The film version of “Dear Evan Hansen”, starring Ben Platt in the title role, is now on Netflix – so how did the winner of my Top 2022 Shows fare as a blockbuster movie?
Well, poorly. The film is far from perfect, and would struggle to even earn the status of “good”. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, Ben Platt is far too old for the role. Yes, he was great in the original Broadway run, but I think someone younger should have been cast. The makeup and wig is far too off-putting, and it makes it difficult to invest in the character. He also fails to have any chemistry with any of the other characters. It is difficult to see why Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever) would ever fancy him. Evan loses his loveable dorkiness because he is played by an adult, and as such, he comes across as fairly unlikeable throughout.
The film makes some changes to the original musical as well, removing four songs from the stage version. This includes taking two songs (‘Anybody have a map’ and ‘Good for you’) away from Heidi Hansen (Julianne Moore), and ‘To break in a glove’ away from Larry (Danny Pino). The focus of the film is very definitely on the teenagers rather than the adults, and as such we don’t get to properly explore the reactions of the adults in the same way as the stage play allows us to. ‘To break in a glove’ carries a lovely metaphor for Larry’s grief, and ‘Good for you’ is a chance for Heidi to finally call her son out for his poor behaviour and attitude. The decision to leave those two songs out in particular is bizarre.
The other song that doesn’t make the cut is ‘Disappear’, perhaps removed to avoid confusion as Connor’s “ghost” probably works better in a stage play than a movie. The song is replaced by ‘The Anonymous Ones’, which is sung by Alana (Amandla Stenberg) and carries the same message as ‘Disappear’ but not as effectively, in my opinion. I can understand why the change was made, but I’m not sure if Alana is the best character to carry the message. I don’t feel as though the audience has been given chance to understand the character – unlike Connor, who, although he dies ten minutes into the film, we have heard far more about and are invested in.
I think the main problem is that the musical just doesn’t translate well to the screen. It lacks any big musical numbers that lots of other musical films rely on. The movie attempts to turn ‘Sincerely, Me’ into a big dance number, but despite the multiple settings (a go-kart track, for some reason?) it’s still just three people singing at the end of the day. The musical is full of ballads that work well on-stage, but again look weird on camera. Evan ends up standing in the Murphy’s dining room belting ‘For Forever’ at them, with nothing else to do, so he’s just staring and it looks weird.
Some of the changes from the source material, I can understand. But others just seem odd and forced. The one change that just remains an absolute mystery to me is that Larry is no longer Connor and Zoe’s dad, but instead their step-dad. Their real dad died when they were young. Ok, but why? What does that add to the character? It means that Cynthia (Amy Adams) can shout something at her husband like “You weren’t even his real dad” but that’s it? Why make these pointless changes when it worked just fine before?
So. Dear Evan Hansen. One of my favourite stage musicals ever. And now one of my least favourite film musicals. Ugh.
Tom Morley, August 2023
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