A needlessly thorough roast of Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

[@trtx84]

Carry yourself with the confidence of Julianne Moore singing "truck."

[@abbywolffe4114]

ₜᵣᵤcₖ

[@kleerude]

Trrrrrrruk

[@b3z3jm3nny]

16:59 for a time stamp of the truck lol

[@Halberddent]

You've been hit by, you've been struck by, truck

[@burntcookie0073]

tRUCK

[@darbyfitch518]

“Pretends to know a girl’s dead brother so he can get together with her” is like some It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia shit

[@jeniferjoseph9200]

Woulda worked better that way. In fact it did; it’s called Heathers lol

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Yeah, I can imagine a movie portraying something like that with the same energy as Jay and Silent Bob picking up chicks outside of an abortion clinic.

[@redorthros]

"The Gang Find a Dead Body"

[@robloggia]

He's got a Dennis vibe going on so that makes sense.

[@Jack91790]

Eh, it's not quite that bad. He does try to tell people. They want badly to believe Connor had friends so they ignore him. It works much better in the play.

[@mahrinui18]

Every song is triggered by someone walking up to Evan and pressing E.

[@katzea.a7880]

It's sensitive to context amirite?

[@NonsenseWithGlasses]

I wonder how many songs were accidentally triggered by someone trying to pick something off the ground too close to him.

[@SnakeandBake1]

@@NonsenseWithGlasses too many they’re like unskippable cutscenes

[@kimifw58]

What's E?

[@katzea.a7880]

@@kimifw58 The E key in a keyboard, famously used as the interaction button in many pc games

[@MacheteSquad]

Regarding Ben Platt's t-rex arm mannerisms- It's pretty clear that the reason why he does tiny gestures because Ben Platt is used to the stage giving him full range of movement, and in the film adaptation he is stuck in my tiny tv. If he gestures too widely he'll hit the side of the screen.

[@xxratsrcutexx3494]

That seems reasonable lol

[@lilyfinallyinthesun]

this actually made me lol

[@Draqua]

Free him

[@valentinahendrick9540]

Or someone in the scene with him, Considering there’s also more space on stage for more people

[@theekatspajamas]

@@valentinahendrick9540 no, stuck in tv

[@owenleal]

Its kinda badass of Connor's actor to finnesse both the best and shortest role in the film, show his emotional range by playing both a sad emo version and a charismatic show toons version of the same character and then cut out of the film before he has to do anything else. Literally the perfect acting reel.

[@fawnlowell6094]

Conner's actor is actually really good! his name's Colton Ryan and he's the second lead in my favorite musical Alice by heart where he also shows incredible range. i hope he gets roles better than this lol

[@SwizzleMix]

Resume Driven Acting

[@toto.dreamer]

@@fawnlowell6094fun fact! Mike Faist was also involved in the Alice by heart workshops. It’s really cool how these two actors are connected - theatre is a small world!

[@amdaly1-iz3vb]

@@toto.dreamer Ben Platt was involved too.

[@erich6073]

He turned up on an episode of Poker Face and I was like "Where do I know that guy from? Oh right, a movie I've never seen and only know about from a Jenny Nicholson video."

[@Chlo255]

During If I Could Tell Her, when Ben Platt was advancing on Zoe with that depraved look in his eye my friend whispered "he's got a knife" and it was the most enjoyment I got out of this movie

[@heath6802]

Depraved is exactly the way to describe Platt’s performance there and in the other Zoey scenes

[@sottosopravoce]

I guffawed.

[@snakes7303]

This made me laugh, a very loud laugh, and all my family heard …..

[@Goobiusgoober]

I NEED TO WTAHC THIS MOVIE WITH MY FRIEND AND SAY TAGT AHAHAHHA THANK YOU

[@lulzforthewin2509]

27:56

[@roosterboots4684]

Can't believe they cast 54 year-old Fred Armisen as the teenage lead here, but kudos to him for trying something new

[@Emma-sr1vf]

THIS COMMENT HAS ME ROLLING

[@miaatkinson1067]

Thank you, I was wracking my brain trying to figure out why he looks so unsettling

[@erinpierce83]

Thank you for your help

[@funpolice5821]

This comment should be illegal!🙊

[@roosterboots4684]

@@funpolice5821 What are you? The fun poli- oh SHIT.

[@Jacobyeavello]

Movie could've been fixed if they added a scene right at the top where Evan looks to camera and says dryly: "I can't believe I was held back ten years in a row"

[@glass.hammer]

That make up was so bad, It might as well have been 10 years per grade.

[@marsplease]

I almost choked on my own spit reading this comment, thanks

[@Jacobyeavello]

@@braingirl9112 No, because you just add her to that same scene and she looks to camera and says: "Yes, I was also held back too, as well"

[@1Hawkears1]

I can only read this in Jenny's deadpan delivery lol

[@akumakorgar]

He's the high school Van Wilder

[@WhatAmySays]

Evan always looks like he's trying to hide the fact that he's been bitten by a zombie

[@CNWhatImSaiyan]

Hence the cast…🤔

[@Crypted112]

he kinda looks like he's turning into a zombie with the weird puffed up kinda pale face, sweat, bulging facial muscles, and strange hunched over lurching walk

[@Mirrored33]

@@Crypted112Totally

[@everlyting7587]

I laughed out loud thank you

[@haggisa]

Like the banana from Community!

[@greathorn]

Ben yelling “I LOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU”, his face desperately attempting to escape his head, while slowly approaching Zoey as the camera stays entirely still is absolutely horrifying

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Yeah, the cinematographer didn’t know what the hell they were doing.

[@theconsciousobserver6829]

This is how white guys act what's the problem

[@dildonius]

@@theconsciousobserver6829 Nononono. He never punched a hole in a wall.

[@nailinthefashion]

@@dildonius they aren't all that spicy though

[@LunaLaFae]

He looks a lot like Rick Moranis in Ghost Busters when he's possessed by the Key Master!

[@dolores111]

When Evan says he wants depressed kids to “go out and climb trees” am i the only one who feels that its a pretty morbid thing to say when he has just tried to kill himself by jumping out of a tree?

[@jkfecke]

Yeah, that's...that's definitely a choice.

[@Alice-burrice]

thank you!! I was thinking that the whole time like, did they forget about it, or what??

[@ChumblesMumbles]

Which was a totally unnecessary and problematic revelation in the first place - the point of the cast on his arm isn't how he broke his arm - it's to show that it has no signatures - he has no friends. That's the entire point of his cast. Trying to shoe-horn in at the end an explanation for how he broke his arm serves no purpose but to muddle the story.

[@lunesdoesstuffiguess3527]

“go out and touch grass” is what he basically said

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

@@Char-mv3fc hey, grass is still cool if you're depressed. I like grass

[@JoshuaWillis89]

Evan literally looks like an SNL parody version of a kid. It’s embarrassing.

[@mockneck]

Reminds me of Jonah Hill's Adam Grossman at Benihana... (except somehow Jonah Hill is actually a more convincing 7 year old than Platt is as a teenager)

[@the-amazing-karnak]

How do ya do, fellow kids?

[@jamiet.s.2137]

I thought this as well and halfway through the movie, I realized he looks a bit like Fred Armisen as one of his Portlandia characters and now I can't unsee it....

[@Xondar11223344]

@@jamiet.s.2137 He looks like Fred Armisen playing a teenager in a particularly hilarious/ridiculous Portlandia sketch.

[@KenzieJordyn]

“Watch what I can do!” 😂

[@whoisxenon]

Ben Platt saying no one else could possibly play Evan is made 1000% funnier when you remember that his fiancé also played Evan Hansen on Broadway

[@karak962]

W H A T

[@spookyho5994]

WHAt-

[@Evelynn_of_Runeterra]

I can not believe someone like Ben Platt could be in a health relationship

[@fireafire]

LMAO YES THAT'S TRUE

[@steverogers7601]

Christ almighty. I liked him before but this is just not respectable lol

[@mia-tr4shm4n50]

The most culturally important thing to come out of the Dear Evan Hansen franchise was Rupaul thinking the main character's name is Dear.

[@Sarah-qx4vz]

LOL I have no idea what the context of this is but that cracks me up

[@siena4235]

WHAT DDSDGHIK

[@mcwyman7928]

@Eduardo De Lara Season 10, I forget which episode. Ru was talking to Miz Cracker about opening up or being vulnerable or something.

[@chocolateeclair9879]

Ben Platt who plays Dear in Dear Evan Hansen

[@hannabennett819]

absolutely

[@Politoed89]

connor's family at thanksgiving in 5 years like "remember that creep with the caked on foundation that sang pop songs at us"

[@chillcreep4926]

this made me laugh until I started choking and coughing, thank you

[@MrAdryan1603]

"Sang pop songs at us" - Hahahahaa

[@playmakersc12k82]

😂

[@BlakeGeometrio]

😭😭😭

[@tess8691]

NOO THIS KILLED ME 😂😂😂

[@jonathanneil5901]

In One Direction’s defence, Jenny, they did *try* to share the best song ever with us. They think it went ‘oh, oh, oh’. They think it went ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ They think it went ‘oooh’.

