Posted: 8/13/22 at 11:26am
Matt Rogers said: "40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch."
and netflix barely promoted the movie
Posted: 8/13/22 at 1:28pm
Posted: 8/13/22 at 2:37pm
I had to struggle to find it on my account despite being on my list since it was added before release, however, it was the first thing on my little brother's child profile list of new releases.
Posted: 8/13/22 at 2:45pm
I didn't really like it. The production values weren't very good. I didn't think that 13 had a great book, but the changes they made removed anything actually interesting or edgy. They cut my favorite songs as well as the romance, which makes me sad.
Posted: 8/13/22 at 2:47pm
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a human being auto tuned more than Debra Messing was, in this.
Posted: 8/13/22 at 6:16pm
Revisiting your early teens in Broadway's ''13,'' recording the cast album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMxjIyiso7U
Posted: 8/13/22 at 7:23pm
I lasted about forty minutes and could take no more. So poorly directed, choreography so typical of the junk they spew out that has zero meaning - I called the "flip" in the title song right on time - all the digital color tinkering (why even bother to have a DP), terrible editing, and the show itself wasn't ever much to my liking, mostly because of the lead kid being kind of a jerk for too much of the show, although they seem to have smoothed that out here, but to no real gain. And all these Netflix musicals look exactly the same and are relentless in exactly the same way. Glad a couple of folks LOVED it - I just couldn't last, but then again I've never been able to endure any of the High School Musical things more than thirty minutes either.
Re the editing - someday someone's gonna go back to letting us actually see the dances and the feet of the dancers. I'm reminded of how they do those over-the-top fight scenes in movies with all the quick cutting so you don't really see anything at all. I recently watched the John Wick movies and there the editor was instructed to show the fight and not cut it up into tiny two-second edits - and boy was that refreshing AND exciting, the way it should be. Great fight choreography allowed to play out so we can see and appreciate it - what a concept. I must say, Netflix seems to be doing its best to bury this and, of course, most of the reviews aren't so hot.
Posted: 8/13/22 at 7:34pm
Jordan Catalano said: "I don’t think I’ve ever heard a human being auto tuned more than Debra Messing was, in this."
"People on streets."
Posted: 8/13/22 at 7:40pm
So, do most of you mean to tell Tamra Davis…
Posted: 8/13/22 at 8:31pm
This is...being buried. I searched "13" and "thirteen" and got "titles related to" and scrolled and scrolled to NOTHING. I checked multiple sites and it confirmed yesterday's release but then I searched "Debra Messing" as a joke to tweet and...there she was.
This is bad, worse than when it was on stage, but also for the same reasons. It doesn't fix and of the flaws of the show or even attempt to just...adds adults. You never related to Evan or feel bad for him.
Mostly it's just statically shot. As fun as it can be to see talented kids performing big numbers, everything is basically shot from the front like a stage show. You see plenty of teens, cheerleaders, football players doing routines but it's only shot facing them, the camera never going into the groups or around the groups.
Updated On: 8/13/22 at 08:31 PM
Posted: 8/13/22 at 10:20pm
Yeah, I had to type in “13 musical” for it to come up. Just typing in “13” didn’t come up with anything in the search.
Posted: 8/14/22 at 12:02am
I guess Broadway musicals with lead characters named Evan don't make good movies (based on a sample size of 2).
Posted: 8/14/22 at 12:55am
Netflix buries the vast majority of their movies that aren't expected to be populist hits (Red Notice, Gray Man) or Oscar hopefuls (Power of the Dog, Marriage Story). And even then sometimes they still bury them.
Posted: 8/14/22 at 1:23am
I finally got around to this one, and I didn’t see the stage version.
Meh… not horrible, and it only turned amazing at a few points. I agree with the Disney Channel vibes it brought many of you.
I didn’t like Messing and her new song dragged. The other new songs, plus “Tell Her” and “Bad, Bad News” were all highlights IMO. After not really being impressed with Mr. Saturday Night, JRB has regained my trust in being a competent composer (despite a few clunkers here).
I was anticipating an Ariana DeBose / Kerry Washington moment at the end between Kendra and her mom, but alas. Poor character development. Also, Evan Hansen (sorry, Goldman) comes off as a jerk. All to win over the cool kids, ho hum.
I couldn’t stand Rhea Perlman, and the talents of Josh Peck were wasted.
The kids are incredible though - the guy that plays Brett in particular has a killer voice. The overemphasis on the Brett / Kendra / Lucy triangle takes away from the other youngsters considerably (minus Evan). Again, poor character development.
All this to say, I didn’t hate it like some of you did, but I’d rather see “The Prom” again for a feel-good story about New Yorkers winning the hearts of youngsters from the heartland.
Oh, and Jordan Catalano, I thought “13” was super easy to find in the New Releases category on the Netflix homepage. Not hidden there (for now, at least).
Posted: 8/14/22 at 1:55am
Yes, ''13'' is listed under New Releases on Netflix's home page. But they should change the photo. I see a picture of Debra Messing and Rhea Perfman, who play Evan's mother and grandma. They'd probably attract a lot more of ''13's'' target audience of kids if they featured Eli Golden, the show's teen star.
