Lisa KS

I love musical theatre. I like it so much I consider it one of my hobbies and subscribe to Sirius for the Broadway station. All that to say I'm a huge fan of the genre and I went into this movie with the highest of hopes. I've had friends rave about the stage version, but I haven't seen it. After seeing the original cast of Hamilton in the "movie" version, I was EXCITED for the movie version of In the Heights. This was going to be my jam - I just knew it. But wow, was I mistaken. The movie's first hour drags so much that I wasn't sure I could even finish it. There are so many characters and so much backstory that it feels like you're building up to something, but eventually, it all falls flat. Anthony Ramos gave a stand-out performance as Usnavi and I loved when Christopher Jackson showed up and the on-hold phone music. But the rest of it? I was mostly confused. SPOILERS ---------------------->>> What was the point of the Stanford storyline? Had Nina never met someone undocumented before that? Did Benny lose his job? Does it matter? Why did Marc Anthony have a glorified cameo that didn't involve him singing? How did Usnavi clean out Abuela's entire apartment and only find the lottery ticket at the end? Why did Usnavi give up his dream to stay for Vanessa? Couldn't Vanessa have become a fashion designer in the Dominican Republic? What year did this all take place? I thought it was earlier since it was supposed to reflect LMM's upbringing, but people had cell phones. I'm totally open to the idea that every movie isn't for every person, but as a musical theatre buff, I really expected more from this one.