Film Threat

If you’ve ever felt alone and ignored in life, Dear Evan Hansen may touch you in profound ways.

A review by Alan Ng for Film Threat on 2021-09-23

TheWrap

It’s messy at times and melodramatic at others, and its treatment of mental health issues is not the most nuanced, but those feel like quibbles given the joy you can find in its best moments.

A review by Steve Pond for TheWrap on 2021-09-14

Original-Cin

The film version of the multiple Tony Award–winning hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen is a mixed bag and a wonky adaptation that doesn’t always quite scan. Yet I’d be lying if I didn’t say that despite its flaws, it’s also strangely affecting.

A review by Karen Gordon for Original-Cin on 2021-09-27

Washington Post

By scaling back the script’s laughs and excising four songs (plus countless reprises), the film at times lands in an uncanny valley between the heightened musical at its core and the weightier young adult drama Chbosky seems to have envisioned.

A review for Washington Post on 2021-09-22

Los Angeles Times

Sorry, haters, the film isn’t a train wreck. This musical, which had its Broadway premiere in 2016, works better in the theater. But the translation to the screen is smoother than expected.

A review for Los Angeles Times on 2021-09-23

Rolling Stone

You see Evan Hansen, all of his flaws and desires and self-loathing laid bare. And there are enough of these goosebump-inducing, epiphanic moments courtesy of the actor that you see why people might love this film as well as cringe at it. Platt does not ruin the movie. He singlehandedly gives it a voice.

A review by David Fear for Rolling Stone on 2021-09-27

The Hollywood Reporter

A weakness for the formulaic, combined with a noticeably weighty running time, continually bumps up against the film’s many fine points.

A review by Michael Rechtshaffen for The Hollywood Reporter on 2021-09-09

ReelViews

here’s a dissonance between the film’s darker subjects and its seeming desire to offer something uplifting at the end. The coda feels dishonest and makes it as difficult to root for the film’s success as it does for the main character.

A review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews on 2021-09-27

Boston Globe

Director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder) and screenwriter Steven Levenson work the levers of emotional manipulation so vigorously, and with so little finesse, that it’s hard to get truly invested in either Evan’s pain or his self-created dilemma.

A review for Boston Globe on 2021-09-27

Chicago Tribune

Mainly, the movie we have here reminds us that what works on a stage, within the non-realistic world and performance momentum of stage musicals, lessens a lot of story problems that movies tend to heighten.

A review by Michael Phillips for Chicago Tribune on 2021-09-23

CNN

While the film says something that matters, for a show whose press notes proclaim it a "generation-defining Broadway phenomenon," a great deal appears to have been lost in translation.

A review by Brian Lowry for CNN on 2021-09-23

USA Today

The movie version is simply a poor adaptation, trading the vibrancy and refreshing spirit of the original show for all-too-familiar teen-movie angst, with an out of place leading man.

A review by Brian Truitt for USA Today on 2021-09-22

Chicago Sun-Times

The adaptation is a curiously strange effort, as director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) films the story like an indie drama, with straightforward, realistic, dialogue-driven scenes — and then every 10 minutes or so, a character breaks into song, and it seems much more contrived and jolting than something like La La Land.

A review by Richard Roeper for Chicago Sun-Times on 2021-09-22

The Associated Press

For much of the film, it’s difficult not to imagine the Saturday Night Live sketch that’s probably already being written. More than the age difference, though, Platt’s performance is a constant reminder of Broadway artificiality in a movie striving for something real.

A review by Jake Coyle for The Associated Press on 2021-09-22

Arizona Republic

Yes, it’s a musical — strictly authenticity isn’t a requirement. Emotional authenticity, on the other hand, is. And that’s what Dear Evan Hansen could use more of.

A review by Bill Goodykoontz for Arizona Republic on 2021-09-21

Slant Magazine

The film works harder to fix the problems with its source material than to establish itself as an independent piece of art.

