DEAR EVAN HANSEN Movie Musical - News & Discussion Thread- Page 39

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 12:58pm

Dollypop said: "I'm reading all these comments about Platt's age but don't recall anyone complaining about Ann-Margaret's age in BYE BYE BIRDIE."

It's because most of the people who care about this movie are under the age of 40, Dolly. 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 1:11pm

Alright people. I saw it. And even though I've dogged on it a lot in this thread, I'm actually not here to rip it to absolute shreds even when the central premise is still gross and an eyeroll.

As a movie, what worked worked great and what didn't work was awful.

Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams, Amandla Stetler rescue this movie with their wonderful performances. They all really shine as phenomenal adaptations of these stage characters. 

What in my opinion sinks it is two things 1. Ben Platt 2. The direction and vision of the film. Ben Platt is so so very miscast. And the makeup job or prosthetic job they've done on him to make him look younger makes it just so much worse. I almost rather have watched him beardy and normal. It's just kinda a grotesque performance that never stops being distracting. He's just not likable in anyway shape or form and on stage for all of the irritation I have with the plot he WAS. None of his humor of Evan transfers, he really just ends up seeming really pitying and honestly kinda one note. There's no sense of tension building, It's just this dour performance of watching him dig his grave. You don't buy that Kaitlyn Dever would fall for him, he really really should've walked away and let his legacy be the stage production. 

As for the direction, this is really the other thing that sunk it. Stephen Chbotsky is directing two different films at the same time and they awkwardly feel smushed together. In a songless version of this story (without Ben Platt) I think he'd have a really elegant warm touch the way he did with the wonderful Perks of Being a Wildflower. But he cannot balance the musical element. It just feels off and disjointed the entire time. People like Rob Marshall get tapped to direct these movies, and I'm not saying he's not flawed, but in terms of musical staging he knows what that happy medium of musical theatre and film chemistry looks like. I understand the thinking of deleting "Anybody Have a Map" and "Disappear" and "Good for You" kiiinda but the thing is they would round out a vision of the musical language and make it a musical film, and instead you have a very realistic movie that has weird folky songs that people break into and it just never feels organic. As well as without those songs the score felt WAAAYYY more all the same song cause there wasn't enough variation without those bigger more theatrical songs.

All this to say, if you are especially a young person who loves this show and loves Ben Platt I cannot imagine you not loving it warts and all. I think this movie is really for the 12-16 year old theatre nerds  who latch onto teen centered movies that speak to them but ultimately grow out of in time. I don't see this being a runaway hit like Greatest Showman was box office wise but I think it could have a young cult following. It'll find a lot more attention if it ends up on Netflix.

I will say this positively-MUCH much much better ending than the show. It's still not great but I applaud them trying something and honestly the best thing they could do is implement some of it into a new edit of the stage show. Cause I think the grossest part of the stage show to me is how it resolves. 

The following is my thoughts on every song:

Waving Through a Window- He does it decently but the decision to have so much background noise while he's singing made it too busy. You can tell the director is going for something but there's just something awkward.

For Forever- This was so awkward. Really poorly done and stagey. And Ben Platt's performance...it just feels like he's bursting into song at the dinner table. Just really not smart direction. Shame cause this is a good song.

Sincerely Me- While I appreciate the buoyancy and levity compared to the rest of the movie, oof. This is where the ickiness of the plot is really apparent. Connor is so USED in this song and the dark humor here especially doesn't jive with the rest. As a standalone it was cutely done but in the context-I'm again like "who would think of this premise?"

Requiem- This was really great. Again Kaitlyn Dever is really carrying the movie on her shoulders cause she is just so good. The best thing that'll come out of this is she is full on a star. I wish the director took the way this song was done and applied it to the rest of the film.

If I Could Tell Her- Ben Platt comes off like a sociopath. And it's stagey and uncomfortable. It's not charming it's just bad. 

The Anonymous Ones- It's a decent new song, Amandla Stetler is great. Tonally to me this is where the score started sounding very the same. And I like the idea of her having a song but such a slow one really dragged the pacing as well as giving her such a focus- side note the pacing of this movie is slow and sad and lugubrious. It plods along and this song, while pretty, made me feel that.

