In The Heights - Energetic and Fun

 

If you can do so safely, see it in theaters. 

or

Stream it on HBO Max (through July 11).

    On January 20th, 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway sensation, Hamilton, hit the scene. It won eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and oversells tickets worldwide to this day. However, before his success with Hamilton, Lin-Manuel first hit the Broadway scene with a similar-in-style musical show titled In The Heights, which debuted in 2008. An upbeat and rhythmically well-worded show about the plight and aspirations of the underrepresented Puto Rican population in America, specifically New York City. Now, the Broadway debut of Hamilton's creator has been treated to a sensational feature-film adaptation, courtesy of the only working director in Hollywood who could pull it off (arguably), Jon M. Chu (more on him in a minute). 

    The story takes place in New York a few days before an infamous blackout during one of the most brutal heat waves. The story follows a few characters who each have their own aspirations: one wants to reopen his father's bar in the Caribian, one wants to become a fashion designer, one wants to leave college, and one just wants to earn his citizenship to find his dream on his own terms. 

    While these storylines are engaging and center around generally likable characters, they are not the main attraction to the show. Rather, the show's meat resides in its overall themes of pride in one's heritage, happiness in simplicity, and courage to make your voice be heard. And, of course, the ever-reliable, tongue-twisting, finger-snapping, foot-tapping, fun time feeling of Lin-Manuel's music and rhymes. His style of fusing rap with traditional musical presentation is always a joy to listen to and often more fun when accompanied by striking visuals. 

    As you might expect from a show penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the songs are upbeat, witty, and overall fun to listen to. They all have a heartbeat of their own that succeeds in sounding uniform without being too similar. My favorite song of the show is "96,000", both for its musicality and the clever bits of visual effects featured in the film. 

    Director Jon M. Chu, whose previous ventures include Step Up 2: The Streets, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Crazy Rich Asians (a film I sadly did not write a review for but absolutely loved, minus some questionable editing choices), brings his signature flair and style to the show. Mr. Chu seems to specialize in shows with a great deal of musicality (both in the actual music and in the visuals). He especially seems to enjoy projects with the opportunity to include dance numbers. I can recall watching Step Up 2, not expecting anything spectacular due to low expectations set by the first film (which Mr. Chu did not direct), and finding myself enjoying the sequel substantially more. There were a few reasons why, but the prominent one was for the dance sequences, which all contained enthusiastic energy missing from the first film. That same enthusiasm and passion shine through in this rather awesome film. 

    The vast majority of the cast is spectacular, both as singers and as dancers. Most of the cast is incredibly talented and delivers spectacular professionalism and energy that makes you want to get up and join them. I say "most" because at least one singer appears to have fallen victim to the "Pop Star Training" style of singing. By that, I mean this one singer (who shall go nameless) has a terrible habit of over-emphasizing a specific style and tone of singing often found in many modern female pop singers: a breathy and childish high-pitched tone intended to sound more, for want of a better word, erotic for no sound reason, other than to try and sell records through subtle sex appeal. At the very least, this particular singer does not have too much screentime, nor does she utilize this overdone and horrible-sounding style too often, but it's still there. 

    My only real nitpick with the film, aside from the aforementioned singer, is some of the films editing choices. Unfortunately, this also seems to be a running theme with Jon M. Chu's work. Sometimes the editing is fluid and maintains a sense of flow, but other times it feels too sporadic and nonsensical, especially when it gets to some bigger musical numbers. Sometimes, the editing matches the beat of the songs perfectly; other times, it does whatever it wants. I'm sure this is a fine style that works in most music videos, but it just bothers me personally. 

    In The Heights is a fun and energetic experience that feels like the perfect way to celebrate our continued triumph over the pandemic. Not to say that we are totally clear, but we are much better now than we were six months ago. That, to me, is something worth celebrating, and this is the perfect film to set that mood. 

    Check it out. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.