Review: In the Heights

 

It’s easy to write a check list of all the things In the Heights does right. It features a stellar cast of fresh faces (though getting to see Jimmy Smits sing and dance is an added treat), the songs are toe-tapping to a fault, the big numbers are staged with verve and energy, and the whole thing is so defiantly good-natured it’s all but impossible to not feel your spirits soar at the high notes. So why does the whole thing fall just a little flat?

 

In the Heights is the story of Washington Heights in New York, a Latinx neighbourhood undergoing the usual pressures of gentrification and social mobility. Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) owns the local bodega, but is saving up to return home to the Dominican Republic to restore his father’s beachfront bar; Nina (Leslie Grace) is back home from Stanford to the praise of her community (and her father, the aforementioned Smits) for having “made it out”, but in her heart she doesn’t think she can go back.

 

The two stories mirror each other. He wants to leave but forces are pulling him back, most notably Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), a beauty technician who’s dreams of moving into fashion remain firmly local. Nina wants to stay – and her ex Benny (Corey Hawkins), who works at her father’s taxi company, is definitely ok with that – but giving up her one shot to make a difference in the world and her community is a tough choice.

 

Weaving in and out are a range of other characters, all of whom illuminate one aspect or another of the community – the past, the future, the need to belong, and so on. It’s a patchwork quilt where the real story develops from the intersections between characters; if you’re after a dramatic story built around personal choices, this isn’t for you.

 

What sells all of this, and what was no doubt so impressive to see on the stage, is the spectacle of it all. This is a real musical, where the music is at least as much the point of it all as everything else – but on the big screen two hours twenty of song after song can feel a little draining, even though this is constantly mixing things up, refusing to settle into a rut.

 

While its high angle view of a community is perfect for a stage show – where the audience is automatically at a remove from what’s they’re seeing – movies by their very nature are much more up close and intimate. We can’t help but get involved with individual characters when they’re looming large on the screen; despite strong performances across the board, In the Heights just isn’t that kind of story.

 

Ironically for something clearly designed to be experienced surround by people, In the Heights might end up working best at home, where audiences (once they know the story) can dip in and out of it. There are plenty of great moments here; it’s when they’re piled up one atop another for over two hours that the connecting threads start to fray.

 

- Anthony Morris