The consensus of the “Dear Evan Hansen” movie reviews is in—and they aren’t pretty. The movie musical was torn to shreds by critics for its lackluster plot, lack of sensitivity around mental health issues, and the age of lead Ben Platt (27 at the time of filming, even though he played a 17-year old.) But the initial Broadway show was a hit back in 2017, leading many to ask: What happened?
The answer is complicated, to say the least, and the movie isn’t entirely to blame. Both the musical and the movie follow the story of Evan Hansen (Ben Platt), a high school senior dealing with severe depression and anxiety. The school bully, Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), commits suicide with a note stolen from Evan in his pocket. Connor’s grief-stricken parents (Amy Adams and Danny Pino) draw Evan close, mistakenly assuming that Evan was Connor’s only friend. Evan’s inventions of a friendship between him and Connor quickly spiral out of control, and the lies build on themselves until they (predictably) crash down on him at the end.
Many have criticized the film for its clichéd portrayal of mental health. When you strip away the song and dance, Evan continually hurts and exploits a grieving family to promote his own agenda without justification beyond his struggles with mental illness. Evan’s depression and anxiety are used, both by him and by the film, as a shield against the full weight of his actions. This also has the effect of increasing society’s negative perception of mental illness. When Evan is forced to confess to his deceptions late in the movie, he performs the emotional ballad “Words Fail”. Even at this moment, his defense feels inadequate with lines such as, “There’s nothing I can say/Except sometimes, you see everything you wanted… And you want to believe it’s true/So you make it true”. This sentiment feels ingenuine at best and manipulative at worst.
Despite the current scrutiny, few critics have mentioned that the film actually stayed fairly true to the stage musical. When “Dear Evan Hansen” won six Tonys back in 2017, the musical’s “raw and real” portrayal of mental health and suicide was praised, with little mention of the problematic aspects of the storyline. While society’s increased understanding of mental illness probably had something to do with this changed reaction, the film format may have also contributed. In a stage musical, the naturally over-the-top presentation allows you to suspend your disbelief. A film creates additional scrutiny and, in the case of “Dear Evan Hansen”, collapses under its own weight. Over two hours of extreme close-ups and few cinematic touches do little to help the situation. Even the movie’s attempt to right some of Evan’s wrongs, such as the new ending in which Evan tries to hold himself accountable for his actions, feels perfunctory. Clearly, the “Dear Evan Hansen” adaptation made some poor choices. What the film really did, though, was highlight the generalization and glorification of mental health that were built into the story all along.