I've seen Dear Evan Hansen twice and I have to say that I have been tremendously disappointed at the reaction to the movie. I really love the movie and thought it was absolutely wonderful. I've seen a few main criticisms, most of which strike me as a little ridiculous. I want to address those before getting to my thoughts.
The first (and most prominent) criticism is Ben Platt's age. He was 27 while this was being filmed, which is 10 years older than Evan. I don't care about this as much as other people, mainly because so many shows over the years have cast people in their mid to late twenties as teenagers in teen dramas. My personal issue is that the makeup department tried so hard to de-age him that it made it obvious that he was older than Evan. If they hadn't tried so hard, I don't think it would have been as obvious. That said, I also get the feeling that there are some people who want to find something to dislike about the movie or Ben and just glom onto this as an excuse.
Another criticism that I have seen is that someone would be belting out a song and people around them would ignore it (one example was Evan singing "Waving Through a Window"). This particular criticism was completely ridiculous because that is such a staple of musicals; particularly for a song like "Waving Through a Window" which is more of an internal monologue that Evan is having with himself. Another criticism akin to this was people complaining that characters would randomly burst into song. Both of those criticisms are what I would call bad faith criticisms of people who are looking for an excuse to dislike the movie.
I've never seen the musical on stage, but I have listened to the soundtrack, read the book, and (obviously) seen the movie. I have to say that I pretty much love all the songs equally whether or they are from the Broadway soundtrack or the movie. The only two songs where I prefer one or the other was "Sincerely Me" where I prefer the movie version and "You Will Be Found" where I prefer the Broadway version. I preferred the movie version of "Sincerely Me" because I think Colton Ryan's voice is better than Michael Faist's. As far as "You Will Be Found" goes, there is nothing in particular that I can point to that I like better, I just prefer it. As far as the new songs, I love both of them. I do wish that they had kept in "Disappear" and maybe "Good for You", but have to admit to being glad they cut "To Break in a Glove" and am agnostic about "Anybody Have a Map?".
Talking about changes, I was not overly fond of making Alana the founder of the Connor Project. It isn't so much about them expanding Alana (which I have no problem with), but I think it was better when Evan starts it himself. I also didn't get why they made a big deal about creating new characters, only to give them each 1 line in "You Will Be Found". That just struck me as a weird thing to do. I know changes will be made, but these were the changes I wasn't terribly fond of.
As for a more general criticism I've heard, I don't see Evan Hansen as an evil or bad person. Lots of people look at him and say that he is basically a con artist who is trying to take advantage of a family in grief. What people don't seem to get is that the originator of the lie wasn't Evan, it was Cynthia and Larry. They found the note Connor took from Evan in Connor's pocket and created a story that Evan and Connor were great friends. Evan tried to deny it and tell them otherwise, but they refused to listen. Then, as Evan was trying to leave, Cynthia grabbed his arm with the cast and saw Connor's name on it and became even more convinced that the story she and Larry created was true. And when they asked Evan to come over for dinner, he again tried to say otherwise, but they again wouldn't listen to him. And they fought in front of him, which is something that is guaranteed to make a person suffering from anxiety go into a mode where they will do anything to dissipate that anxiety and tension (I suffer from anxiety and do the same thing myself so often). He was trying to stop them from fighting and the only way that he could see to do that was to tell them a story they wanted to hear.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Evan is blameless or anything, but I think that people need to not just blame him. We have to acknowledge that the blame for this situation needs to be spread around. Just blaming Evan easy, but it misses a lot of the other things that happened here. I also have to admit to some issues with Alana and Jared. Jared is just mean to Evan, who looks at him as a friend, which upsets me because there is a parallel in my life where I had someone I thought was a friend just totally betray me. As for Alana, I find it hard to believe that she didn't notice the inconsistencies in the emails, so I find it annoying that she only seemed to be good with him as long as he was doing what she wanted.
Sorry this is a little scattered, but I have had a lot of thoughts. Please go see this movie if you have a chance!
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