My wife and I, who are big fans of the musical In the Heights, watched the film (on HBO, not in a theater) last night, and… I think we were both a little disappointed.
I thought the musical numbers, including the performances, the choreography, the staging, etc., were overall fantastic. And the acting and dialog was certainly fine. But I think that overall, as a film, it felt… disjointed?
Maybe this is partly because I’m familiar with the broadway show, and thus kept getting distracted when things happened in the plot I wasn’t expecting. But I felt like I was watching two different movies. One fairly serious drama about politics, immigration, identity, racism and gentrification. And one joyous and enthusiastic dance musical celebrating the Latin culture of a neighborhood in New York, with goofy bits of magical staging. And frankly they didn’t really fit together all that well. (And I didn’t love the framing conceit, either).
Overall, it’s definitely worth watching. Even with my criticisms, I had fun. And I’d be curious to hear reviews from people who were going in blind.
Here is my review of it and I have not seen the musical and had never heard a single song from it.
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Gist: Beautifully shot and choreographed, a fun and uplifting musical for fans of the genre.
I am guilty of having not really heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda before Hamilton began to take off on Broadway a few years ago. I have to admit, having seen The Heights, I realize that he is a uniquely and deeply talented individual and is in many ways, a true national treasure. The Heights pre-dates Hamilton by a few years, and despite some flaws, it is a high-quality production and this movie is a very well made version of that musical. Note: this is a full movie production/version, not just a recorded stage performance like the Hamilton movie.
Pros:
Amazing cinematography
Amazing dance choreography, especially a sequence at a pool near the middle of the movie($96 g’s)
Great performances from every single lead performer
About 2-3 big hit songs that stand out as the best moments
Again, really just a gorgeous movie musical that was top-notch of its genre
Charming, a movie you are drawn to by its personality and positive feeling
Cons:
The musical has a lot of down-time that is less interesting
Some songs are forgettable and while not filler, kind of feel like it.
A happy, but surprisingly predictable and kind of generic story
I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes musicals. It is not a musical to draw in people that are not fans of that genre, but it will satisfy anyone who likes these types of movie. After seeing it, my wife and I wondered why they haven’t gone and made a full movie of Hamilton, not just record the stage performance. If they can make a Hamilton movie like this, it would be even better.
I liked the show when I saw it live locally from the regional theater, that was after discovering the cast album by randomly catching “Breathe” on the satellite radio Broadway channel.
Saw it in a theater and I think the movie did a really good job of owning that it was a movie musical. It didn’t shy away from it at all and I really appreciated that. For the most part I thought the movie did a pretty good job of adapting the play; I was bummed that they cut Inutil, and my wife missed Hundreds of Stories, and I understand why they edited Blackout down, even if it’s my favorite song in the show.
Even so, I think I liked the movie better than the show.
Similar feeling of letdown after really hyping myself up for this all week.
Pros, though–kudos to the amazing young cast, led by Anthony Ramos. They all brought all the heart that this musical deserves to the screen. And kudos to Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jon Chu, and Quiara Hudes for the choices they made to spotlight the joys and sorrows of this community and to bring Latinx representation to the screen (though now I’m hearing dissent on twitter that there weren’t enough darker-skinned Dominicans, for example. Can’t please everyone!). It was visually stunning and energetic, warm-hearted and upbeat–everything we need for the summer of 2021.
I did like that the story seemed to center more on Usnavi, whose role on stage had been narrator/tour guide rather than protagonist. And other than the loss of Nina’s tribute to her, the portrayal of Abuela Claudia was a lovely bit of film-making. I loved that they gave Cousin Sonny a slightly bigger role, and made more of the relationship between him and Usnavi.
