Don’t pay attention to the rave reviews director John Chu’s overtly-sentimental “In the Heights” has been getting. Ever heard of virtue signaling, yeah, this film’s backers seem to be doing just that, in droves. Unless, of course, you’re open and willing to spend an unnecessarily bloated 2 hours and 22 minutes watching boisterously inclusive dancing in the streets of New York City’s Washington Heights, and nothing else,
The film is an adaptation of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Broadway hit from 2008 and comparisons to “West Side Story” will be made, albeit without the gang wars nor the poetic grit Robert Wise brought to that 1961 classic. There is no serious conflict here. If anything, “gentrification” can be seen as the subtle antagonist.
Washington Heights, a district of Manhattan, and spirited home of Latin American communities, sets the stage for two romances; the first one between Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), he runs a corner store, and the smart, beautiful Vanessa (Melissa Barerra), she works at a nail salon, but dreams of fashion designing. Meanwhile, Nina (Leslie Grace) returns to the neighbourhood feeling guilt-ridden of leaving poverty for her Stanford education, she wants to drop out, worried that her dad (Jimmy Smits) will have a lifetime of debt paying for her tuition. Nina’s ex-boyfriend Benny (Corey Hawkins) still loves her and we soon realize the only reason they broke up was due to his lack of interest in committing to a long-distance relationship.
And so, a bountiful amount of characters come and go, such as Usnavi’s cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz), Miranda himself as the local selling cold drinks from a car and then there’s the peculiar case of an unclaimed lottery ticket worth $96,000 which, we suspect, might belong to Usnavi’s “Abuela” (ie “Grandma”) Claudia (Olga Merediz). It all culminates with the Washington Heights blackout, which shut down all the fridges and the A/Cs in the heights. However, regardless of the power outage, the party does continue on, dreams get pursued, elaborately-staged set-pieces come and go, all are served with a heavy dose of hip-hop.
The implausibilities also never end; there is no racial tension, the street life tamed for snowflake consumption. What we get is a movie tries to drive its narrative via the joys that come in being part of a sparkling and inclusive community. Chu, who also over-stylized and over-directed his breakout feature (“Crazy Rich Asians), is a man addicted to excess. This is a film that tries its damnest to win us over, but did it have to come with this much old-fashioned rambunctious twee?
SCORE: C
I wouldn't call this film great — it stops short of that because of how neatly it resolves itself — but I'll give Rock his due here: this is much better than his previous directorial effort, "Top Five."