Movie reviews: 'Dear Evan Hansen' has moments of pure emotion, but is sidelined by clunky presentation

This week, TV pop culture critic Richard Crouse reviews new movies: 'Dear Evan Hansen,' 'The Starling,' 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye' and 'Joe Bell.'

“Dear Evan Hansen,” the big screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, is a mixed bag. The coming-of-age story of a misunderstanding that takes on a life of its own, has moments of pure emotion, but is often sidelined by clunky presentation.

Ben Platt reprises his Tony-winning role as Evan Hansen, a high school outcast with a history of Social Anxiety Disorder. His loving-but-absent nurse mom (Julianne Moore) encourages him to put himself out there and meet new people, but his nerves always get the best of him. Even his only friend Jared (Nik Dodani, who provides much needed comic relief) makes it clear that he only speaks to Evan because their mothers are friends.

Evan’s therapist has him write daily Stuart “Doggone It, People Like Me!” Smiley style affirmations, letters addressed Dear Evan Hansen, followed by paragraphs of “Today is going to be a good day,” style declarations. When one of his letters is taken by troubled classmate Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), Evan worries it will end up online, bringing humiliation and ridicule. Instead, the letter takes on a life in a way Evan could never have imagined when Connor dies by suicide.

Connor’s parents, Cynthia and Larry (Amy Adams and Danny Pino) find the note and assume it is Connor’s last words to his best friend.