Review of Dear Evan Hansen, directed by Stephen Chbosky

I never thought I would be reviewing the dreaded Dear Evan Hansen movie adaptation, but here we are. I will admit, when the show first came out on Broadway, I really enjoyed the music.

When I caught wind that the Broadway version was definitely going to be closing from industry folks, as my boss had worked on the show all those years ago when it first debuted, I decided to snag a cheap ticket at the back of the balcony. That theatre, The Music Box, is good to do that since it’s a tiny theater.

Anyways, I was blown away with how difficult of a musical this is to sing live, as the actor playing Evan Hansen has to be full on sobbing and belting out some high and emotional notes constantly in some of these songs.

Despite the bad rep the movie received, and the (valid) criticism the show has gotten over the years, I honestly didn’t think this movie was completely terrible. I don’t want to spoil too much before I get into my review, but I think that it was also trendy to hate on this film.

Sure, it wasn’t high art, and Ben Platt definitely should not have been cast in it, but there were some other okay moments scattered throughout it. We also need to not make everything an adaptation—this was better for a stage, although it’s now outdated.

Let’s get into the review!

After the suicide of a classmate, Evan Hansen lies about being his friend, leading to even bigger consequences.

Evan Hansen is seventeen and deeply struggling with his anxiety, which makes him a major outcast at his local high school. He sees a therapist every so often, and the most recent instruction they’ve left him with is that he should start writing letters, and they need to begin with “today should be a good day.”

Evan recently fell out of a tree and broke his arm, and his mother, a nurse who’s constantly working and leaves him alone at home, says he should ask his friends and classmates to sign his cast.

She wants him to make friends, but when he goes to school that morning, Evan contemplates whether if anyone would notice if he just disappeared.

Connor Murphy, a classmate, offers to sign it, and then becomes pissed off when he finds one of Evan’s letters and sees a mention of his sister Zoe. Evan has a big crush on her, and Connor doesn’t like that, so he storms away with the letter still in his hand.

A couple of days pass, and, summoned into a room with Connor’s parents and the principal, Evan is informed Connor killed himself. The letter was found, but Connor’s parents think that it meant it was a suicide note, and his signature on the cast solidifies that thought.

Evan doesn’t try to deny it because he’s such an anxious person, and the Murphys invite him over for dinner. There, he makes up a fake friendship with Connor on the spot, including a story of how he broke his arm with Connor being there.

With a family friend, Jared, Evan makes a bunch of fake email exchanges between the two, so he has evidence for his story. In the meantime, Connor’s sister Zoe really struggles with why her name was on the letter, and Evan tries to comfort her by giving all the reasons why he has a crush on her.

One of Evan’s classmates decides to make The Connor Project, which is dedicated to trying to keep Connor alive through memories. Evan gives a speech there, someone records it, and it goes viral across the Internet.

Evan has now become a beacon of hope for people struggling with mental illness, and the newfound attention makes Zoe really appreciative of Evan.

Alana and he then launch a crowdfunding initiative through TCP, and they want to revive the orchard. But Evan becomes less focused by spending time with the Murphy family, and he starts dating Zoe.

His mother comes to dinner with him one night, and the Murphys offer Connor’s college fund to Evan, which she’s weirded out by and declines.

Evan’s fabricated story begins to unravel when Alana has doubt about their friendship, and he emails his own therapy letter to her claiming it was Connor’s note.

Online people begin criticizing the Murphys due to the contents of the letter, Alana tries to delete the letter, and, as the Murphys struggle with this, Evan admits everything he has done. They decide to keep the truth hidden, but Evan is cast out. his and Zoe’s relationship now over.

To his mother, he admits falling out of the tree was an attempt to kill himself, and they reconcile. Evan also creates a video confessing the truth, and then decides to channel Connor by reading all of his favorite books.

At the end, Zoe and Evan meet at the restored Orchard, and they make up for all the wrongs. Evan finishes by writing himself a letter, saying he will live more honestly and authentically to himself.

Overall Thoughts

The performance that stood out to me the most was Colton Ryan’s throughout all of this.

He was Platt’s understudy during the original run, and he also played Connor. Ryan also has the looks to lean longer, so it made sense with his casting—I’m a big fan of his now and was watching the bootleg of one of his shows (Alice, By Heart) the other day.

Anyways, I think that Dear Evan Hansen is a mediocre movie, and that it is deeply problematic with some of Evan’s actions, but we can also consumed things without saying the protagonist is 100% right.

He’s definitely not here, and registering that fact is pretty important. I definitely wouldn’t watch this again, but I’m glad I watched it now. It would’ve been nice to get a different version, not Platt’s, of the songs though. I would’ve loved Ben Levi Ross being cast in this.

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