by Conan Simmons – June 14, 2021 – 6:07 pm
Originally planned for release in the summer of 2020 and delayed, along with everything else, by the pandemic Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway play ‘In the Heights’ finally saw its movie adaptation hit screens over the weekend.
In what feels like the most promoted movie in the past year the musical, which was a Tony award winning hit on Broadway, mostly falls flat. It’s not a total misfire it’s just there are too many flaws that prevent ‘In the Heights’ from being the summer blockbuster the studio was hoping for.
The film opens with Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) tending to his small business on the beach in the Dominican Republic where he begins telling the story of how he got there to a group of children. Flashing back to Usnavi in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City we quickly learn that he owns a local bodega where he recieves word that his father’s business in the Dominican Republic is for sale after being wiped out by a hurricane. Usnavi makes it clear that he does not want to leave his New York City neighborhood but since it’s already been shown that he is in the other location the audience has no reason to become invested in the central plot.
There’s also the obligatory romantic interest as Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), an aspiring fashion designer, seeks to obtain an apartment in Manhattan but doesn’t have the necessary credit rating. Not the most compelling plotline yet somehow more interesting than the central plot given that you don’t immediately know the outcome of her situation.
Another underdeveloped plot of the movie is that of Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV), the teenager and lone employee of Usnavi’s bodega, whose happy-go-lucky optimism is challenged when he realizes his chances of going to college are blocked by his being an undocumented immigrant. We find out he is an undocumented immigrant when Usnavi goes to ask Sonny’s father (Marc Anthony) if he would allow Sonny to go with him to the Dominican Republic to continue working for him.
Perhaps the most interesting plot of the movie is that of Nina (Leslie Grace), who has dropped out of Stanford after experiencing multiple racist incidents which are only mentioned in dialogue and regulated to background information. Keeping it a secret from her father (Jimmy Smits) who is in the process of selling his business to pay for her tuition she struggles with how to let him know. The scene in which they finally confront each other is the film’s only real moment of engagement. It is a dramatic moment that almost feels out of place in an otherwise conflict-free movie and seems like a real missed opportunity to add a song to enhance the scene. This is a musical after all.
Nina is also romantically involved with Benny (Corey Hawkins), a dispatcher working at her father’s taxi company. Their romance is looked at with skepticism among the locals at the nail salon though no real dramatic conflict comes of it.
There are several other subplots to the movie but they really only serve to cover the fact that the central plot is so unengaging. The biggest of which is the films biggest failure.
Near the beginning of the film words appear on the screen stating “3 Days until blackout”. As the film progresses the countdown to the blackout continues so it comes as no surprise when it finally happens while Usnavi and Vanessa are having a bit of a spat in a nightclub. Does the blackout have any importance to the story? No. As the neighborhood gathers to talk about the power outage the audience is promptly shoved into a forced musical sequence of the neighborhood matriarch “Abuela” (Olga Merediz) reminiscing of her life immigrating to the U.S. from Cuba as she quietly passes away. It’s a good musical number and Merediz performs it well but the movie doesn’t do enough to bring the audience into this sudden storyline keeping it from being as impactful as it might have been.
‘In the Heights’ is directed by Jon M. Chu from a screenplay by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes. Lin-Manuel Miranda also appears on screen as Piragüero in what could have been a better central plot for the movie as he competes with the Mister Softee ice cream truck.
The cast is filled with capable performers but the main star, Anthony Ramos, lacks screen charisma to carry a feature of this magnitude. The ability to rap, sing and dance does not automatically make a leading actor. Practically every actor in this movie has more screen charisma than the lead.
The screen presence of Melissa Barrera and Gregory Diaz IV can easily be seen as stars on the rise. They effortlessly carry their scenes and make their characters likable despite being underwritten. Not an easy task for Diaz in the juvenile role that is barely more than comic relief in an already frothy movie. As for Barrera, it’s believable that Ramos’ Usnavi would have interest in her but they really lack chemistry together. In the club scene it’s clear that this would in reality be a failed romance but by the end of the movie Barrera’s character of Vanessa is hardly more than a male fantasy.
Filmed in the actual neighborhood of Washington Heights is a great benefit for the film as it keeps it from feeling like the usual stodgy stage-to-screen adaptations. Unfortunately, Jon M. Chu’s directing falters to juggling too many pieces with no strong point to make. It’s hard to care for a central character who clearly doesn’t want what they are trying to get and the wanna-be clever twist ending is glaringly obvious long before it happens.
Though the choreography is vibrant it does appear rough around the edges and for a musical to lack a breakout hit song is always a hindrance.
Audiences who like musicals will want to check this movie out, for those who don’t like
musicals it’s safe to skip ‘In the Heights’.
