Dear Evan Hansen is a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. It follows Evan Hansen (Benn Platt) who struggles to socialise with other people at his school. He is mistakenly thought to be friends with another boy from the school who recently took his life. Evan Hansen is caught up in a big lie that he never wanted to be part of. 

I have not seen the stage version of Dear Evan Hansen, however, I have listened to and know a lot of the songs from the album. Although a couple of great songs from the musical were left out in the movie, from what I know of the stage version, I thought that Dear Evan Hansen was quite a good movie adaptation. However, I have spoken to someone else who said that a couple of key ideas or metaphors were left out in the movie that made the adaptation fall short. I will be interested to see which I prefer if I get the chance to see the live version.

One thing I often don't enjoy about movie adaptations is the arrangements of the songs. Often, the songs from a movie adaptation don't compare to the original Broadway album. They sometimes use a bit of auto-tune that can be heard and I always get annoyed when they replace the live drums with programmed electronic drums. The new arrangements in Dear Evan Hansen honoured the original recording. There was a little bit of auto-tune, however, this could hardly be heard, and the arrangements were different enough to make the movie interesting but still kept the original feeling of the songs. The vocals were also recorded live on set, which sometimes doesn't turn out too well as is the case with the movie adaptation of Les Miserable, however in Dear Evan Hansen, having live vocals worked in the movie's favour.

Ben Platt played the role of Evan Hansen when the show first opened on Broadway and essentially created Evan Hansen. The actors that have followed him on Broadway have had a hard time imitating the incredible performance that Platt gave. The controversial decision to place Ben Platt as the lead in the movie adaptation, I think, was the right decision. No one would have been able to portray Evan Hansen the same way he did. And besides, even as a 27-year-old, Platt can convincingly portray a 17-year-old boy struggling with depression and anxiety. The few years that have passed since Ben Platt took his bow on stage have not altered the actor's performance as it is clear that Ben Platt can still sing and act phenomenally. The only small criticism I have of Platt's performance was the lack of chemistry between his character and co-star Kaitlyn Dever's character. There was something off between the two 'lovers'. I was going to blame this on the age gap between the actors until I realised that Kaitlyn Dever is 24 and also playing a character much younger than her.

Certain movies/musicals/tv shows are able to depict exactly what it is like being a teenager in this era. There are then others that do a terrible job and sugarcoat the whole experience. High School Musical is at this end of the spectrum and, as much as I love these movies, they do not accurately depict what it's like being in high school. However, there are movies like Dear Evan Hansen which are excellent at presenting what goes on inside of teenagers' heads. As I would not consider myself to be much like the character of Evan Hansen, I cannot say how accurately the movie represented people suffering from anxiety and depression. However from my standpoint, I would think that the movie did a fantastic job at this.

To see this movie, you don't have to love musicals, but you need to be able to appreciate them and sit through a movie where the characters burst out into song every ten minutes. I reckon teenagers will probably enjoy this movie more as it feels like it was made more for them. However, adults and parents, in particular, will get something entirely different out of the movie and it is probably important for them to see the movie as well. This movie does deal with some heavy issues such as suicide so you must be prepared for that.

Dear Evan Hansen is a beautiful and touching story. Although some numbers I wish were more impressive, overall it translated well from stage to screen. It had some incredible performances and utilised some film conventions that could not be used on stage. It is a movie that I would suggest for anyone above the recommended classification who can appreciate a good musical.

Director: Stephen Chbosky

Starring: Ben Platt, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams, Danny Pino

Year released: 2021

My rating: 8/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 06/02/2022