[@thomask.98]

;D

[@Stevonicus]

I like to think Tenacious D's "Tribute" is about the same song as One Direction's song.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

@@Stevonicus You stole my joke, you beautiful bastard.

[@LateCambrian]

Just to be clear, the best song ever would NOT go Oh Oh Oh or Yeah Yeah Yeah….or Ooh

[@QuikVidGuy]

@@LateCambrian there are a lot of people who think She Loves You is the best song ever I've heard that... at least twice...

[@stealthlord6620]

I’m sorry but hearing the mom confront him for his lie, and then hearing him mumble “words fail” will never not be the funniest shit i’ve ever heard

[@owenleal]

To this day, whenever Im exasperated, I will warble "wOrds fAil, woOrdds fAil 😔" and no one will get it.

[@jack-a-lopium]

I love that bit, it's so good :D

[@Rumhaaaaaaaam]

time stamp bc this is also my favourite moment of the whole video: 50:56

[@starrycharacter]

"hey have you been lying to us about knowing our dead kid!?" "WOrdS fAiL"

[@punkpossum6192]

This movie is unintentionally very good at depicting social anxiety because 28 year old Ben Platt in ghoulish teenager cosplay accurately depicts how I think I look in any given social situation

[@Ceduria]

Omg yes 😂

[@suemccashland]

😂😂😂

[@lexnight]

Pretty much.

[@Robstafarian]

That is why I do not dress that way, seriously.

[@BelleFlower15]

😂😂 I do feel just as ghoulish and unsettling in front of people, it's true

[@heckyeah1004]

In Ben Platt's defense, 45 is really young in tree years.

[@katbarbera3527]

underrated comment

[@morriewalnuts6683]

Oh my god that's so good

[@colleenrawson8477]

😂😂😂

[@jessicab2409]

😂😂

[@Goobiusgoober]

😭😭😭 YOURE SO BAD BAHAHAHA

[@katbarbera3527]

“actually i’m neurodivergent and a minor”- 30 year old Evan Hansen

[@cam4636]

That's it, that's the show

[@Haittavero]

This is so fucking funny

[@fawnalove7569]

Underrated comment

[@SeymourDisapproves]

@@cinderellaskeleton6720 who tf are you talking about

[@couldbequinn9487]

reminds me of that scene in Bojack where Vance Waggoner's publicist says "he's just a 49 year old kid he's still learning!"

[@mothballsva]

i was forced to sing both “This is Me” and “You Will Be Found” in my high school choir, and they sounded so god damn similar that i felt like i was losing my goddamn mind.

[@paegr]

Literally the exact same thing happened to me. As a bass, nothing can put into words my burning hatred for Broadway songs haphazardly slapped into choral arrangements

[@analyticalbaguette]

I am gradually discovering that apparently a universal experience for choir kids was having to sing these two songs

[@theflyingspaget]

singing you will be found is a core memory for me and it is very much a negative one

[@valeale8851]

Oh no

[@kelsolightly]

"so you've got a bunch of normal looking characters looking at this big, hunching, mop-headed man. Eyes sunken into his artificially puffy face, warbling out high notes like an anxious Jiminey Cricket" is the most hilarious, out of pocket, spot-on roast of a single character I’ve ever heard I’m obsessed with the way you speak lmao

[@reneedailey1696]

Jenny with a witty, devastating take-down is just as deadly as The Bride in "Kill Bill" with a sword- She DESTROYS.

[@owenleal]

Zoey: "what about the time he tried to break down my door, telling me he was gonna kill me for no reason?" Jenny: "wow, I cant believe he told her it was gonna be for no reason." Jenny is a professional piss taker.

[@Pineappolis]

My all-time favourite definitely doesn't show off Jenny's staggering facility of language as well as the one in the OP but it's still too good not to mention. When she did a reading of Colin Trevorrow's leaked script for Star Wars Episode IX, a new character was killed off and her response was, "he died the way he lived - wasting my time!"@@reneedailey1696

[@zbsfm]

you skipped my favorite part of that line, the "in shambles!" "So you've got a scene with a bunch of normal looking characters, and in shambles this big hunching mop-headed man, eyes sunken into his artificially puffy face, warbling out high notes like an anxious Jiminey Cricket" (agreed that this line is amazing, it's one of my favorite lines from jenny ever)

[@tikki2340]

Jenny is so funny cause you can just tell she’s been on the internet a WHILE. Like she’s been in these streets, an expert troll and counter-troll

[@Forestfreud]

“Maybe Evan is not a nice boy. Maybe he’s just a quiet boy.” Another Jenny quote I will remember forever

[@0meAcat1]

Seen that one commented a few times hahaha that one she touched with a needle

[@guidetoanything]

YEEEESH LOL

[@sylviapage61]

Bro if people were better at knowing quiet boy ≠ nice boy

[@aylishmorehouse666]

Truly a sentence that will live rent free in my mind indefinitely

[@cardboardtubeknight]

It feels really profound in that it describes a lot of people who seem to think that they're nice guys.

[@gillygull]

I know this video is a year old at this point, but I want you to know that if an orchard “closes”, they have to rip all the trees out. Because the trees could become a hotbed of disease and pests if left unattended, they have to be removed to protect other farms in the area. Due to the nightmare cost of that, orchards generally don’t close, they just get sold to other farmers. Source: Apple farmers in the family

[@bekss6307]

Thank you for the information

[@octogonSmuggler]

That's actually kinda interesting...

[@timothymclean]

So what I'm hearing is that the orchard is another area where the musical makes no sense. Neat! I mean, the information about orchards is neat.

[@anniehuckaby2649]

To add to this: Whenever an orchard truly closes it is typically because the land has become unusable either because of poor management or extremely bad cases of pests like nematodes or some fungi, such as armillaria (this actually ruined a local orchard industry) that can wipe out entire stands and then live in the soil for many years after. This would make it likely impossible to reopen the orchard, even for $100,000. Source: I'm getting a degree in forest pathology.

[@celisewillis]

Thanks for the info, really interesting how a huge acreage of a single crop can actually threaten others in the area. Hope our horrendous monoculture farming practices go extinct soon. Permaculture is the future!

[@RuriRurouni]

Cutting together "This is Me" and "You Will Be Found" was so seamless that, because I'd never heard either song before and was tabbed out at that moment, I didn't even realize they'd been cut together. It just felt like one song. Masterful.

[@penina8438]

Same! I usually listen to Jenny’s videos in the background so I didn’t even realize the first several times lol

[@Dreagon-yc3zq]

I have listened to both of them, multiple times, and it took me a good bit to realise, that's absolutely absurd

[@edgarallenhoe3518]

I love how the inciting incident of this story relies on Evan having a therapist, and then that therapist promptly drops off the face of the earth for the rest of the story.

[@baguettegott3409]

Oh my god, I've never thought about that... and imagine how much that could have helped him, having a person who he can be honest with and who is on his side through all of this - he could have told his therapist the truth right away, and they would probably have helped him navigate out of the net of lies he created, instead of making it progressively worse.

[@Madcapredcap]

Are we sure that was even a licensed therapist? Did anyone see their license? Did the family just roll up to a place with a plastic banner hung over the door that said "Bob's Discount Therapy And Halloween Costumes"?

[@luna-mo3ol]

Evan or his mom did say that he stopped going to the therapist after everything happened though right?

[@black-moon01]

yeah his mom says he skipped an appointment, its still weird that he doesnt see him throughout the length of the movie. it seemed like a regular session kind of deal

[@nozzwald]

@@luna-mo3ol he says he doesn’t need his meds anymore, doesn’t mention the therapist though

[@BlackCatFang]

So Evan was able to find new meaning in his life after someone else's suicide, while people remember that person better than he actually was? Yeah that's not going to get misconstrued by a depressed teenager.

[@apriljones1013]

Oh my god you're right that's a horrifying point

[@Cruznick06]

I was looking for this comment before making itself.

[@ElliJelliZ]

oh jeez, I didn't even think of that. considering how many depressed people I know (including myself) who love musicals that might be an issue. Thankfully none of us actually like this one

[@Iwasjustwondering89]

To be fair, depressed teenagers (or generally anyone suffering from depression) will fit anything into a “the world is shit and possibly better without me” box. That’s what meds and therapy are for, because it’s simply not true, but the feeling won’t go away, even if everyone tip-toes around them.

[@onettaviator5396]

@@ElliJelliZ We did when we were 14 or 15 years old, but by the time 2019 came around basically everybody in the fandom grew out of it.

