Synopsis
Evan Hansen, a high schooler with social anxiety, unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who committed suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.
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Cast
- Ben PlattEvan Hansen
- Amy AdamsCynthia Murphy
- Kaitlyn DeverZoe Murphy
- Danny PinoLarry Mora
- Julianne MooreHeidi Hansen
- Amandla StenbergAlana Beck
- Nik DodaniJared Kalwani
- Colton RyanConnor Murphy
- DeMarius R. CopesOliver
- Liz KateGemma
Recommendations
- 76
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. - 75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
The songs are clever; the actors dig in (especially Amy Adams and Julianne Moore as Connor and Evan’s moms, respectively). And Ben Platt’s voice is undeniable, a thing of wonder, a pure emotion-delivery system. You will be moved. - 60
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. - 60
Empire
Dear Evan Hansen gives enjoyable, tuneful voice to important modern-day concerns but lacks the dramatic and cinematic chops to really take flight. - 50
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. - 50
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. - 40
The Guardian
The movie asks the audience to not look at two elephants in the room, and unfortunately, no amount of soaring music can relieve that heavy a burden. - 25
IndieWire
Unfortunately, Stephen Chbosky’s poor directorial choices cancel out the rousing success Dear Evan Hansen was on stage, with a cascade of glaring distractions that continuously point out the artificiality of the genre.
