Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Dear Evan Hansen review says that the hapless high school musical is highlighted by solid performances, but they can’t make up for banal ballads and a potato chip plot.

Dear Evan Hansen was supposed to be a big deal.

The Broadway version certainly was – it won six Tonys, including Ben Platt’s for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

Clinging to 26 when he made the film, he’s back to play a depressed, anxiety bound, socially dysfunctional teen. Many people are complaining that he’s too old, which I think is unfair.

Hollywood is full of older actors in younger roles, and if so much hadn’t been made of the issue by people who hadn’t seen the film yet (or if his father hadn’t produced the film) I don’t think the complaints would have been so bitter. Platt nails it, if you can truly nail anything with the consistency of artificially sweetened pudding.

If the storyline sounds forced, that’s because it is. Young, tragically insecure Evan Hansen’s therapist encourages him to start writing encouraging letters to himself, so he dutifully writes a very personal missive, prints it out on the school printer (as you do), and an emotionally disturbed classmate grabs it and disappears.

Several days later, the classmate commits suicide, the parents find the note and return it to Evan, thinking their son wrote it to him and that Evan was his only friend. They want to know more about their son. So Evan goes with it, fabricates an entire friendship because it makes the parents feel good, and becomes instantly popular. Social media rise and fall ensues.

Dear Evan Hansen’s major flaws are its vapid, pandering, nonsensical storyline and its unimaginative, manipulative music.

One sappy ballad sounds just like the next, and far too many are sung by an earnest student walking through a crowded high school hallway. At least the filmmakers had the good sense not to choreograph the background students.

Not even established  actors like Julianne Moore and Amy Adams can give gravitas to a film that wanders aimlessly for over two hours, and ultimately leaves its characters and audience scratching their heads, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Rated PG-13

2 Hours 17 Minutes

If this Dear Evan Hansen review doesn’t discourage you from seeing it, find local times and tickets on Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Dear Evan Hansen review says that the hapless high school musical is highlighted by solid performances, but they can’t make up for banal ballads and a potato chip plot.