[@mchikos]

“YA movies that handle suicide poorly” is really its own genre huh

[@vanessaajohn]

The channel Caleb Joseph has a great video breakdown of this

[@kittykat5090]

i guess so lmao

[@chipsleftwing]

@@vanessaajohn which video was that one?

[@solbutton1611]

My thoughts exactly

[@onettaviator5396]

*wHEEZE*

[@Deepfrog9]

I think it’s so funny how Evan says “the only man that I love is my dad” in a homophobic joke line, only for multiple songs to mention that he isn’t in contact with his dad at all and hasn’t seen him in over a decade.

[@bee.2392]

EVEN HATES MEN‼️🚨‼️🚨

[@jamesmichaelmorgan]

I took that as being intentionally dissonant because it's like he's lying about one more thing but it's also just generally kind of a lazy lyric

[@jack-a-lopium]

He's secretly a latent homosexual.

[@morganhill643]

It’s coming from Connors perspective too tho so it’s not that weird

[@suzzsaw]

in the play both connor and evan when they are singing that line, they emphasize this comment, highlighting the ironic fact that none of them get along with their respective father, it's intentional

[@FrenkTheJoy]

Adults playing teenagers isn't an issue for me, but he just looks SO old in this movie that without context it looks like it's about a married man who's going through a mid-life crisis and is trying to get the neighbor's teenaged daughter to hook up with him. He looks younger outside of the movie! For some reason having a beard makes him look closer to being a teenager.

[@addstrat1207]

It's because beards hide mouth wrinkles. A neatly trimmed beard can make you look younger.

[@punkyagogo]

@@addstrat1207 Interesting. I always thought guys looked younger after shaving their beards.

[@JoAndGetFat]

He also just looks… normal outside of the movie.

[@CemetryGator]

He looks like a slightly younger Dennis from It's Always Sunny. Which is not the look you want, unless you're going for the psychopath angle.

[@tatianamarshall9971]

In 'The Politician', which was filmed the same year I believe, Ben Platt plays a teenager and passes well enough as one. He's still clearly not a teenager, but it's more forgivable due to the hair and makeup helping out. The makeup and the hair in this movie are just not it whatsoever. Even if I forgave the hair, THE MAKEUP plssss they didn't even try

[@bondfool]

“Maybe Evan is not a nice boy. Maybe he’s just a quiet boy.” Oof, that got real.

[@matthewduffy2191]

Ya that was a great line

[@mrcritical6751]

He’s not the nice kid dealt a bad hand and looked down upon by the rest of the school, he’s the kid that people know what he’s like tell you to leave him alone

[@kmhkennedy]

Sounds like decent ish story. The whole new girl in town, think the nice guy outcast is bullied and different, befriends him only to find out he is actually an outcast cos he sucks. So… twilight, or Heather’s. Never mind

[@mfenn7325]

Was looking for this quote called out. As someone who had to learn this lesson directly a few times...there are low-key problems with socializing that all awkward or socially-withdrawn people are sensitive and nice or need you, a little girl, to be their friend. Nope - don’t ignore the hair raising on the back of your neck.

[@EmissaryofWind]

@@mfenn7325 this reminds me of how after school shootings, shooters are often characterized as sad lonely kids who would have done nothing wrong if their classmates had just befriended them. The way that attitude pushes off the prevention of school shootings on the very victims has always made me extremely uncomfortable. Just the fact that some people would expect a child to go out of their way to befriend someone who is already unstable, possibly violent and often harbors some form of bigotry, in order to not get brutally murdered by that person is appalling.

[@gabrielle3960]

the guy who played Connor looks like he completely upstages Ben Platt and his character dies literally right away. his dancing alone is really great. I hope this movie doesn’t harpoon his career

[@joe6185]

I mean they TECHNICALLY killed the character off so they kind of did lol

[@echenexcetera5702]

If the dude’s career is dead then at least he got to hit the first woah seen on film

[@PatrickBrianRiordan]

The actor was an understudy in the original musical, which is crazy because yes, he is obviously an extremely talented actor and in some ways that makes him perfect for the role of "guy who wasn't really given a chance and now he's just a character for others to control"

[@adamwarlock1]

If he and the girl who played Alana get film careers out of this, it was all worth it.

[@joe6185]

@@adamwarlock1 Amandla was in Darkest minds, the hate you give, and was rue in the Hunger Games???? Lmfao

[@mad8598]

I feel like in another universe there’s a musical about a teenage girl whose deeply troubled, emotionally (and occasionally physically) abusive older brother commits suicide, and his family discover that he was friends with a withdrawn boy in her class she barely knows. Her parents invite this boy into their lives in a bid to try and understand their lost son better. The girl, full of confused feelings about her brother and how everyone is reacting to his death, gradually finds herself being drawn to the boy and then falling for him. And then it’s revealed the boy’s stories are lies and he was motivated to get close to the girl’s family because he’s had a secret crush on her.

[@solmarcet6157]

Up until reading this comment it had never ocurred to me how good it would be to have Zoe's perspective on this. "Requiem" is a pretty solid song and I resonated with it a lot, that glimpse of the character that we're provided with then is quite human. Honestly I'd love to have someone reboot this with Zoe as the protagonist, even if it's just as fanfiction lol.

[@Muzer0]

Ah, so it's like the version of Passengers everyone wishes we got... Damn.

[@Michelle-js5kh]

This is Saltburn 🤣

[@mysticalasduck6514]

And it’s actually good

[@TheKadenNeptune]

The way this is 100x more compelling than dear Evan Hansen…

[@allywallyeffect]

the part where he flatly belts out “i love you” to zoey with his sickly mannequin yellowish face and his buggy eyes while he slowly approached her closer and closer... as a high-school age girl that would genuinely scare me and activated my fight or flight response just seeing it on a screen

[@romeisburning6739]

I'm a 37 year old man and I almost dropped my phone when I saw it.

[@booktales1687]

Fear Evan Hansen

[@scylla1772]

@@booktales1687 The parody this movie deserves, and the audience needs

[@PoochieCollins]

Can this movie be enjoyed ironically -- so bad it's good? Or is it too boring or unpleasantly bad?

[@h.4703]

I legit pulled away from my screen at that, it was terrifying.

[@optimisms]

"The Dear Evan Hansen movie honestly feels like propaganda written by Evan Hansen himself," is honestly the best summary of the movie i've seen so far lol

[@thedestroyasystem]

Agreed

[@frzngrrl]

This statement was genius.

[@themyofmy]

Evan Hansen propaganda. god

[@malaizze]

Dear Leader Hansen

[@JediJuniper92]

This is what I’ve been saying for MONTHS, literally ever since I saw the damn thing.

[@11tw48]

"the Dear Evan Hanson movie feels like propaganda written by Evan himself" - another knockout line.

[@Apolita1987]

Or his daddy, the producer.

[@PKEin]

I’m treating this as canon; the movie is the result of stage Evan trying to recuperate his image after becoming rich from the lie, then getting cancelled for it

[@OnTheAlmondTree]

Jenny has a lot of knockout lines here

[@11tw48]

@@PKEin a bit like the weird FNAF lore where the video games were made by the business in order to mock the idea that the murders had ever happened.

[@mrcritical6751]

@@PKEin in universe Connor’s family made the musical to expose Evan for the asshole he is so Evan using all his orchard money brought the movie rights and made the movie adaptation to make himself look better

[@giselle9230]

Coming back to this video because there was a school shooting at the college right where I lived in 2023 and 3 students’ lives were taken by the gunman. The community theatre I was a part of held a small candlelight vigil as an act of solidarity for the victims. The song they chose to sing: You Will be Found from Dear Evan Hansen. I bit my tongue of course and tried my best to get in the right mindset, since everyone around me was very emotional and sincere. However, I don’t think I can think of a more morbid song to sing in honor of students who were literally chased down by a gunman than “You Will be Found”

[@ishid.anfarded]

wow how did nobody say anything? thats impressive

[@PhotonBeast]

Ooof. I'm so sorry

[@sari9645]

Oh my god 😭

[@AdmiralBenches]

I’d be more interested in a musical titled “Dear Mr. Farmer,” about a farmer who bought an orchard, realized it wasn’t his thing, closed it, and then all of a sudden has to figure out what to do with some random Kickstarter’s $100,000 donation.

[@beanieguitarguy4070]

That actually sounds amazing.

[@rosiebud7922]

That reminds me of a story i know. This one dude worked all his twenties as a delivery man for companies that sold non alcoholic beverages, and then climbed up until he got to some important position still in the delivery area for Coca Cola. Years later he got fired and thought that it was a nice moment to start farming since he used to love it so much as a hobby. Turns out he hated it as a full time job, so he sold all his animals and lands and consumed by his resentment towards Coca Cola for laying him out, bought a big factory in the middle of a big city, miles away from his home. He moved there with all his family and started an non alcoholic beverage business just to compete with Coca Cola. He named his trademark soda Manaos, and it's one of the preferred sodas in argentinian homes.

