"Dear Evan Hansen": When Adaptations Go Wrong
Dear Evan Hansen is Netflix’s You the musical! If you’re a fan of You, you understand how the main character seems like a nice person, has an interesting internal dialogue that no-one else hears, but at the end of the day is a stalker/killer. While Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) isn’t a stalker or killer in this film, he certainly has the same underlying creep factor. So this may be enjoyable for some, but I’m flabbergasted as to how anyone would believe this film is a drama/musical when it should be labeled a psychological thriller.
Evan Hansen has a social anxiety disorder that makes it hard for him to make friends. As much as he’d love to, it’s extremely difficult. He’s on medication and writes letters to himself as instructed by his therapist. After Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan) intercepts one of these letters and then commits suicide with the note on him, his parents believe Connor’s only friend was Evan. Evan runs with the lie because Cynthia (Amy Adams), Connor’s mom, is absolutely distraught over Connor’s death while his father, Larry Mora (Danny Pino), is numb. Seeing it as an opportunity to bring healing and maybe get closer to his crush, Zoey (Kaitlyn Dever), Connor’s sister, Evan goes full method acting.
The film is guaranteed to make you as anxiety ridden as its main character, but maybe not for the reasons intended by director Stephen Chbosky. That’s because you have to get over the fact that high school senior, Evan Hansen, is played by 28 year old Ben Platt. That’s if you can go along with the film’s premise, which all of the characters in the film do, leaving its audience befuddled as to why they go with the rouse. The mixture of serious dramatic acting with giant musical numbers feels so out of touch for cinematic adaption from the Tony and Grammy winning play.
The film has its moments in shining a light on how we treat death. The same jocks that ridicule Connor one day, take a solemn selfie in front of his locker the next. Students create The Connor Project in honor of the boy no one seems to have really known, but it brings the entire town together. There are plenty of moments where you think the film is going to make an important statement on suicide, grief, and loss but it never commits to bringing that to light.
I give Dear Evan Hansen credit that it takes itself seriously as a film adaptation. Unfortunately, this is an uneven film. Themes of having empathy for others, understanding we all have something to contribute to the world and recognizing we all have insecurities are lost in the sauce of the uncomfortable, awkwardness of the melodrama of it all. I mean, bursting out into song is expected in musicals, but singing in the midst of a serious conversation doesn’t feel right here. Maybe this worked on stage, but it doesn’t on screen.
Rating: D
