The musical starsBen Platt, who originated the role on Broadway, as Evan Hansen, a socially anxious high school student who feels like an outsider at his high school. Trying to improve his self-image, he writes himself a letter that is mistaken for a classmate’s suicide note—and rides that error to popularity.
While the Broadway show won six Tony Awards, including a Tony for best actor for Platt, critics who viewed the film for the first time at TIFF on Thursday gave the movie a mixed reception.
Critic Robert Daniels from RogerEbert.com wrote the movie was “an emotionally manipulative, overlong dirge composed of cloying songs, lackluster vocal performances, and even worse writing.”
Johnny Oleksinski of theNew York Posthad a different opinion, writing in his review, “[Platt] tones down his stage performance just enough for the big screen, but retains Evan’s quick sense of humor and lovable nature, despite his misdeeds.He pummels you in the end.”
Universal Studios
Ian Freer ofEmpire Magazinewrote, “Dear Evan Hansengives enjoyable, tuneful voice to important modern-day concerns butlacks the dramatic and cinematic chops to really take flight.”
Meanwhile,Deadline’s Valerie Complex opined, “Dear Evan Hansencould have been made enjoyable, but there are too many glaring problems thatcan’t be ignored for the sake of entertainment.”
Variety’s Peter Debruge wrote inhis review, “Dear Evan Hansenrubbed me wrong onstage, and it doesn’t sit well with me now, despite a few smart improvements to the material.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Michael Rechtshaffen wrote, “Despite the pesky distractions, Platt and company stillmanage to deliver a right message at precisely the right time.”
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The movie also stars Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Amy Adams and Julianne Moore.
“This story, I think, especially right now, unfortunately, has such a unique opportunity to make people feel seen and feel part of something larger than themselves and feel so not unique in their loneliness and their isolation,” he said. “If it wasn’t already a universal experience, it certainly is now.”
Dear Evan Hansenopens in theaters on Sept. 24.
source: people.com