[@SeymourDisapproves]

@@rosiebud7922 woah that's wild

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

That is legit a great premise for a film, wow

[@act.of.whimsy]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@kimveter5061]

A version of Dear Even Hanson where his lie gets found out when Connor reveals that he faked his own death only for him to return at the beginning of the 3rd act

[@bitchtits9292]

This is what I want

[@urbroz]

then itd be finally watchable

[@AbsoluteSkycaptain]

This made me want DEH to just follow the plot of His Face all Red somehow.

[@ansel569]

I would genuinely enjoy this so much, and i hate that you've put this idea in my head because it's an infinitely more interesting show that does not exist

[@CanalDoSahgo]

You're thinking of Megamind

[@ryukomatoi3540]

“flustered child makes fool of himself after friend dies by suicide” took me OUTTT

[@11tw48]

"Yeah, this'll make great content"

[@ChoyaBird]

I expected something about Evan ending up in a cringe compilation but this was even better 🤣

[@mattm2451]

This and the Hannah Montana vocals over the house killed me

[@cardboardtubeknight]

This will do numbers on r/cringe

[@GossamerGhoul]

"Top 11 Idiot Children Doing Cringeworthy Things While Publicly Grieving" The heart-warming lockdown content that the clickbait algorithms have decided we need right now

[@FeeltheByrne07]

I have been a theatre actor for a large portion of my life. During my first film audition the first comment the Director made was "you're a theatre actor, aren't you?" He knew because everything I did was bigger than it needed to be. This was for a local film in Kentucky. How did a Hollywood Director not give Ben that note?

[@JinStreams]

Because Ben's dad was the producer

[@FeeltheByrne07]

@@JinStreams Fair point

[@jbschr]

It’s daddy’s vanity project 😅

[@emilyisannoying8756]

reminder that Ben is dating someone who also played the role of Evan onstage which makes the idea that he thinks no one else can play the role so much funnier

[@littlemau1360]

WHAT??

[@aelrah]

@@littlemau1360 there are actually at least two sets of Evan Hansens dating!

[@taylor11111]

This is hilarious.

[@Minam0]

@@aelrah omg

[@Minam0]

This makes me think of Jenna from 30 Rock dating Paul who does drag of her

[@notme222]

Jenny: "Imagine if in every musical characters would just go around like 'Tell us what YOU'RE about' in order to trigger every song." Me: Yeah, I've seen Cats.

[@mstie3252]

😆

[@halfdemonprince]

To be fair, Cats had no plot in the first place.

[@ahhh4117]

@@halfdemonprince Isn't it about a buncha furries talking about their character backstories?

[@BloodyAltima]

@@ahhh4117 The loose plot is a bunch of cats competing to get into cat heaven. The actual plot is a vehicle for a number of technically impressive song and dance routines, loosely connected through some shared ideas, imagery, and the conceit that these characters are cats. Which, coincidentally, is why it was a terrible idea to have a director who does not engage with metaphors on their level and instead tries to make everything as literal as possible do the movie adaptation in (mostly) live action.

[@dancefan9000]

😂

[@degenerate3288]

Evan has no confidence and severe anxiety yet is able to give an incredible speech at Connors funereal and continuously lie to his family

[@kisikiwi8365]

Well to be fair about the anxiety part; I have that too and others do too and the did display him as struggling to even make that speech in both the play, movie, and novel. Anxiety doesn't stop you from making a speech in total, you CAN do it but it's just so difficult and takes calming down to realize that you have it/you can do it. Sometimes you can push through your anxiety, especially in the moment where Evan found himself/talked about himself (f*cked up since it's someone else's memorial) and finally got to tell people how he felt. You can make a speech without confidence, and he did lie without the confidence and anxiety, anxiety just made it harder for him to handle the monster he created and stressed him out even in the novel. It was just the matter of him finally cracking, you can be a terrible person/lie even with severe anxiety.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

A lot of people with anxiety are compulsive liars, where they're so used to lying, it doesn't trigger a stress response anymore and telling the truth can even feel more stressful. That's one of the few things that's actually realistic about the portrayal of mental illness.

[@alemunnoz]

@@juliamavroidi8601 yeah, the speech is unrealistic but the continuous lies are pretty normal. At least I lie daily and I too have anxiety. Lies can be comfortable since you're not exposing a reality you might find shameful or embarrassing. We also lie to appear normal.

[@chainlocker305]

@@alemunnoz agreed, though in my experience even though I'm used to lying and can do it fairly well, it still stresses me out to hell and back, but telling the truth is even worse. Quite literally choosing between hell or high water.

[@ElliJelliZ]

I have high social anxiety, and I am a terrible liar. I can't tell a good lie when it's important, and people can usually tell immediately when I am lying. I was also raised to not lie, and I'm always worried to lie to people because I don't want them to think I'm a fake deceptive person. it sounds like I'm the weird one here though.

[@oneghost1257]

They probably would have gotten that award if they hadn't miscast Evan so badly. That role really was made for Colm Wilkinson and he was definitely robbed of the opportunity to play a teenage boy in the movie.

[@hases2772]

Honestly woulda loved that, very surreal, and you know Colm would dominate those songs

[@VultureSkins]

The line “maybe Evan is not a nice boy, maybe he’s just a _quiet_ boy,” legitimately gave me chills

[@mrcritical6751]

Because it’s 100% correct. Evan isn’t the nice kid with social anxiety who’s alone because he has trouble connecting he’s the quiet kid who nobody talks to because everybody who does know him know he’s bad news and should be avoided

[@cryptikkcries]

@@mrcritical6751 i think its more like no one knows he's bad news because no one talks to him, and we all just assume he's nice and quiet instead

[@meimae7804]

@@mrcritical6751 yeah, it’s sad when people are like this, there was this girl who i thought was just kind but shy so i talked to her, then upon talking to her i realized why she didn’t have friends because she would try to look up bakudeku p0rn on my phone and show me even when i told her i was uncomfortable with that, she also is incredibly rude to teachers who are nice to her, she makes offhand rude comments about people, and doesn’t do any schoolwork but instead looks up my hero academia r18 things on school computers

[@exosproudmamabear558]

@@meimae7804 These things doesn't even sound bad. Normal highschoolers do these kind of things all the time,nobody is perfect.

[@meimae7804]

@@exosproudmamabear558 also another exol

[@hexisphere]

this film actually depicts anxiety very well, in that whenever i look at Ben Platt's red, sweaty, grimacing, unhinged face bulging outwards in every direction, it makes my anxiety fucking shoot through the roof

[@AuDHDarling]

It would have been effective if they had a likeable, young (-looking) actor play the character as he is seen by other people and then Ben Platt could have played him as seen by himself. Like, in reality, he's a typical teenager, but in his own mind he is Ben Platt.

[@spookyho5994]

thank you for making me burst out laughing wtf

[@isamekailmahmud9302]

Underatted comment

[@sallypoe]

Omg thanks for this!!!! I wasn't expecting it but it resonates so much!!!

[@tarrowahtessla7456]

@@AuDHDarling I am wheezing at this comment 🤣

[@mu8242]

"Maybe Evan's not a nice boy. Maybe he's just a quiet boy." That whacked me across the face. It's pretty easy to confuse the two; very insightful

[@lordhirudo5311]

Michael Myers was a quiet boy…. 🎃

[@faithfm1]

Yup, we get the two confused a lot

[@themyofmy]

@@lordhirudo5311 LMAOOO 😭

[@thoughtsandquestions317]

Shinji was a quiet boy, but thats about it

[@callymac182]

Reminds me of Into The Woods. ‘You’re not good, you’re just nice.’ Coincidentally, that musical for having a far better song about not being alone.

[@notme222]

If they want to reboot Garfield as a live action musical, I nominate Ben Platt for Jon.

[@billciphergirl6049]

Y E S

[@DanialTarki]

How about Chris Pratt

[@L0rdOfThePies]

I was thinking he looked familiar..

[@glucoseguardian9999]

​@@DanialTarki How about Hugh Jackman?

[@DanialTarki]

@@glucoseguardian9999Sure why not

[@anti_fragile]

Physically can't get over the way Ben walks and moves in this. It's like a horribly exaggerated version of someone with anxiety. Like they told him "nobody will be able to tell your character is anxious unless you walk around like you're missing a few vertebrae"

[@nonesuch6833]

I think it may even be an attempt to make himself appear smaller. You know, so he doesn't look so much like a 45 year old man.