You Will Be Found- There's been a couple movie musicals now that do "various teens singing in front of a laptop montage" stuff, and to see it again- it reminded me it's starting to feel cheesy and tropey.  As well as this is the moment of the movie that needed a visionary director to interpret it. There was something very flat about the way this song was done. And all irony that people claim is supposed to be steeped in this showing Evan's lie getting out of control- gone. It felt like almost a youtube music video for the song advertising the show. Very meh.

Only Us- It's bad. It's stagey. They don't have chemistry. It feels tonally off. 

Words Fail- I felt nothing. Again, someone other than late 20s Ben could've maybe sold it but it just felt so "I'm going to go for my oscar and perform this for the back row like I did on broadway." I could smell the nepotism and ego through this performance.

So Big/So Small- Oh this is the best part of the movie. Absolutely. Julianne Moore will get an oscar nom and deserve it for this sweet scene alone. I agree she gets a short shrift in terms of her character for most of it, but I thought this made up for it and it's the only moment I cried cause she killed it.

A Little Closer- This is lovely. I don't want to spoil anything about it but again this was a sequence that worked and you could tell the director knew what to do.

 

So that's my review. It's not utter trash but it's also not great and Ben Platt really did ruin it. It's worth watching once and then considering as one of the mid tier middling musical adaptations we've got in the 21st century.

It's not as egregious as Cats but overall it's worse than The Last Five Years adaptation.

 

 

 

Updated On: 9/19/21 at 01:11 PM

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 1:14pm

Ann Margret is only 21 in Bye Bye Birdie haha.

Not only does it work, everyone smoked back then so EVERYONE looked older, Bye Bye Birdie is a frilly entertainment piece where Ann Margret is not doing morally questionable things that make you ask "could she be a sociopath?"

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 1:18pm

it's worse than The Last Five Years adaptation.

Nothing was worse than Anna nasal bird screeching for 90 minutes. Nothing. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 1:43pm

Dollypop said: "I'm reading all these comments about Platt's age but don't recall anyone complaining about Ann-Margaret's age in BYE BYE BIRDIE."

Um, she was about 20-21 when she filmed BYE BYE BIRDIE.  About 3-4 years older than her character.  She wasn’t in her mid-30s.



 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 3:14pm

Yeah, she just looked older because she tanned and was a smoker. Also, makeup and effects have improved a lot obviously. 

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 4:12pm

This was one of the worst things I've ever seen. People weren't kidding when they say Ben Platt looks old. He looks like he's in his mid thirties. The perm and the cake they baked on his face only make him look worse. He ends up looking like a de-aged Henry Winkler. His performance is also bizarrely over the top and twitchy. The best word to describe his performance would be "clammy."

The film is shamelessly manipulative and bland and I've never seen Amy Adams be so bad (not a single thought behind those eyes). I don't recall the stage show being so sociopathic, but maybe I've matured since I saw it.

1⁄2 /10 Would not recommend this film to anyone and I'm considering reevaluating my opinion of the stage show as well. Only slightly better than Cats.

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 8:13pm

Georgeanddot2 said: "This was one of the worst things I've ever seen. People weren't kidding when they say Ben Platt looks old. He looks like he's in his mid thirties. The perm and the cake they baked on his face only make him look worse. He ends up looking like a de-aged Henry Winkler. His performance is also bizarrely over the top and twitchy. The best word to describe his performance would be "clammy."

The film is shamelessly manipulative and bland and I've never seen Amy Adams be so bad (not a single thought behind those eyes). I don't recall the stage show being so sociopathic, but maybe I've matured since I saw it.

1⁄2 /10 Would not recommend this film to anyone and I'm considering reevaluating my opinion of the stage show as well. Only slightly better than Cats."

