Dear Evan Hansen
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 24, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 48 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
26
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshSep 23, 2021
The effort put into making this film work is palpable, but the result is something deeply surreal and strange. Perhaps this story simply can’t work as a film, or perhaps it wasn’t a very good musical to begin with. It’s a question that may be debated for years to come. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 22, 2021
I dare say every review of this adaptation has the words “well-intentioned” in it. “Sweet,” too. So it is. But if that’s the best thing you can say about it, well… Read full review
35
PolygonCharles BramescoSep 24, 2021
On film, this story’s foundation of cynical button-pushing is laid bare. Read full review
30
The AtlanticDavid SimsSep 27, 2021
Almost everything imaginable has gone wrong on the journey from stage to screen, and the result is a film that isn’t even “so bad it’s good,” like some other recent musical movies; mostly, it’s just painful to watch. Read full review
30
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 27, 2021
This is a movie that repeatedly calls out a dead kid just to make its points. If that’s your idea of entertainment—or even just adequate message-based filmmaking—run, don’t walk, to see Dear Evan Hansen. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 23, 2021
The film suffers from a different condition, an emotional elephantiasis that is inexorable and ultimately terminal. What was by all accounts a modestly scaled production in all of its live-theater iterations has become a ponderous movie that turns earnest into maudlin, lyrical into lugubrious. Read full review
30
SlashfilmJosh SpiegelSep 23, 2021
Dear Evan Hansen, for all the plaudits it received on stage, is a hollow attempt at broad-based sincerity that felt hollow even before it became a big-screen adaptation. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleSep 22, 2021
Dear Evan Hansen is a rare musical that must be seen to be believed. Few shows are less equipped to grapple with their subject matter; watching someone Wikipedia the plot synopsis of the musical in real time remains one of the last true pleasures available to us as a society. Read full review
30
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 15, 2021
Director Stephen Chbosky badly mishandles the material, resulting in an increasingly frustrating experience in which Evan’s inability to come clean leads to a string of emotional manipulations that sometimes border on cruel. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 22, 2021
Director Stephen Chbosky needed to bring this stage musical into greater balance with the film medium. He needed to make Dear Evan Hansen less grandiose. He needed to pick up the pace and chop 10 minutes from the running time. It’s still possible that wouldn’t have saved it, but it might have made it less awful. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsSep 10, 2021
It’s an emotionally manipulative, overlong dirge composed of cloying songs, lackluster vocal performances, and even worse writing. Read full review
25
IndieWireTina HassanniaSep 9, 2021
Unfortunately, Stephen Chbosky’s poor directorial choices cancel out the rousing success Dear Evan Hansen was on stage, with a cascade of glaring distractions that continuously point out the artificiality of the genre. Read full review
23
Paste MagazineJacob OllerSep 27, 2021
I could dig into any number of the movie’s unfortunate choices, bad decisions or downright detestable elements—sprinkling in faint praise like, hey, the Tony-winning Platt might be acting through five layers of bullsh*t, but he can still sing—and I’d still never capture all the reasons Dear Evan Hansen fails. Read full review
20
Little White LiesCorey AtadOct 22, 2021
The depths of failure here are difficult to overstate, beginning with bringing Platt back to the role he originated on stage despite his age. Read full review
16
The PlaylistMarya E. GatesSep 10, 2021
Frankly, the musical, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and book by Steven Levenson, itself is where the fault lies. There were few redeemable qualities to begin with, and Chbosky’s dreary, washed-out direction adds nothing to its already bleak, vapid existence. Read full review
10
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 23, 2021
Treacly and manipulative, Dear Evan Hansen turns villain into victim and grief into an exploitable vulnerability. It made me cringe. Read full review
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