[@GamingWithHajimemes]

@@nonesuch6833 Boy, did that work well for him-

[@jadeharley7190]

To be fair, in stage acting everything needs to be exaggerated for people who are way far back but good god why did no one tell him stage acting is a whole other ballpark than film

[@enbeast8350]

As someone with anxiety, I can confirm we are not missing vertebra, but my spine is so anxious it can't stay straight

[@irongirltoni]

Anxious people just walk with their head down, and maybe slightly quickly with bad posture

[@Diamondelight92]

On stage, the hunched thing did definitely make him look truly like pathologically anxious and tense but I agree that up close and with everything else working against him, it does make him look like nosferatu

[@adamwarlock1]

The movie really needed a scene of someone coming to see him in his half-lit bedroom and him just swiveling straight up into a standing position.

[@jsmarch9022]

Not nosferatu lmao lm deadd

[@flowerheit4512]

Now I'm imagining a much better version of this musical where Evan is a vampire and it's like a black comedy where he eats Connor and makes up this elaborate lie to try and maintain his cover as a human teen

[@chimominino]

@@flowerheit4512 That is already a better movie

[@kiwichenier]

Rare reference. I like it.

[@fleabaggage6126]

jenny constantly calling him dear evan has the same energy as ru paul saying “and ben platt, who plays dear, he gave everything”

[@fern5971]

I REMEMBER THAT!

[@alejandrocervantes3624]

I tink you mean Race, the host of Rupauls drag race :v

[@TheAbigailDee]

This was THE funniest moment ever on Drag Race. I like rewatching that scene just to cheer myself up on hard days.

[@blueestarr16]

Jenny From Jenny Nicholson

[@m.k4447]

this type of humour absolutely kills me every time. Reminds me of that one tumblr post that talks about wanting to be brave like Brave from Disney’s Brave

[@flowerheit4512]

it's been two years, i've watched this video about a hundred times, and i *just* realized that jenny calling this video a "tribute" that she wants to "go viral" is a reference to the plot of dear evan hansen and how dear evan's tribute speech goes viral

[@john091077]

Must be a hard life being in the 20th grade.

[@wiseauserious8750]

Hahaha

[@nickit7655]

This made me laugh out loud 😂

[@BootsMcGee3]

28:56 listen to Somewhere that’s green from little shop, then listen to part of your world from little mermaid

[@bennyrenny6613]

@@nickit7655I’m k I CD G G G h fed

[@iwakeupandboomimarat]

hes the ultimate super senior

[@kitster900]

how fucked is it that i was 100% ready to believe that ben platt was 45 years old

[@batabids]

he's not?

[@goosegas2087]

@@batabids He's 28 I think.

[@greyflash77]

@@goosegas2087 h o w

[@ehsansayeedracing]

@Linda Les More like how Tom cruise looked at 50, which was 37

[@jessem.4214]

Absolutely this. And until the clips in this of him in interviews I had thought he at least *looked* way older like this in day to day life, but apparently not? They just… seriously managed to somehow make him look *way* older than he does normally, while specifically trying to make him look way younger? Like it just completely backfired, and yet no one involved went “Ok, this isn’t working, what if we just didn’t do this and he looked 27 instead?”. It’d be awkward but still better than this! Truly amazing work.

[@RiverHolly13086]

i thought the "his best friend died... you won't believe what he did next" screenshot was a funny little title card created for this video essay, when i saw it in the actual scene movie i just about lost my mind

[@alice88wa]

Ah, okay, thank you! I wondered the same but I'm not about to watch this thing.

[@OmegaSoypreme]

Wait, what?

[@salem-01]

It’s a *_WHAT_*

[@brkh96]

Dhar Mann vibes

[@ketaminepoptarts]

​@@brkh96 there probably is a dhar mann video with that exact title, even down to the punctuation

[@abyssalnightmare551]

As someone who grew up during the musical era of Tumblr, I knew nothing about this musical or its plot, I just saw tons of people shipping Evan and Connor (I think?) Now that I know the plot I'm just completely dumbfounded as to why people were doing that.

[@abyssalnightmare551]

Also, I've got to say, if my sibling died and some random kid started lying about being close with them to date me and I found out I would be going to jail for attempted murder.

[@fiend-ish1090]

it was certainly one of the more interesting sides of musical fandom lol. i was on tumblr at the exact same time and when i read the synopsis for dear evan hansen for the first time, i remember being so dumbfounded that this was the musical ppl latched onto. at least the gay jokes in the other popular musicals at the time weren't so cruel....

[@gabriellegoodwin4422]

I remember thinking “aw that’s cute. Maybe it’s a musical about a couple of bff’s who like fall in love or something. I’m gay, I like that shit” and it ended up being a drama about suicide and exploitation and I felt really weird about myself afterwards.

[@jasperjazzie]

@@gabriellegoodwin4422 i'd seen "sincerely me" and thought the same thing, i thought it was some goofy dark comedy thing based on the tone of that song. it was not. it's wild how vastly different in tone that one singular song is, and honestly if they'd kept that dark comedy vibe throughout the whole thing i would have liked it a whole lot more, but they try to play all of this completely seriously and do a piss poor job.

[@on3zt2ey9c]

i've always thought that the whole musical was in the same light as the sincerely me song because it's probably the only one that ever got into my circles enough to draw any attention. i was going to by the plot because the song made it look almost self-aware and darkly comedic. the shock i felt after watching this vid and learning that the rest of the play is drastically different lmai

[@melissapisarski9799]

He literally already won a Tony for the role. He needed to calm down and let the other kids play.

[@rgs8970]

I think he's aiming for EGOT 😑

[@cthulhutheendless1587]

Sharing is caring

[@missmusicalsrock]

Still salty about that honestly when Great Comet was right there. “No One Else” alone has more integrity than the entirety of DEH.

[@kemperboyd1209]

@@rgs8970 he will fail

[@Katsby83]

@@missmusicalsrock oh my god yes! I will die mad about the fact that it lost best musical! It’s got a clear story with intense emotion and a metric ton of bangers.

[@emmiejensen8318]

I did it. I watched the entire hour and 17 minutes. Now I feel very strongly about a production I never intended on seeing in the first place.

[@bookcat123]

Honestly, the premise of the movie on its own was already enough for me to feel rather strongly and have no intention of ever watching it… but this was fun.

[@patrickdunachie1824]

I watched it and I liked it. I disagree with virtually every point made in this video.

[@anotherhuman3221]

@@patrickdunachie1824 please elaborate on your positive opinion, don't wanna send any hate, just I want your perspective if you want to share it ofc

[@noirth-security]

@@patrickdunachie1824 I disagree with this person. I just want to drink prune juice and show who boss

[@ReiAnikaAyanami]

@@patrickdunachie1824 good for you.

[@fuzzyzombielove]

The whole premise of the story is someone with crippling social anxiety willfully creating a situation in which they are surrounded by emotionally compromised strangers, at the center of attention, and have to constantly worry about saying the wrong thing. This should be his kryptonite. These are all of the exact things he'd compulsively distance himself from. Then we're expected to believe he _thrives,_ when these conditions would be constantly wearing him down. It's like they came up with this idea that the character would do this morally reprehensible thing, and then they tacked on mental illness to make the character sympathetic. It's a square peg in a round hole.

[@jaguarenduda]

jeez I never thought of that but you're so right

[@onomatopoeia7505]

Yes! I'm not the only one thinking that! Great summary, thank you!

[@meatspectre6208]

One of many ways the story could've been improved would've been by having Evam crumble under the weight of the situation and confess. He and the whole situation would have felt much more believable if he'd just naturally come to find what he was doing unbearable, instead of needing to be prompted by [checks notes] a grieving family getting canceled on social media because of contrived misinterpretations of the alleged suicide note his "friend" leaked after being given it in confidentiality because she wanted to boost a Kickstarter to buy an orchard. The story tries so hard to make sure the audience sees Evan as sympathetic that they just end up making him look like a psychopath.

[@piperian3962]

I feel like this could make an awesome dark comedy. Imagine him digging himself deeper into his worst nightmare as he keep lying to cover up for himself.

[@willd.4808]

Honestly I think I would like the plot if Evan weren't an attempt at a sympathetic character & was purely a deceiving manipulative dude using his quiet demeanor to lure people into thinking he's a sad, gentle, shy teenager. I mean, people always say that sch**l sh**ters (I don't want the YT algorithm deleting my comment) are sad shy dudes. & of course not all sad shy dudes are manipulative but you're right that Evan's anxiety & insecurity, which we KNOW to be genuine, appear incongruous with his role as skillful manipulator relying on charm & social skills to deceive a grieving family. What if the anxiety & insecurity weren't genuine? I think that could be an interesting plot on its own.