A review by Dan Rubins for Slant Magazine on 2021-09-20

IGN

Though Chbosky’s staging is uninspired, the songs — both old and new — are nonetheless powerful, which might be enough of a lure for fans of the show or musicals in general. Sadly, Platt’s calamitous casting dooms this adaptation to cringe-worthy awkwardness.

A review by Kristy Puchko for IGN on 2021-09-16

Vanity Fair

As was true of the stage production, the Dear Evan Hansen film wants to have it both ways, to see the awful lie at the center of Evan’s message of hope and to still have it play as hopeful.

A review by Richard Lawson for Vanity Fair on 2021-09-10

Variety

Dever is the best thing about this adaptation, which feels slightly less creepy in the lied-about-knowing-your-brother-to-worm-my-way-into-your-heart department, if only because Dever’s so good at balancing Zoe’s strength and vulnerability that the situation doesn’t read as a nearly 30-year-old creep manipulating a minor.

A review by Peter Debruge for Variety on 2021-09-09

The A.V. Club

Relatable in neither its bizarrely specific plotting nor its broadly generic emotions, Dear Evan Hansen is so self-serious that it almost plays like self-parody, only without any “so bad it’s good” fun. We may all be striving for human connection right now, but we’re unlikely to find any here.

A review by Caroline Siede for The A.V. Club on 2021-09-23

Screen Rant

Dear Evan Hansen might be well-meaning, but it completely misses the mark. It’s not the worst movie out this year, but it’s not a musical one might be inclined to rush to the theater to see, either.

A review by Mae Abdulbaki for Screen Rant on 2021-09-23

The Seattle Times

The effort put into making this film work is palpable, but the result is something deeply surreal and strange. Perhaps this story simply can’t work as a film, or perhaps it wasn’t a very good musical to begin with. It’s a question that may be debated for years to come.

A review by Katie Walsh for The Seattle Times on 2021-09-23

Wall Street Journal

The film suffers from a different condition, an emotional elephantiasis that is inexorable and ultimately terminal. What was by all accounts a modestly scaled production in all of its live-theater iterations has become a ponderous movie that turns earnest into maudlin, lyrical into lugubrious.

A review by Joe Morgenstern for Wall Street Journal on 2021-09-23

Slashfilm

Dear Evan Hansen, for all the plaudits it received on stage, is a hollow attempt at broad-based sincerity that felt hollow even before it became a big-screen adaptation.

A review by Josh Spiegel for Slashfilm on 2021-09-23

Austin Chronicle

Dear Evan Hansen is a rare musical that must be seen to be believed. Few shows are less equipped to grapple with their subject matter; watching someone Wikipedia the plot synopsis of the musical in real time remains one of the last true pleasures available to us as a society.

A review by Matthew Monagle for Austin Chronicle on 2021-09-22

Screen Daily

Director Stephen Chbosky badly mishandles the material, resulting in an increasingly frustrating experience in which Evan’s inability to come clean leads to a string of emotional manipulations that sometimes border on cruel.

A review by Tim Grierson for Screen Daily on 2021-09-15

San Francisco Chronicle

Director Stephen Chbosky needed to bring this stage musical into greater balance with the film medium. He needed to make Dear Evan Hansen less grandiose. He needed to pick up the pace and chop 10 minutes from the running time. It’s still possible that wouldn’t have saved it, but it might have made it less awful.

A review by Mick LaSalle for San Francisco Chronicle on 2021-09-22

Paste Magazine

I could dig into any number of the movie’s unfortunate choices, bad decisions or downright detestable elements—sprinkling in faint praise like, hey, the Tony-winning Platt might be acting through five layers of bullsh*t, but he can still sing—and I’d still never capture all the reasons Dear Evan Hansen fails.

A review by Jacob Oller for Paste Magazine on 2021-09-27

The New York Times

Treacly and manipulative, Dear Evan Hansen turns villain into victim and grief into an exploitable vulnerability. It made me cringe.

A review by Jeannette Catsoulis for The New York Times on 2021-09-23