Watching “Dear Evan Hansen,” which premiered in theatres on Sept. 24, felt like seeing a cringey re-enactment of a Broadway musical.
Its poorly-written storyline and emotionally-manipulative plot makes it feel like you’re rooting for the bad guy, not to mention all the scenes were over-dramatized and distracted you from the main problems in the movie.
For all the hype Dear Evan Hansen was getting prerelease, it was a huge disappointment.
Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway in 2016 and became a musical sensation, winning six Tony Awards, according to a Dec. 4, 2017 Playbill article.
Based on the book by Steven Levenson, the plot follows a socially anxious and depressed kid.
Evan, whose mother works around the clock as a nurse and whose father abandoned him as a kid, is asked by his therapist to write self-reflective letters to himself as an exercise to boost his self confidence. Hence the title, “Dear Evan Hansen.”
Evan’s struggle with his mental illness gives him feelings of loneliness, making him a relatable character to anyone who has dealt with mental illness themselves at first.
Taking his therapist’s advice, he writes a letter to himself talking about how depressed and lonely he feels.
The letter winds up in the hands of Connor Murphy, a troubled kid who goes to the same high school as Evan.
This story starts to unfold when it’s discovered Connor took his own life. Connor’s parents come to Evan holding the letter he wrote under the false impression Connor and Evan were best friends and Evan’s letter was a note between the two boys.
Evan goes along with this and furthers the lie, telling Connor’s family and everyone at school they were best friends.
Eventually, this lie eats away at him until he must confess the truth and everyone hates him afterward, sending him right back to where he was at the beginning of the movie, a socially isolated kid with hardly any friends. But, this doesn’t happen until the very end of the movie, after Evan has left a trail of lies behind him.
Broadway musicals turned into movies are a hit or miss and in this case, it was without a doubt a miss.
It seems many people agree the movie wasn’t that great because Dear Evan Hansen didn’t do too hot in box offices, with only 31% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6/10 on IMDb.
Many people, like myself, enjoyed the musical more than the movie, which is understandable as some musicals don’t translate well to the screen.
Critics of the movie adaption thought the casting choice was questionable as 28-year-old Ben Platt, who looks nothing like a teenager, was casted to play a 17-year-old high school student.
A critic posted in a Sept. 23 article by The New York Times that they thought Evan’s performance as a teenager was unconvincing and disappointing.
However, this didn’t really bother me too much because this is common in Hollywood as most movies tend to cast actors who are much older than the role they are portraying, especially high-school-based characters.
I think the decision to cast Platt was the right one despite the age differences because he was the original Evan Hansen in the Broadway musical. No one could play Evan Hansen the way he does.
Platt does a great job of portraying how socially awkward Evan is. He’s an overthinker and an over-talkative person who gets nervous when talking to his crush, Zoe Murphy, played by Kaitlyn Dever.
Zoe also happens to be Connor’s sister.
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A primary point of the movie focuses on Evan’s mental health. At the beginning of the movie, we see him wearing a cast on his arm which Connor signs trying to be nice to a fellow outcast, but it’s a mystery as to why he broke it.
However, we find out the answer later in the movie.. Evan tells his mom he “fell” from a tree over the summer, but he was actually trying to commit suicide.
There are major flaws in the story that cannot be dismissed. The fact Dear Evan Hansen is about a kid who exploits a tragedy for his own personal gain is concerning. Evan uses the lie that he was friends with Connor to gain friends and popularity.
While the film does address important topics including mental health and suicide, its storyline is so problematic it takes away from the seriousness of these issues.
Evan is portrayed as the protagonist throughout the movie but he’s doing terrible things, making awful decisions and hurting those around him.
Evan also uses the lie to get closer to Zoe by telling her Connor was a good brother and cared about her when really that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I guess Evan’s lies worked because the only reason Zoe likes him is because she thinks her deceased brother was best friends with him.
Evan’s deception and manipulation when it comes to Zoe and using her grief of her dead brother is just one of the many reasons why this plotline is so messed up. It’s even harder to watch on the screen as the audience can see how Zoe gets closer to Evan and confesses her feelings for him.
The lie spins out of control when Evan has to give a speech at Connor’s memorial where he sings, “You Will Be Found,” a song about loneliness and looking for community.
The irony behind this song is that no one seemed to care about Connor until he was dead, as he was considered a social outcast. However, without knowing the context to this song, it sounds like a very uplifting song about friendship.
Evan sings, “Even when the dark comes crashing through/ When you need a friend to carry you/ And when you're broken on the ground/ You will be found.”
As he continues to dupe the entire school into thinking he was friends with Connor, his classmates start sharing his motivational video online.
Evan’s speech goes viral, turning him into an internet celebrity and soon everyone loves him. He continues the lie because he is becoming popular.
What’s most disturbing about the whole plot is Evan continues to lie to everyone without feeling any remorse until the end of the movie.
There is one good thing that comes from his lies. It leads one of his classmates Alana, who also suffers from anxiety, to create “The Connor Project,” an organization dedicated to raising awareness about teen mental health issues.
Evan goes to these meetings to show he cares about Connor, but starts blowing them off to hang out with Zoe and this makes Alana start to question whether Evan was really friends with Connor in the first place. It’s obvious at this point that Evan isn’t really doing this for Connor but to gain supporters and popularity.
Another disappointing factor of the movie is that it doesn’t have all the songs from the original Broadway musical, including “Disappear” and “To Break In a Glove.” But it does feature new songs that weren’t in the original musical such as “The Anonymous Ones.”
In the scene right before the song, “The Anonymous Ones,” Evan and Alana are sitting on a swing and talking about their anxiety and depression and how they have to act “anonymous.”
This is where Evan tells Alana she doesn’t really act like someone who’s depressed.
Being student body president and getting good grades, Alana doesn’t appear to be depressed, but what Evan doesn’t know is she struggles with the same issues he does. She’s just better at hiding them.
The movie had some unexpected turns at the end, like when Alana betrays Evan and decides to share the suicide note Evan wrote but everyone thought was Connor’s, which led to people saying rude comments about Connor’s family.
Evan doesn’t tell the truth until Connor’s family is being raked through the mud. This is where he uploads a video on social media telling everyone he was never friends with Connor and the whole thing was a lie.
After telling everyone the truth, he tries to learn more about Connor. He also finds a video of Connor playing the guitar in a group therapy session and shares it with his family.
Are we supposed to feel good now and forgive Evan Hansen for all the things he did throughout the movie?
While I liked some of the songs and the portrayal of Evan Hansen by Platt, it doesn’t change the fact “Dear Evan Hansen” is a below average movie with a seriously fucked up storyline.