[@slimduuu]

I’m confused about how the murphys get doxxed and harassed because their mentally ill son felt lonely, but Evan comes clean with the lie and kinda just walks free to live his life? That shit would follow him to his grave

[@ScatterBrainedYouBetterFollow]

It really shines a light on a sort of ego of whoever wrote this play, either from a single person or a writing team

[@kieranhair37]

The weirdest part to me about that whole sequence is that, if you pause on the messages people are posting when the family is getting cancelled, one of the comments begins with "not to be a killjoy." And I'm just, like...did someone really feel the need to apologize for not enjoying a suicide note? That said, there are a couple of things to reply about your comment. One, the same comment I'm quoting is part of a thread you see where you learn that Connor being lonely isn't the only thing the Murphy family was criticized for. Because people learn Connor's identity and by extension his family's identities, they learn that the Murphy family is rich. Even though the Kickstarter is largely Alanna's project, people associate the Murphys with it and contextualize the whole thing as "this rich family is begging for money." The other thing is that...I can actually totally see this happening. I can't remember her name, but there was some actress who was shot by police for holding what appeared to be a gun when the authorities had come by to do a wellness check because she'd been in a depressive and very disturbed state and clearly hadn't left the house in some time. Her death was ultimately considered suicide by cop. It's not clear from the video or written story I saw who had requested the wellness check, but a lot of the comments were blaming her family for her death, claiming that she wasn't alive because they didn't care about her. There's no evidence of that from what I've seen. It's not like depressed people, especially those with possible substance issues, never hide their mental state from loved ones. And if you don't live near your family or most of your communication is by phone, this can be a somewhat easy ruse to pull off sometimes. But these commenters were just cruelly committing character assassination against people who had just lost a daughter without knowing jack about the family's situation because there's literally nothing people won't exploit to feel superior. I don't disagree with you that Evan wouldn't exactly escape rebuke, but I can actually kind of buy that the Murphys would have still gotten the worst of it from people who thought that bashing the family of a dead boy made them look more compassionate.

[@jadenbryant9283]

@@kieranhair37 yeah but we don't really see enough of the note to really cage if it makes sense that the Murphys would get harrassed and also I dont really know much about the woman to make a good comparison.

[@bleepbloop5251]

This show's synopsis would make a crazy AITA post

[@debbiemcpherson2426]

NTA OP you meant well.

[@chocomelo454]

"a guy from my highschool died and now everyone thinks I'm his best friend and I'm dating his sister under the pretense that I am the only person who knows what her brother was like but I don't know a thing about this guy, AITA?"

[@stumpcluber]

@@chocomelo454 "okay so i know that title sounds bad.... BUT"

[@chocomelo454]

@@stumpcluber "HEAR ME OUT."

[@stumpcluber]

@@chocomelo454 LMFAOOO

[@lilyadams3417]

Honestly the Naruto run is probably the only accurate teenager thing Evan did in the movie.

[@ellw7830]

better characterization than any other moment in the film

[@sixstringedthing]

Sometimes it's fun to watch trash, to pick out those brief moments when the actors who probably knew it was going to be trash decided to just go with it and got the performance spot on. Unfortunately this is not that kind of trash.

[@ashikjaman1940]

This movie would have been at least 20% more funny if Evan had a flashback to him on a swing

[@AuDHDarling]

This isn't especially relevant, but more comments will only drive up Jenny's place in The Algorithm so what the heck: Whenever a Naruto run comes up, I think of a video I saw ages ago of self-taught free runners using a professional gymnastics gym in front of trained ballerinas. One of the free runners did a Naruto run at a vaulting horse, and a ballerina commented that his form was "interesting."

[@mollyoxy]

44:44 for anyone wondering

[@kitchensinkchronicles3272]

for those wondering why this even got made into a film and not a pro-shot (live recording of the stage show), it’s because pro-shots are not eligible for oscars. yup. that’s it. this film only exists to give ben platt an oscar. that’s literally it.

[@thatperformer3879]

And definitely won’t get nominated for any

[@BlurryNova]

I hope to god it doesn't win one. But seeing how its being dragged by every critic, I feel confident in saying it probably won't

[@sou8730]

0 nominations. Lmao

[@AlexanderWarner-ir7gy]

Swing and a miss

[@lillianward2810]

Might get a Razzie though.

[@JinStreams]

Honestly horrifying to me that the movie never fully grapples with the fact that Evan effectively erased Connor from memory. Like his parents will never remember their son again without it being tainted by Evan's lies.

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

It's not like it was basically ok otherwise. I'm not sure you can make the memory worse really. In fact, by giving the family a villain to hate, it might help ease the guilt of failing to save their son's life. They will instead remember the asshole who came and effed with their lives for no good reason

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

@@skeetsmcgrew3282it’s still really messed up and adds even more trauma to an already grieving family

[@guldmattbb473]

No honestly that is probably the scariest part of the entire story. Imagine being dead and some random guy you barely know starts telling your family completely fictional stories about you to a point that they believe in a completely different view of who you were as a person. At that point, even if that view is ‘better’, your own legacy isn’t yours. Your life and the person you were in it is practically meaningless because the story outlives the author

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

@@guldmattbb473 But he was, like, an awful person by most accounts. Maybe caused by severe mental illness but that doesn't really excuse abusive behavior. So is a hideous truth really better? Like, I'd rather be entirely forgotten than be remembered as a troubled monster

[@lealeapants9011]

​​@@skeetsmcgrew3282 the thing is that you have the choice to decide you'd want the lie more than your actual legacy. Evan essentially took that decision away from him completely after the fact and there's no way to ever ask him if he was ok with his reputation being tied to a guy he's barely spoken to before who only really did it to get into his sister's pants.

[@medbii]

I've got it. Evan tried to kill himself by jumping off a tree, so tree = suicide. The fundraiser is about trees somehow stopping teenagers from killing themselves, and it succeeds, so tree = no suicide. Tree development.

[@waywardmind]

Trees had the best character arc in the whole thing.

[@evilpub]

Lorax

[@ashikjaman1940]

@@evilpub Dear Oncler Hansen

[@andieallison6792]

So if we want to solve the problem of teenage suicide we need to cut down the Amazon rainforest.

[@snakeknight2017]

@@andieallison6792 the amazon needs $100,000 dollars , no biggie

[@RHBR01]

"Maybe Evan's not a nice boy. Maybe he's just a quiet boy." Seeeeriously. A lot of people have trouble understanding that "quiet" or "shy" or "introverted" does not mean "nice". Just because someone's not loud and flashy about being a jerk doesn't mean they're not one.

[@colt9836]

Media has not been kind to "popular" kids. There's a reason why Legally Blonde was so groundbreaking and still stands as iconic. El's friends are probably my favorite part of the movie because even tho they are ditsy, "superficial" bimbos they are unapologetically and wholeheartedly supportive of El in everything she does. They even come to her first court case.

[@appalachiabrauchfrau]

@@colt9836 fr, I was a social chameleon in high school and hung out with the band geeks and football/cheer team. The popular kids didn't pay much mind to being negative, but every gd time I sat with my band mates they'd be under the impression that a cheerleader was talking shit about them or a jock was silently judging them. They bullied these people in response to the ASSUMPTION of bullying. When I told them that the after game parties were just hang outs where they made chocolate chip pancakes and played soul caliber they would NOT believe me. Media has brainwashed quiet kids into victimizing themselves lol.

[@owenleal]

​@@colt9836fr, most popular kids I knew in school was honestly quite decent. The stereotype of the "bitchy mean girl" or the "meathead jock bully" is either an American thing or just a straight up projection of someone who was bullied or was jealous of certain people in school.

[@ochahap]

⁠@@owenlealusually the reason someone is popular is because they’re pleasant to be around lol

[@alexisgrondin5701]

​@@colt9836 amazingly, Legally Blonde was also produced by Ben Platt's father

[@darthkek1953]

It's described as a coming-of-age movie except the age he's coming to is 45.

[@amandatidey5751]

@@ruthie8785 Nooooo Ruthie NO!!! ..but also hilarious!

[@darthkek1953]

@@ruthie8785 you mean it's the the age he's coming IN ?

[@dalegribble420]

it's crazy seeing how normal ben platt looks in an interview, only to cut back to the movie where he looks like he's about 90% of the way through transitioning to the dark side. evan hansen is one padawan massacre away from shooting lighting out of his cast and turning into a toad.

[@Melody-td5hd]

I feel like Alana doesn't get enough shit for posting Connor's "suicide note" online. That's a fucking horrible and disgusting thing for someone to do. And she did it for MONEY. No one in this story is worse than Evan (and Jared, of course). But Alana slid into a close second place after she did that.

[@colt9836]

But the trees 🥺

[@osmanyousif7849]

The ironic thing is, I kind of prefer Alana in the stage musical. Because similar to Evan, she’s using Connor’s situation for her own self-glorification, but the stage show knows this.

