Review of In the Heights (2021) by Nateed — 24 Jul 2021

This movie adaptation is good. It’s not bad nor amazing. It’s just good. Good is never a bad thing, but when I think about a movie musical, I think of big grand musical acts with amazing heart, choreography, and acting.

The movie didn’t hold those aspects throughout which I think made In the Heights feel a bit weaker than others. It doesn’t help that Jon M. Chu barely adds any visual flair to the movie besides a handful of scenes.

The story is also very crowded and doesn’t do a good job of balancing the three main storylines. Anthony Ramos’s Usnavi deals with feeling the nostalgia of his childhood life in the Dominican Republic while wondering where his real home is.

Ramos does a great job here and captures the emotions of his character extremely well. Melissa Barrera’s Vanessa deals with wanting more in her life and wanting to start a career in the fashion industry.

Barrera does fine in this role, but I think some of her line delivery was off and that her character wasn’t fully fleshed out in the best way. Leslie Grace’s Nina deals with a similar feeling as Usnavi as she figures out what her real home is and how she can put her amazing education to use.

Grace does quite well in this role and has amazing chemistry with Corey Hawkins. However, her story feels unfinished by the end of the movie with no follow-up on how she has helped undocumented kids create a life for themselves in the states.

I would have loved to have seen Nina help out Sonny or have been there when he started dealing with DACA. It has been such an important topic in this day and age, so I thought it would have been nice to see that aspect of Nina’s character be explored more.

A similar problem happens with a lot of the characters in this movie. The writing feels very unfinished by the end and only really focuses on Usnavi which sucks because this movie had an amazing ensemble cast.

This leads me to discuss my favorite character in this movie: Olga Merediz’s Claudia or “Abuela”. Merediz does such an amazing job in this movie and is the stand-out character in this film. Her performance of “Paciencia y Fe” was so powerful and left a major impact on me even after I was done watching the movie.

Her final words to her mother put me on the verge of crying. From when the family and friends started to play the bingo game to the tribute outside their home as the ensemble sang, “Alabanza” was just pure heart.

That sequence alone would make me want to recommend this movie to anyone. Before I write another 100+ words about “Paciencia y Fe”, let me head back to the writing problem. In the Heights has a promising story and amazing characters as I described above, but it feels too crowded and sometimes predictable (and this is coming from someone who has not seen the musical).

For example, Lin Manuel Miranda’s character, Piragüero, felt so out of place and never connected with the other characters. It took up time that could’ve been used to continue other stories that could have benefited from the extra time.

I would have loved to have seen how all the other characters were doing and not just Usnavi and his future family. If you're gonna dive into that territory, might as well explore it some more. This movie is entertaining and will have you dancing in your seat as you listen to all the amazing, timely songs.

The colors pop off the screen and the film does a really good job putting you in the world of Washington Heights. What brings this movie down a lot is its poor writing and not-so-stellar pacing. However, it always pulls you back in right after a bumpy road.

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