Like the OP, I love the stage show so much, and maybe my expectations were just too high. Personally, I consider the stage version of “In the Heights” to have much more impact both musically and emotionally than “Hamilton”. When the full opening number was released earlier this week, I was on cloud nine. But I was very sad to see that the movie cut two of my favorite songs from Nina, wrote her mother out entirely, and cut back on her dad’s role (also cutting his songs–I don’t know, can Jimmy Smits sing?). Some was probably necessary to make the storyline more suitable for film-but I felt it diminished Nina’s character a lot. In particular, cutting “Everything I know” seemed to soften the impact that Abuela had on the community, and on her especially. Also felt a lot less invested in the Nina-Benny romance without the adorable “Sunrise”. (I also personally got thrown by the different treatment of the Lotto storyline, and it took me out of the movie a couple of times because I knew how it went in the play, and kept wondering where it was going.)
Finally-if you go to the theater for this, STAY AFTER THE CREDITS, especially if you’re a Lin-Manuel fan.
Watched it last night and thought it was very good. I haven’t seen the original stage musical, so I can’t speak to any differences/letdowns on that front, but taken on its own it was bright and fun and charming, with enough conflict to have some depth as well. The leads were all excellent, choreography and production design was wonderful, and there were some real standout numbers that killed.
It did sag a bit for me around 2/3 of the way through, seemed to lose momentum a bit and wander. I liked the “magical realism” moments but I think there were actually too few of them for the concept to feel totally integrated - it was almost like they were kind of tacked on. Stephanie Beatriz, who I loved in Brooklyn 99, was badly overacting all the time (though she sang beautifully).
But those are mostly minor quibbles to me. Overall, I enjoyed it very much and definitely recommend.
I thought the movie was simply ok, but my viewing experience on it was, personally, amazing and it makes me appreciate the movie/play so much more.
I think if I had just seen the movie by myself about five or so years ago that I, a middle class white dude from Indiana, probably would have thought it was a regular musical that was just ok-to-bad. There were too many plot lines happening at once, so none of them had a satisfying conclusion to me because I couldn’t get invested in any of them for the payoff.
However, I saw this movie now with my Cuban wife and it made me appreciate the movie so, so much more. She was practically bawling though the whole movie because of how much it hit home to her. It didn’t affect me AS much, but we’ve been married long enough for me to have spent time with her family and I can see just how real the move was in terms of relationships and the importance of Abuela.
I appreciated my viewing experience more than the movie, but it’s definitely something I’ll look out for if it comes to town as a travelling show since it seems the play is much better.
Huh. I thought both of those complemented each other very well. The celebration of Latin culture combined with those things that threaten that culture (immigration, racism, gentrification).
FWIW, I never saw the musical and loved the movie.
I also never saw the musical but I loved the movie. It’s no Hamilton, but you can see how that show came to be…I thought it was great. I could have done without the “dancing on the ceiling” bit, but whatevs. “Piragua” has been stuck in my head, and I was moved by “Alabanza.”
Not just theaters: HBO Max has the post-credits scene, too.
I saw the musical on Broadway with the original cast when it first opened and loved it, and I think the film was great as well! While I do have the cast album and knew the main songs, I wasn’t so familiar with it that I was able to remember what songs had been cut so I guess I didn’t miss what was gone. Though now having read mention that “Inutil” was cut, now I remember liking that song in the musical!
Loved loved Abuela Claudia and that Olga Merediz reprised her role from the original cast! I was also a little confused by the changes to the lotto storyline so wasn’t sure if they would have it play out the same way. And I did enjoy the framing device, it worked way better than I had assumed from the trailer.
I think my overall experience was also enhanced just by being there in the theater, the first time I have been back since March 7, 2020, and as someone who used to see 100+ films per year, the absence was really felt! Being in my favorite reclining seat in the best Dolby theater in the city, surrounded by (but far away from!) other theater fans who knew the musical well, I am not joking to say that I was tearing up just seeing the “Welcome to AMC” logo playing onscreen. My audience erupted into rapturous applause 4 times (the opening, “96,000,” “Pacencia Y Fe,” and the ending.) I had tears in my eyes for almost the entire film.