[@creategenius719]

@@osmanyousif7849 Also in the stage version, her posting the note was more of a knee-jerk reaction and her desperation to raise the money for the orchard was more palpable. In the film, she sits on it for hours and then posts it. She had hours to decide it was a bad idea and posted it anyway.

[@creategenius719]

@@osmanyousif7849 The film takes a lot of the grit out of the secondary characters. In the stage version Jared is selling "RIP Connor" buttons, Alana comes off more as an opportunistic outcast who is trying to act like her being lab partners with Connor means something at all, Heidi dismisses Evan's feelings when she forgot about their taco night because she doesn't want to accept that she's letting him down. The film felt very sanitized compared to the stage version, like, they didn't want the characters to be too complex.

[@osmanyousif7849]

@@creategenius719 , agree with everything you said except for the fact that the movie didn’t want it’s secondary characters to “be too complex”. Because it’s made abundantly clear from Ben Platt and his daddy that they wanted all the focus to be about Evan, portraying him in the film as if he’s a victim who’s compelled to what he did instead of having any sort of autonomy. Well good f**king job with that, Marc.

[@kai_malzonoe5283]

"His bestfriend died... you won't belive what he did next!" Sounds like a dhar man title

[@blond009]

Hahaha

[@hershelroswell]

"teenager imitates friendship with dead boy and INSTANTLY REGRETS IT"

[@omel9424]

@@hershelroswell *MUST WATCH*

[@FireBird826]

dear evan hansen has about the same depth as a dhar mann video

[@hershelroswell]

@@FireBird826 dhar evan hansen.....

[@ggpnkrs]

"So you've got a scene of a bunch of normal looking characters, and in shambles this big hunching mop-headed man, eyes sunken into his artificially puffy face, warbling out high notes like an anxious Jiminy Cricket" is the most brutal and hilarious summation of this trainwreck of a movie. Actually in tears laughing from that

[@phoenixdavida8987]

that description really got me too. frickin brilliant 😂😂❤️❤️

[@Ramsey276one]

Timestamp for posterity XD

[@billyweed835]

To be fair, as someone with anexity, that is how I feel in every social situation.

[@ggpnkrs]

@@Ramsey276one it's at 6:12

[@Ramsey276one]

@@ggpnkrs thanks XD

[@KoiPuff]

Jenny is older than Ben Platt and yet she’d make a more convincing teen boy.

[@c0nceited822]

The idea of Evan's lie crumbling around him and his solution is to irl sing a little ditty had me wheezing

[@reillymcwriting]

Assassins sounds like the musical for you. They talk about murdering people in song! And it’s not dark like Sweeney Todd, all of them are happy and light-hearted.

[@p0rq]

I lost it at that point.

[@ChrisStoneinator]

@@reillymcwriting Oh wait till you hear about the cell block tango

[@Kira_no_Kira]

"It looks like his face is trying to escape his HEAD" nearly took me out.

[@OpheliaNL]

''Sweaty 90's sitcom dad made of melting wax'' is what got me. lmfao

[@Kira_no_Kira]

@@OpheliaNL “Sweaty Steve from Blue’s Clues … lying about knowing your dead relative for months” was also amazing. This one took no prisoners. 💀

[@genericyoutubecommentchann7418]

So he’s like a Mii from Miitopia?

[@Iamjustherek]

But that’s it. That’s it exactly and I couldn’t put my finger on it 😬

[@ChaosLierLen]

It's so ACCURATE.

[@prof.lysander6191]

What gets me is that they cut out "Good For You", which is arguably the best song in the original musical, because it's all about the side characters affected by his actions roasting the fuck out of Evan. It was an already hollow musical but at least that gave it some more substance; can't have any of that in the movie though!

[@mercuryeuphoria5052]

Same! I was really disappointed when that song was cut, it's my favourite and it would've made the movie perhaps a biiit more tolerable for me than the hell that it is.

[@mcpugh]

This comment made me go watch an animatic of it, and yep you’re right it’s the best song in the musical. Better than Sincerely Me, just cuz this one isn’t terribly sad and sinister with context.

[@lizzyizzywizzy]

literally. i refused to watch this movie even though i enjoyed the musical simply FOR the songs and FOR the reason that evan is absolutely the villain. i never pitied evan and appreciated how the musical showed that people who seem like they’re being really nice are actually fucking evil. but the way they totally bastardized the characters in the movie and tried to be like “poor baby :(((( poor little evan and poor alana and poor jared and poor conner :(((((“ like nah they might have mental illnesses but do not have immunity from their awful, AWFUL behaviors.

[@lizzyizzywizzy]

what i didn’t include in that other comment is that i enjoy good for you because it SHOWS how even people who were in the gig for their OWN profit are hurt by evan who was WORSE than them. it shows that evan really is the villain.

[@KaninCotton]

SAME!!!!!! good for you is one of my fav musical songs from any musical- and I was so disappointed to see it cut out :( not to mention having such a big impact on the other characters

[@moongod5013]

“Sweaty 90s sitcom dad made of melting wax” is just a devastating combination of words

[@gerbilfantastic]

Cynthia: "But... you lied about knowing my dead son." Evan: "wOOOOOORdS FaEHl~"

[@dialecticsjunkie7653]

"Words fail" is what the songwriters were thinking when they couldn't write their way out of this dead end. Somehow their internal monologue made it into the lyrics

[@generalhorse493]

Evan: "Dude I played along with this lie to try to fill my inner void and so did you."

[@themandownstairs4765]

@@dialecticsjunkie7653 *cinemasins voice* the writers' dialogue somehow ends up as the first line of the song. it also happens to be a line I said when I found out this was the film's main conflict! [ding]

[@cecilhoangle3070]

jenny really put on heavy foundation under harsh lighting and a really shiny wig as a joke and yet somehow still look more like a an awkward teen than any hollywood representation

[@bag.of.bones.]

not only that, shes 2 years older than ben platt and still looks more convincing

[@pamelalansbury94]

I didn’t even realize it was a wig at first. It looks cute 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@Frogylovescake]

This was literally me in high school

[@Nicole-zh7pl]

She was looking so tired at the end all I could think was "I hope she took a nap before she started editing"

[@superdupercoolguy69]

this was my first jenny nicholson video and i just thought that was how she looked. i honestly assumed she was a teen or like early 20s😭

[@beestarjay]

Jenny's room is slowly beginning to look more and more like a children's reading nook at a small bookstore and I love that

[@fossilfighters101]

+

[@roseclouds5838]

silent reading time core

[@bean3550]

Her giant library spider gets to finally be in a natural enclosure again

[@Hurcon1]

The GFuel fridge ties it all together

[@aaronsarchive82]

I really want to know what is written on the animals on the door.

[@wetpaint2875]

after my brother and my dad died i used to struggle with insomnia really bad (combination of night terrors and PTSD)... i used to put on this channel and listen to it as i tried to fall asleep. it really helped. her voice is really soothing. shit helped me through some rough times. i love your channel. kudos mate.

[@Jai_gagne_la_bagarre]

Hope you’re doing better mate, i really do

[@Jack-wu3hr]

Jenny in cosplay here is legitimately a more convincing teenage boy than Ben Platt.

[@Sithkittye]

Even funnier, since she's older than him

[@YourMom-jd6jp]

Fr when I saw this video at first I thought she was a teen girl or something 💀

[@BumboLooks]

Jenny is very elf-like in appearance.

[@smuil2626]

She looks like the kid from spud

[@willonastring]

including the winged eyeliner!

[@sarahmacdonald955]

I've watched multiple reviews of this and here is my mildly informed conclusion. "Dear Evan Hansen" is as much a musical about mental illness as "The Little Mermaid" is a musical about hoarding.

[@leonineKelter]

LMAO FOR REALLLLLLLL JAJAJA

[@songbird6414]

Honestly… yeah.

[@arob3800]

or as much as Phantom of the Opera is about ghosts

[@geoffreysorkin5774]

@@arob3800 I mean the novel and parts of the Lon Chaney movie involve “ghosts of the Phantom’s past” ie being haunted by memories.

[@octodaddy1602]

Lmao yeah, like, it's present in the story and acts as the catalyst for the main plot, but the narrative doesn't bother trying to convey any opinions or messages about it

[@pumpkyn904]

My friend told me that anyone who’s fighting demons should go see this movie. Well I watched it and now the only demon I’m fighting is the ghoulish image of Ben Platt’s scream-singing face haunting me whenever I close my eyes.

