Payton Payne

I was extremely disappointed by the movie adaptation of In the Heights. They basically took some of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs but then changed the entire story around it. Nina and Benny were completely useless characters. There love story was the most boring love story I’ve seen in my life. “We used to date…wanna date again? Sure.” The end. In the musical they had so much more depth that added to the story as a whole. Abuela Claudia was also cut short. The musical was mainly about Usnavi and Abuela Claudia. However, the movie was more about Usnavi and Vanessa and there just wasn’t enough there to craft a compelling story out of. I didn’t even cry during Pacenia y Fe because there wasn’t enough build up of Abuela Claudia’s character to make me care that she died. ALSO THEY CUT NINA’S MOM! I can’t with this one. “Enough” is such a good and relatable song and they cut it as well as the character. I’m pretty peeved about that. The only saving grace is that Vanessa is more tolerable in the movie and the production was well done. There were a lot of creative shots and cool use of motion graphics. But the story was just not there for me. This could have been something spectacular.