Dear Evan Hansen is a 2021 American coming-of-age musical film directed by Stephen Chbosky from a screenplay by Steven Levenson, based on the 2015 stage musical of the same name by Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Ben Platt plays the title role, reprising the performance that he originated on stage six years earlier. The cast also includes Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Colton Ryan, Danny Pino, Julianne Moore, and Amy Adams.
Dear Evan Hansen premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2021, as the opening night presentation, and was released in the United States on September 24, 2021, by Universal Pictures. The film underperformed at the box office and received mostly negative reviews from critics, with most criticism aimed at the casting of Ben Platt (who was 27 at the time) as a high school student, which some attributed to nepotism, as his father, Marc Platt, served as a producer on the film. Criticism was also aimed at its direction, screenplay, visual style, lack of faithfulness to its source material, and portrayal of mental illness, though the supporting cast's performances received some praise. The film received four nominations at the Golden Raspberry Awards, including a Worst Director nomination for Chbosky, as well as Worst Actor and Worst Supporting Actress nominations for Platt and Adams, respectively.
Genre(s):
Soundtrack,
Musical
Associated Acts:
Dear Evan Hansen