[@laylaevadestaxes788]

when I tell you I died-

[@sideways5153]

Lmfao best comment I’ve read so far down here

[@caspertheunfriendlyghost4442]

I recommend it to anyone fighting demons because no matter how dark your intrusive thoughts are, nothing will be scarier than Ben Platt in a mullet with a dozen layers of foundation falling to his knees in aginst because he's is a tree and literally neurodivergent and a minor :(

[@Ameliamaemay1990]

HAHAHAH

[@emryscaster7332]

I was eating while reading this and choked on my cinnamon roll in laughter

[@WillowWispGaming]

when i was in middle school my best friends boyfriend broke up with her and then minutes later confessed his feelings to me by making me listen to “If I Could Tell Her” on the school bus. good times

[@salem-01]

That’s so messy oh my

[@cs6465]

I’m so sorry, I feel bad for laughing! 😂 Poor you! Your poor friend!

[@owenleal]

Lmao primary school "relationships" were extremely entertaining back in the day. Pretty much just little kids acting out whatever melodrama we saw on tv. Some people never grow out of that though, and thats a shame.

[@elliot6166]

So glad she’s come back to us in our time of need.

[@axiom2472]

Yus

[@remytwoshoes1769]

Return of the queen

[@Night5225]

With a numbered list, no less.

[@iseetheendisnear2416]

When the world needed her most, Jenny Nicholson vanished

[@gibsonc22]

Not the KZbinr we deserve, but the KZbinr we need.

[@retiinas]

“Stop manipulating a grieving family to feed your insecurities” “um, im literally neurodivergent and a minor?”

[@StarWarsomania]

Um... literally neither of those are reasons for this kind of sociopathic behavior.

[@dumbasssupreme4022]

​@@StarWarsomania ITS A MEME

[@grantus_pax]

"The fuck you are, you're clearly a middle-aged man!"

[@bigasspockets]

This feels like heather saying “I’m a student” in crazy ex girlfriend 😄

[@Sehon13Ultd]

StarWarsomania wooooooooooooooooosh

[@georgyfadeyev7551]

Somehow, Jenny looks infinitely more like a teenager than the real Evan Hansen

[@amayurubashaka3608]

Her cosplaying as a teenager seems more realistic than literally every single show or movie I've even seen with adults playing teens.

[@sexualtaco308]

The guy who plays him is around 25 and def looks like it

[@braidena1633]

I forgot she dresses up in a mocking outfit and then doesn't comment on it lol

[@HydraSpectre1138]

She is very small herself and she has a youthful face too. She would pass for a preteen.

[@Greendalewitch]

@@amayurubashaka3608 Riverdale, am I right?

[@SeaBeast4Life]

26:29 I love the idea of Conner slamming on his sisters door screaming "I'm going to kill you! FOR NO REASON!" lol

[@PsychadelicoDuck]

"Alana, if that's the case you really should have gone for a flexible funding campaign, and then at least only a proportional fraction of teens would be suicidal." I am so glad I was between sips at that line.

[@shepherdaaron9683]

I was not between sips and I thought I was going to choke to death on chamomile tea

[@roelin360]

I laughed and then said "oh no, twitter is going to cancel her for saying that..."

[@dangibbins5435]

Cracked up hard on that one, yeah.

[@blueestarr16]

@@roelin360 they already cancelled her for defending Reylo shippers 😭

[@ashikjaman1940]

@@blueestarr16 I thought she got canceled for being friends with Lindsey?

[@catsinwonderland7473]

To quote a letterboxd review I saw: “I loved the part where he visits the beach that makes you old”

[@tahunuva4254]

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

[@christianmilam3295]

😆 LITERALLY THOUGH-

[@LP-bi4vc]

"Maybe [he]'s not a nice boy. Maybe he's just a quiet boy." Actually this is amazing advice for teenagers. Just because a boy is quiet doesn't mean he's kind.

[@ethangrant8736]

Generally speaking I don’t think the assumption, especially in high school settings, is that quiet people are nice

[@goshdangit4503]

I'm a quiet gal, but people always think I'm a bitch because I don't talk constantly. I've been told I'm not by the people I do talk to though, I don't think that "quiet kids are nice" Is a common thought

[@Awesomeasumpta13]

@@goshdangit4503 Maybe it's part of the trope where everyone is wary of the quiet kid but they're actually really nice once you get to know them? And so people just projected that onto Evan? Idk.

[@gothboithick]

@@goshdangit4503 they said “boy”, it doesn’t really apply to girls

[@gothboithick]

​@CowoO often as long as a boy isn’t loud and obnoxious and rowdy, people do start to speak about him like he’s a nice, good person- their teachers, their peers, even people’s parents. this happpens even if they know nothing about him and haven't interacted with him, people just assume those kids must be of good character. there are exceptions: guys people see as threatening, creepy, or weird. eg. punk & goth boys don't receive this treatment as much.

[@kptsiang]

my mom walked in while I was rewatching this the other day and she thought this was the funniest thing ever - that is a huge compliment she was literally leaning on a table laughing at you roasting ben platt

[@sevin3887]

this was so cathartic to watch, i attempted suicide in middle school (and failed obviously lol) and didn't tell anyone and then in high school a bunch of my friends got into this stupid musical. i couldn't explain why i found the whole premise and execution of the musical so awful at the time, so seeing it all laid out and then painstakingly ripped to shreds felt incredible.

[@helenahendrixson4240]

I’m sorry you went through all that, including your classmates bullshit. I’m glad this could help a bit.

[@reikun86]

I'm glad you got through the tunnel and you are right to point out how this musical/movie handles the topic of suicide with the delicacy of a mack truck.

[@Roseforthethorns]

I’m glad you’re still here and that you got to appreciate this epic shredding of a musical movie

[@danielcooper5821]

I'm so glad you survived and are hopefully doing better now! You are loved, by God and your loved ones!

[@karak962]

I'm glad something good could come out of a musical that troubled you. I've been suicidal before and my heart is with you.

[@PikeBot]

Jenny’s straightforward and fervent refusal to take the stupid orchard Kickstarter seriously is giving me life.

[@nenmaster5218]

May i recommend a real good education-channel; just cause i have the silly hobby of spreading Education?

[@moosenman]

No but like why should she

[@BaristaWithADog]

"What will this money do?? Will it manifest a new farmer?" 😂🤣

[@tychopanda]

@@nenmaster5218 recommend recommend recommend

[@nenmaster5218]

@@tychopanda Binge 'Oversimplified' and 'Sci Man Dan' in a rotation-order (one, then the other, than the other again, than switching again, and so on) and then you tell me how it was!

[@ilovemusic55100]

This was the first Jenny video I'd seen and I didn't know she dressed thematically with her videos and I thought this was just how she looks

[@maleahlock]

🤣

[@limegreenelevator]

This was my first Jenny video as well. Didn't make the thematic outfit connection until about an hour in.

[@stuckbetweenfandoms5138]

same 😭

[@combeferret]

this is so fucking funny omg

[@alannamichellebova]

Same 🤪🤪🤪🫣🤣

[@mopyozz]

Honestly this made me realize that this is probably a huge part of why High School Musical was so popular. The songs are all very balanced and all of them further the plot really smoothly.

[@eleanorellis7776]

and they SLAP

[@Dreagon-yc3zq]

Yeah, I might not be a fan, but at least hsm knows how to be a musical

[@hada__02]

The absolute priceless irony of rewriting a character as gay in order to justify the dated homophobic jokes he makes while at the same time removing practically half of his screen time and agency will never be topped

[@muffinsdawg]

Oh he’ll be topped 👀

[@xDlauraxP]

@@muffinsdawg 😂😂😂😂😂

[@Persephone01]

The audience laughing at homophobic jokes too but now reflecting on it, maybe they tried to add them in to make us dislike him, idk. I guess I have a different sense of humour like dark humour but dont think anyone really should be mocked like that for who they are? Idk.

[@WhirlyBeepBoops]

I've only heard the songs, and read it as "maybe one or both could _be_ gay but are too scared to come out" That's just me, though, an overly optimistic person learning and understanding the whole spectrum of it all.

[@Homodemon]

@@muffinsdawg The character is a teen. Control yourself you sicko.

[@Phia525]

“It looks like his face is trying to escape his head” is honestly way too accurate lmao

[@darcie6491]

that absolutely sent me

[@arekusandora7091]

Anyone does that 😒

[@pretendtheresaname9213]

@@arekusandora7091 I've never seen 1 human being doing that up to this movie

[@Moo-fb2kb]

*"So you've got a scene with a bunch of normal looking characters, and in shambles this big, hunchy, mop headed man, eyes sinking in to his artificially puffy face, warbling out high notes like an anxious Jiminy Cricket"* damn gurl, you didn't have to do him that hard 😭 but im glad u did 💅🏼

[@kc-lp6wg]

I just opened my mouth and made no sound when she said this. Lol.

[@caelmack]

I laughed so hard

[@fossilfighters101]

+

[@boybriar]

Am I evil because I didn’t gasp and I’ve seen so many other comments gasping 😭😭

[@caelmack]

@@boybriar I just cackled, so maybe I'm not the best judge 🤷🏽‍♂️