'Dear Evan Hansen' Review: The Acclaimed Broadway Play Fails As A Film

Arlington TX

24 September, 2021

7:02 PM

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By Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report September 23, 2021 Despite the number of awards associated with the Broadway musical "Dear Evan Hansen" and its star Ben Platt, the transition to the big screen by Stephen Chbosky ("The Perks of Being a Wallflower") is a grueling misfire that feels awkward, tedious, and a few years too late. Teen suicide and mental illness are such weighty topics that the film's humor feels out of place. The songs are great, but in the context of the film, they also feel uneven. It's not good when you're watching a musical secretly hoping they won't break out into another song. I've never seen DEH on the stage. Judging by all the critical acclaim, several Tony and Grammy awards, and a Daytime Emmy for Ben Platt and the cast for just performing a song on the Today Show, it's a beast but in a movie theater, not so much. It's been six years since Platt first performed the role of Evan. He's now pushing 30 and despite the makeup, it's like watching Steve Carell play a high school kid. Social media has changed since the show's inception. The world moves a lot faster. Perhaps TikTok should have been substituted for IG, but on a positive note, at least no one is on Vine. The plot involves socially awkward Evan Hansen (Platt), a high school senior who suffers from extreme anxiety. He's on several medications, is bullied at school, and his gay best friend Jared (Nik Dodani) isn't really a friend. When Evan asks him to be the first person to sign his cast (we'll get back to that) Jared declines, stating he's only a "family friend" which means their parents are friends. Now let's get back to the cast on Evan's arm. It plays a significant role in the story. Over the summer he fell out of a tree — "What, are you five?" is the running joke — and his mom Heidi (the wonderful Julianne Moore) suggests that Evan get his classmates to sign it. He's too apprehensive to ask anyone to do that, but one day in the library the school's troubled teen Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan) grabs a sharpie and signs his name in big bold letters. Ryan commands the screen and unfortunately, there isn't enough of him or his character in the film (we'll also get to that). Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.