Dear Evan Hansen

Ben Platt re-creates his Tony Award-winning role as Evan Hansen in this paean to teen angst and social media manipulation.

Platt plays a high school senior with social anxiety disorder so he writes chirpy letters to himself every day spewing foolishness about how good the day will be. Suicidal Connor (a raving nutbag on the loose) steals a letter and then kills himself that night. When the letter is found (the letters are always addressed Dear Evan Hansen...) the delusional mother (Amy Adams) latches on to the nonsense idea that Connor and Evan had been secret friends.

Platt then latches on to the idea as well since it suddenly gives him a spotlight as the school reels over the suicide (although no one knew the dead kid). He invents a friendship and insinuates himself into the dead kid's family and gets closer to his sister (the dour Kaitlyn Dever). This new family thing alienates him from his own mother (Julianne Moore, 20 years too old for the role).

As the whole grief thing turns into a social media blast the lies start to be exposed and the whole things crashes around Platt. The silly orchard memorial Kickstarter thing made me puke a little.

The songs all sound like they're being made up on the spot. Tuneless and with repetitive lyrics that hark back to their Broadway origins. Remember show tunes? These ain't them.

Platt is made up via prosthetics and heavy make-up to look ten years younger, but with that curly hair-do he looks like a deranged Harpo Marx. And the whole rejuvenation makes him look like he has a hook nose. Moore, on the other hand, looks old enough to be his grandmother. Apparently they used all the film's make-up budget on Platt.

Lastly, while Platt's "tic and twitch" singing style worked on stage, it's rather bizarre in a Hollywood close-up.