Film

Dear Evan Hansen

Name: Dear Evan Hansen
Genre: Drama
Released: 2021
Cast: Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani

Coming-of-age

A high schooler with crippling anxiety tells a lie that spirals into something monstrous. It's genuinely about the shame of wanting to belong, the weight of other people's grief, and what happens when you can't admit you're wrong. Difficult to watch, sometimes unbearably tense, anchored by a performance of real fragility.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a sharp, unflinching look at loneliness and the small lies people tell to be seen, and you can stay with discomfort without needing it resolved neatly.

Skip it if the story leans on its central deception for long stretches and its earnestness can feel heavy, so if grief-driven drama already feels like too much weight, pass.

What it asks of you: It runs 137 minutes at a patient pace, with long stretches of quiet awkwardness you have to sit through rather than skim past.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Perks of Being a Wallflower2012

Another thoughtful film about adolescent isolation, vulnerability, and the complicated beauty of finding your people. Less accusatory than Dear Evan Hansen, more forgiving, but equally honest about what it costs to be young and afraid.

But The tone can feel a bit precious, and there's a darkness to it that some find overwrought rather than moving.

Eighth Grade2018

Bo Burnham's debut captures the mortification of being thirteen with excruciating accuracy. It's quieter than Dear Evan Hansen but shares its anxiety about social performance and the gap between who you are and who you're pretending to be.

But Painfully cringe-inducing by design. If watching someone embarrass themselves makes you want to leave the theater, this will test you.

Everything Sucks!2018

A short-lived comedy-drama about high school misfits finding solidarity through theater. It understands loneliness and the desperate need to matter, with genuine warmth underneath the awkwardness.

But It got cancelled after one season, so there's no closure. The humor-to-heartbreak ratio isn't for everyone.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Dear Evan Hansen

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Most Violent Year2014

Both are about the psychology of being misread—of having one false thing believed and then living inside it until it becomes real. The stakes are different but the terror is the same.

Oscar Isaac as a man trying to build a legitimate life while the world assumes the worst of him. It's morally complex and visually beautiful, about how quickly you can become your own worst fear, and how thin the line is between appearance and truth.

But Slow-burn crime drama with minimal action. If you want tension released through plot, this will frustrate you.

The Fault in Our Stars2014

Also about young people grappling with mortality and meaning. Less morally complicated than Dear Evan Hansen, but shares its earnestness and willingness to let sadness be sad without irony.

But Heavy on teenage philosophy and romance. If you find that sentimental, the whole thing will feel manipulative.

13 Reasons Why2017

A series that also centers suicide and its ripple effects, building mystery and moral complexity around a young death. It commits fully to the dark material without flinching.

But The show became increasingly melodramatic and was criticized for its portrayal of suicide. Later seasons lose the careful handling of the premise.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always2020

Another film about teenage girls navigating shame and secrecy. It's quiet and observational, with real empathy for how isolation feels when you're young and in crisis.

But Deliberately understated and slow. Some will find it meditative; others will find it boring.

A Ghost Story2017

About grief, time, and the ways we haunt each other. Like Dear Evan Hansen, it's interested in what we leave behind and how people live with absence.

But Experimental and oblique. It requires patience and comfort with ambiguity. Some find it profound; others find it pretentious.

Boy Erased2018

About a young man trapped in a lie, forced to hide who he is. It shares Dear Evan Hansen's interest in the psychological cost of deception and the systems that demand it.

But Difficult subject matter about conversion therapy. The ending offers some hope but the film doesn't shy from real damage.

Sound of Metal2020

Both use disability (Ahmed's deafness, Platt's anxiety) not as metaphor but as the actual center of the story. Both are about what happens when you won't acknowledge what's wrong.

Riz Ahmed as a drummer losing his hearing and resisting help. It's formally inventive, using sound design as storytelling. About grief, denial, and the cost of refusing to accept what's happening to you.

But The formal experimentation can be distracting. Some viewers find it emotionally distant despite its serious subject.