At least Cats was so bad it was funny. This just seems so bad it's bad.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 8:30pm

So Leaf Coney Bear, the film is causing you to “reevaluate your opinion of the show”. That’s hysterical. I haven’t seen the film, but the show, IMO, deserved the accolades it received, and no matter how I react to the film when I see it, it won’t change that opinion. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 8:48pm

That is rather hysterical. I've seen them both, both have strengths and both have weaknesses. But, my enjoyment of the stage production and how I felt at the Music Box that day has nothing to do with how I felt during the screening of the film. They are different things. 

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 9/19/21 at 8:51pm

Sutton Ross said: "That is rather hysterical. I've seen them both, both have strengths and both have weaknesses. But, my enjoyment of the stage production and how I felt at the Music Box that day has nothing to do with how I felt during the screening of the film.They are different things."

They may be different things for you, but apparently not for Leaf Coneybear. Why are you belittling someone else's experience and opinion?

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 12:03am

BTW, Words Fail is maybe the most uncomfortable and disturbing thing I've ever seen in a movie musical.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 12:08am

Georgeanddot2 said: "BTW, Words Fail is maybe the most uncomfortable and disturbing thing I've ever seen in a movie musical."

Shrek The Musical stays winning with the good "When Words Fail" Song!

[Musical Master]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 12:17am

TheatreFan4 said: "Georgeanddot2 said: "BTW, Words Fail is maybe the most uncomfortable and disturbing thing I've ever seen in a movie musical."

Shrek The Musical stays winning with the good "When Words Fail" Song!"

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 12:26am

Words Fail is not supposed to be comfortable for anyone, in my opinion. 

[BwayLB]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 1:54am

Sutton Ross said: "Words Fail is not supposed to be comfortable for anyone, in my opinion."

I know. Ive delt with it once on stage but i can't take it again. At least i am more comfortable with the OBC recording

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 7:32am

Sutton Ross said: "Words Fail is not supposed to be comfortable for anyone, in my opinion."

Uncomfortable in a different way because Ben Platt has a 5 o'clock shadow that they've desperately tried to cover up with makeup so they could show his face in extreme, sweaty closeup.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 9:33am

Jordan Fisher, the actor who be playing Evan on Broadway when it reopens in December, is 27.

[binau]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 10:30am

The thing is he looks much younger than Ben and it's a stage (not screen) performance. 

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 10:34am

RaisedOnMusicals said: "Jordan Fisher, the actor who be playing Evan on Broadway when it reopens in December, is 27."

Yeah and he doesn't look 37.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 9/20/21 at 11:49am

Something that also stood out to me is, they didn't make a compelling enough case of the differentiation of class between the Murphys and the Hansens. The Murphy's look MORE affluent sure cause marble countertops, but come on Evan's house and his bedroom is not small. 

Very Hollywood thing to overlook especially when Evan uses the word "poor".

[Skip23]

Posted: 9/21/21 at 2:42am

Just watched it.

The creepiest movie musical that still works.  Onstage I was constantly saying "They made a musical about THIS awful boy/situation???!!!"  On film, I bought it H, L and S.

Sure Platt is older than the character.  But ALL the students are too old.  That seems to be the way they do it nowadays.

But nobody could have done justice to the character or the musical better than Platt.  In fact...(mark my words)...he could be up for some nominations.

I love how the director eased into ballads and then eased back out of the ballads.  None of that awkward "oh...now here they go singing again".  

Can't believe I'm saying this...but I could watch it again!  

 

[Theatre Fan3]

Posted: 9/21/21 at 8:56am

Just curious ... for those that are saying they've "just watched it" ... where have you had the chance to watch it?  Have there been "Sneaks" everyday or what?

[Musical Master]

Posted: 9/21/21 at 12:18pm

I've been invited by a friend to see an early screening of the movie this evening.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/21/21 at 12:36pm

Theatre Fan3 said: "Just curious ... for those that are saying they've "just watched it" ... where have you had the chance to watch it? Have there been "Sneaks" everyday or what?"

Same with Musical Master, a dear friend invited me to an early screening. I'm not a person who doesn't pay for people's work (a jerk) so I didn't watch it for free online or anything.