Movie Breakdown: In The Heights

Pre-Screening Stance:

My wife has been long been super excited for this adaptation of In The Heights, and in turn I’ve become equally excited to check it out. Don’t fail us now, Jon M. Chu and Lin-Manuel Miranda!

Post-Screening Ramble:

I had a strange moment at my screening of In The Heights where the power went off and it took the theater staff about 15 minutes to get the film back on the screen. Normally, I would have found such a thing jarring, but I was actually pretty thankful for it this time around, as it provided a much-needed intermission. In The Heights is a long film – close to two and a half hours – and while I really loved its large scale musical numbers, I found everything in between them a little difficult to get into. The dialogue is largely sung, which is fine (hey, it’s a musical), but it’s often clunky and too quick to ramp into something overly cheesy and/or dramatic. The principal cast turns in nice performances, but they’re all so stunningly beautiful that it’s hard to buy into things being that bad for them (it’s a really weird effect but it rings true here). I also thought it was a little odd that while the film certainly carries an overall fantastic and positive message, one that emphasizes how important it is to maintain and support your communities, it doesn’t do a lot with it, nor does it ever take a staunch anti-gentrification stance. Ultimately, I think director Jon M. Chu just injects too much fluff and noise into In The Heights, but hey, when his aesthetically vibrant film soars, it really is something. Your mileage may vary.

In The Heights will open in theaters and on HBO Max this Friday, June 11.

One Last Thought:

I’ve rather enjoyed Lin-Manuel Miranda’s turn as the charismatic and adventurous Lee Scoresby in His Dark Materials, so it was really odd for me every time he popped up in this movie as the slightly frumpy “Piragua Guy.”