Updated On: 8/14/22 at 01:55 AM
Posted: 8/14/22 at 2:06am
Wayman_Wong said: "Yes, ''13'' is listed under New Releases on Netflix's home page. But they should change the photo. I see a picture ofDebra Messing and Rhea Perfman, who play Evan's mother and grandma. They'd probably attract a lot more of ''13's'' target audience of kids if they featured Eli Golden, the show's teen star."
Those images you see are not necessarily the ones other people see--they have different images and show you the one they think will get you to click on it. For you, based on the content you watch, the Netflix algorithm thinks seeing Messing and Perlman will pique your interest, but children will probably see the young characters. Any tv show that has a gay supporting character, Netflix shows me that character on the poster.
Posted: 8/14/22 at 8:46am
I watched it last night and was totally expecting to hate it from the clips I'd seen thus far. However I admit I actually found it sorta charming. It wasn't any brilliant art but i thought it was fun. I think it was probably a little too clean and pretty for it's own good. It's also definitely trying to appeal to 13 year olds which I guess is fine but wish they had gone with a slightly more grounded approach.
Posted: 8/14/22 at 9:21am
For Americans it would seem to be a more accessible version of 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie' in that it would not require subtitles - or translations - from that purely British musical. As an American I would have lost half of the dialogue had I not gone back over and over. With 13 I understood every word with no unfamiliar accents or slang expressions to get through. I think kids should enjoy it here.
Posted: 8/14/22 at 7:25pm
Talking about searching...I was trying to get the entry on IBDB for the show, and it would not come up when I searched "13", "13 the Musical", "Thirteen", or "Thirteen the Musical"
Posted: 8/15/22 at 8:47am
Evan does come across badly in the film. But it's because they made changes to the story, namely making Brett a nice guy (which, speaking as someone from the Midwest, his stage version is far more realistic, sorry) and also Evan being the one to propose getting tickets to the Blood Master movie. They make Evan look far worse than he did in the stage show, and I agree that he didn't look great there either.
Really, the stage version is stereotyped, but at least it has a narrative arc and a good message. This doesn't. Evan's change of heart and character development come out of NOWHERE in the film. In the stage version, he has to choose between chasing popularity vs. sticking with his values and people that actually care about him. In the film version, he doesn't have to make that choice. He gets to have his cake and eat it, too. How is that interesting? Even Lucy was completely defanged. Maybe her stage version was a bit cartoonishly villainous, but it's not like there aren't teenaged girls like that out in the world.
Updated On: 8/15/22 at 08:47 AM
Posted: 8/16/22 at 11:06pm
Feels like it was directed by no one and DP’d by wherever the camera happened to be left the night before. Every scene, whether it’s a football field, an interior house or a darkened movie theater, is lit like noon on a summer day. The lyrics and dialogue appear to have been written by middle aged men who have never met or even seen an actual middle schooler.
Posted: 8/17/22 at 10:35am
The thing that really broke this movie is the antagonists (primarily Brett and Lucy) were so softened down that they weren't really antagonists anymore.
In the stage show, the bullies effectively win in the end. Archie and Patrice are the only ones who come to Evan's bar mitzvah. But he realizes that part of growing up is having these kinds of painful experiences, and learning how to move on in your life, looking back and wondering why you ever thought something so frivolous felt so life or death.
In the movie, we have to have a happy ending (complete with a Dreamworks-style dance party finale), so all that nuance and depth is thrown out the window.
I don't even fault JRB and Robert Horn for this. This movie reeks of studio meddling.
Posted: 8/17/22 at 11:51pm
It was an entertaining movie overall. The protagonist was excellent, great voice and very charismatic. I'm still puzzled as to why they had Debra Messing sing, as she's never been a singer (I mean, her singing was openly mocked in Will & Grace a few times).
Updated On: 8/17/22 at 11:51 PM
Posted: 8/18/22 at 12:35am
I never saw the stage show so had nothing to compare it to. That being said, I thought this film was really awful. Was I supposed to care whether Evan was going to be able to get the "cool kids" to come to his Bar Mitzvah? Talk about irrelevant. And the whole look of the film was very fake and phony; this did not seem to be taking place in any real-world school that has ever existed. Everything so perfect, from the inside of people's houses, to the school, to the clothes the kids were wearing, and even their hairstyles. And on what planet do people talk like this? Do the folks who wrote this dialogue have any experience with real life beyond watching reruns of "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody"? There was nothing real about this movie at all, especially the EMOTIONS and the HEART. It all came across as ......plasticky.
Interesting that so many reviews compare it to a Disney HSM kind of musical, when Disney+ has what might very well be the most un-Disney style musical (kind of) running on their platform right now. I am talking about "Better Nate Than Ever". Not really a full fledged musical, but it hits the mark where "13" doesn't. It actually looks like it exists in a real world (look at how messy the kitchen is at Nate's house, and look at how interesting his aunt's "New York" apartment looks). But most importantly, the main character is SO FREAKING APPEALING AND LOVABLE (far from the Evan of "13" ) and is played so well by the young lead. And, this is a movie with a real HEART; anyone who grew up as the nerdy theater kid will be able to relate to the big emotional payoffs in this film. (HINT: Have some kleenex nearby.) This movie succeeds in every aspect where "13" failed.
Updated On: 8/18/22 at 12:35 AM
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