this was brought up during the taping of his WILL & GRACE appearance and Megan Mullally did a hilarious Instagram Story about it during their rehearsals.

More like the condition Al Jolson had.
Whenever Jolie broke wind onstage or off - it was legendary.

Thanks CT2NYC! When is the season premiere (or when will it be released on Netflix?) I'm guessing sometime in 2019?

Has anyone else watched yet? I thought the majority was unfocused, bookended by an exceptional, unexpectedly moving first episode and a finale that sets up what should be a far more interesting second season, with a fun bit of Assassins in between.

It’s trash and sanctimonious.

CT2NYC said: "Has anyone else watched yet? I thought the majority was unfocused, bookended by an exceptional, unexpectedly moving first episode and a finale that sets up what should be a far more interesting second season, with a fun bit of Assassins in between."

Definitely agree with the "unexpectedly moving first episode" bit.

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carolinaguy said: "Watched the pilot and it’s a hot mess. All over the place in tone and never gels. Also too similar to Dear Evan Hansen in plot points, including classmate suicide and social media deception. "

i agree it was def similar to/inspired by dear evan hansen, even one of the character relationships

Sweet Lips gets my vote(s). I watched the pilot, the insufferably long, arch, launch and was startled by a couple of things.

SPOILERS inevitable.

How much the show rides the Evan Hansen dynamic, i.e. the wet-eyed duplicitous lead, the self-destructive Other Boy. And with all of the motormouth neurotic spontaneous oration, feels built to allow Platt to simply re-purpose his characterization. The show's biggest problem: for all its ruminations on power and ascendancy to positions of sway over peers, it feels empty, not really "about" much of anything. It is part "Election," part :"Glee," part "Evan Hansen," and part every teen sitcom since 1980s, including some wonderful failed ones like "Square Pegs."

I wanted to love Platt, but my, he's doing a lot of Acting, isn't he? The tears arrive quickly, and he's suddenly Sandy Dennis. And this is hard to say fairly: he doesn't wear well. He's not someone we enjoy staring at for endless reactions. His face is sort of the younger brother of Jerry Seinfeld, expressive but too prone to bug-eyed indicating. Yes, he's playing to row X, and hasn't mastered camera technique. Again, this is exacerbated by his being encouraged to recycle elements of his B'way performance, at least in technical terms. I thought he was far more winning in the little guest shot on "Will and Grace." Because he moved into adulthood.

On that point, let's just bring up the obvious: The show is built on 26-year-olds playing teens, and it dilutes whatever grounding the piece might have. At least half of the teens seem to be pushing 30. That only adds to the preciousness. We can buy it in "Grease" because, well, it's "Grease." In 2019, it feels lazy and distancing.

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Updated On: 9/29/19 at 08:26 AM

Ben Platt acting is like watching paint dry, pointless. Sadly the most interesting character was River.

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I finished watching the season last night and overall liked it a lot. It has some tonal inconsistencies, and a few of the plot lines felt too over the top, but I found the show to be enjoyable, funny, and poignant.

I disagree with the negative comments about Ben Platt’s performance. I loved his performance in this, and felt the show always was energized and engaging when he was on screen. Yes, his ugly cry in one or two episodes was reminiscent of Dear Evan Hansen, but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment much. I really enjoyed his chemistry with most of the cast.

A few things that took me out of the show were the age differences between the cast and characters (even though it’s a satire, and the final episode makes it seem this won’t be much of a problem next season), and the fact they kept playing the instrumental music of Platt’s own song Run Away in the background. It wasn’t a deal breaker, but a little too much for me. Overall I’d recommend this show and say give it a chance!

The show is weird, but in a good way. It’s a bit different then the shows I’ve been watching, so it’s a nice contrast for me at the moment.

I’m not going to lie though, Ben Platt spits just as much when he talks as he does when he sings and there were a few scenes where the light was shining just the right way to watch the mists of spittle.

I saw on some site a review of each episode and if i recall correctly, episode five was the only the reviewer gave five stars.

And it is useful to remember I think that a far number of people who watch The Politician may either never have seen DEH or heard much about it.

Just my opinion, but I find the argument that "most people didn't see 'Dear Evan Hansen'" off point. The show has borderline ripped off the defining, inciting incident of the musical, and builds a characterization around Platt's prior performance. OT: We won't get into Hulu's "The Act." That strong whiff of plagiarism, for the first major acting role for this actor after Evan, seems an odd piece of material to choose. Platt gets to re-purpose his performance, okay, his career call, but the result is an attenuated, supersized Evan, and not entirely camera ready. Again, he was more interesting to me as a grown-up date on "Will and Grace."

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Updated On: 9/29/19 at 09:15 PM