Antoinette Doyle

"Dear Evan Hansen" was a much better movie than I anticipated because of the negative reviews I had read, especially in NYT. I appreciated the moral integrity underpinning its mission to illuminate the seriousness of adolescent mental illness. Had I not read other reviews, I would have expected Ben Platt to be a teenager, not a twenty-something. As usual, Amy Adams and Julianne Moore were excellent in their maternal roles, but Danny Pino, an actor I admire from his Detective Nick Amaro days on Law & Order SVU, lacked the requisite gravitas for the role of Connor's stepfather. If a future remake is ever undertaken, I'd cast Adam Driver.