After the massive success of Hamilton, Hollywood has given the big-screen treatment to playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda's first stage musical, In the Heights.
Named after the Manhattan neighborhood in which it's set, Washington Heights, which happens to be the most prominent Dominican community in the U.S., In the Heights doubles as a celebration of the various Latin nationalities that make up its population (Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Chileans and Mexicans get shotouts) as well as a story about the area's forced demographic changes due to gentrification and how they affect several of the residents.
The movie's headliner, Usnavi de la Vega, dreams of moving back to the Dominican Republic, from which he emigrated at just eight-years-old, and rebuilding his father's bar on the beach. It's since been leveled by a hurricane and left to rust. Being a musical, there's plenty of romance in the air; the apple of Navi's eye is one of the regular customers in his family-owned bodega, Vanessa. Vanessa has dreams of her own -- she wants to establish her own fashion line in Manhattan. Vanessa's boss, Daniela, has no choice but to move her hair salon out of the neighborhood because rent increases (gentrification) have priced her out. Navi's best friend, Benny, who's African-American, plans to stay in New York and make it in big business. Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend and the daughter of his employer, Nina Rosario (Puerto Rican), has just come back to town on her summer break from Stanford. And though Nina's father, Kevin, is a successful business owner, she's the first member of her family to attend college. Miranda himself shows up as the local piraguero (a purveyor of shaved ice desserts).
As though the personality clashes, financial pressures and amorous sparks weren't enough, everyone is soon plunged into the dark -- and the heat -- by a blackout. But the music doesn't stop for long.
The cast is filled with actors who have musical backgrounds worth bragging about. But surprisingly, one particular performer, a Grammy-winner who boasts a 30-year singing career, doesn't utter a single note in the entire film (if you've got LeBron James on your squad, you don't keep him on the bench). Another head-scratcher is the decision to reveal one of the twists well before the end of the movie. There is one particularly impressive scene though. It features two people who spend most of the film skirting around a relationship together dancing in a way that harkens (Yep, I said "harken") back to the musicals of old Hollywood that you might've skipped past on TCM while flipping channels.
If you're not into musicals (I know I'm not), In the Heights probably isn't for you. I made an exception for Hamilton because it's...exceptional (see what I did there). The cast is great and the subject matter is worthy of a movie but hopefully we'll get more films that are closer to Hamilton than Cats. This ain't it. Maybe next time.
In theaters and streaming on HBO Max June 11.
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