Directed By Jon M. Chu; Screenplay By Quiara Alegría Hudes; Starring Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Marc Anthony, and Jimmy Smits.
Based on Lin-Manuel Miranda & Quiara Alegría Hudes’ 2008 Tony-winning stage musical of the same name, In the Heights is set in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. Though at the intersection of it all is a likeable, magnetic bodega owner named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines, and sings about a better life.
The road for In the Heights to make it to the big screen has been quite a long journey. I’m someone who remembers reading an article from Broadway.com on November 7th, 2008 when it was announced that Universal Pictures had bought the film rights to the stage musical. At the time, book writer Quiara Alegría Hudes was set to write the screenplay while co-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda was not only set to produce, but he was also expected to star as Usnavi (the role he originally played on stage).
At first, they were planning to start principal photography on the film in the summer of 2011. Though it was later announced on March 28th of that year that Universal had dropped their plans to make it due to their planned $37,000,000 budget being deemed too risky once the project failed to attract popular Latino actors in small roles. In a statement, Lin Manuel Miranda said “I have had nothing but a positive experience with Universal Pictures. We weren’t able to make the film version of In the Heights together, but I’m looking forward to working with them in the near future. Moving forward, I’m excited to explore other options to make the In the Heights movie a reality.”
In the summer of 2016, this film was set up at The Weinstein Company which had Miranda producing with Harvey Weinstein, Hudes writing, and Jon M. Chu directing. Though after Weinstein was publicly exposed of sexual misconduct by countless women in the fall of 2017, everyone involved with In the Heights pretty much didn’t wanna do business with him anymore. On May 17th, 2018, it was announced that Warner Brothers won the film rights in a bidding war with several other studios. Principal photography took place in the summer of the following year with a release date originally planned for June 26th, 2020. Yet due to the coronavirus pandemic, the studio announced that they were delaying the release of In the Heights for a whole year, hoping a majority of movie theaters all over the world would be reopened by then.
I actually did get to see the stage musical once. It was a local production produced by one of the regional theatres in my area of residence back in 2018. You can read my full review of that here. As for my thoughts on the film...
For my first trip back to the movie theater in forever, In the Heights ended up being a perfect treat for me. Under the direction of Jon M. Chu, he has crafted a movie musical that is a celebration of life and community as well as a love letter to the neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. He does some very inventive and imaginative work with his filming and staging of all the songs. Credit must also be given to Christopher Scott for providing some very energetic choreography and Alice Brooks for providing such vibrant cinematography. Not to mention that for a movie that's about 2 hours and 23 minutes long, it doesn't feel its runtime at all as Chu in collaboration with editor Myron Kerstein were able to keep the whole thing together at such a great pace.
One of the reasons why it took so long for In the Heights to make it to the big screen is because there are very few Latino stars in Hollywood who could've appeared in it. Although the reason for that is because Hollywood in general doesn't usually have a ton of opportunities for a majority of Latino performers in mainstream media. So Jon M. Chu and his producers decided to create opportunities for Latino fresh faces, rising stars, and character actors by giving them roles in this film. I must say that it is very refreshing to see a major movie musical with a cast mainly consisting of people within that criteria as opposed to A-list celebrities.
Anthony Ramos proves to be a very charismatic leading man as the central character of Usnavi de la Vega, the bodega owner in Washington Heights who dreams of moving to the Dominican Republic. It also feels poetic to see him in this part given that he previously played two different roles in the original cast of Hamilton, and one of them was as the son of Lin-Manuel Miranda's character. I really liked Leslie Grace as Nina Rosario, a good girl who returns home after dropping out at Stanford University much to the dismay of her overprotective father, Kevin (Jimmy Smits). She in my opinion not only has the best character arc in the whole film, but I also thought she shared some great chemistry with Benny. The latter character, who works for Kevin Rosario's dispatch, is played very well here by Corey Hawkins. Melissa Barrera, I thought was quite good as Usnavi's love interest, Vanessa, who dreams of of getting out of the Barrio and become a fashion designer. While Lin-Manuel Miranda may have aged out of the role of Usnavi at this point, he still does make some appearances in this film. I really loved his extended cameo as Piraguero, the Piragua Guy. He even has a fun little confrontation with a certain somebody (In the Heights and Hamilton fans will know who I'm talking about when they see it) during his big number, 'Piragua'. I thought the three salon ladies played by Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, and Dascha Polanco were all tons of fun in their roles. Although Olga Merediz (who happens to be the only original Broadway cast member reprising their role here) is the heart and soul of this movie as the loving matriarch of the barrio, 'Abuela' Claudia.
Overall, whether you're Latinio or not, you should still be able to relate to the themes of In the Heights. It's a story about home, community, and family. The film may be currently available to stream on HBO Max through July 11th, but if you're willing to see it in a movie theater, I personally suggest you should do that instead. After all, there really is nothing like experiencing this kind of film on the big screen with an audience.
Rating: 4.5/5
Based on Lin-Manuel Miranda & Quiara Alegría Hudes’ 2008 Tony-winning stage musical of the same name, In the Heights is set in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. Though at the intersection of it all is a likeable, magnetic bodega owner named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines, and sings about a better life.
The road for In the Heights to make it to the big screen has been quite a long journey. I’m someone who remembers reading an article from Broadway.com on November 7th, 2008 when it was announced that Universal Pictures had bought the film rights to the stage musical. At the time, book writer Quiara Alegría Hudes was set to write the screenplay while co-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda was not only set to produce, but he was also expected to star as Usnavi (the role he originally played on stage).
At first, they were planning to start principal photography on the film in the summer of 2011. Though it was later announced on March 28th of that year that Universal had dropped their plans to make it due to their planned $37,000,000 budget being deemed too risky once the project failed to attract popular Latino actors in small roles. In a statement, Lin Manuel Miranda said “I have had nothing but a positive experience with Universal Pictures. We weren’t able to make the film version of In the Heights together, but I’m looking forward to working with them in the near future. Moving forward, I’m excited to explore other options to make the In the Heights movie a reality.”
In the summer of 2016, this film was set up at The Weinstein Company which had Miranda producing with Harvey Weinstein, Hudes writing, and Jon M. Chu directing. Though after Weinstein was publicly exposed of sexual misconduct by countless women in the fall of 2017, everyone involved with In the Heights pretty much didn’t wanna do business with him anymore. On May 17th, 2018, it was announced that Warner Brothers won the film rights in a bidding war with several other studios. Principal photography took place in the summer of the following year with a release date originally planned for June 26th, 2020. Yet due to the coronavirus pandemic, the studio announced that they were delaying the release of In the Heights for a whole year, hoping a majority of movie theaters all over the world would be reopened by then.
I actually did get to see the stage musical once. It was a local production produced by one of the regional theatres in my area of residence back in 2018. You can read my full review of that here. As for my thoughts on the film...
For my first trip back to the movie theater in forever, In the Heights ended up being a perfect treat for me. Under the direction of Jon M. Chu, he has crafted a movie musical that is a celebration of life and community as well as a love letter to the neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. He does some very inventive and imaginative work with his filming and staging of all the songs. Credit must also be given to Christopher Scott for providing some very energetic choreography and Alice Brooks for providing such vibrant cinematography. Not to mention that for a movie that's about 2 hours and 23 minutes long, it doesn't feel its runtime at all as Chu in collaboration with editor Myron Kerstein were able to keep the whole thing together at such a great pace.
One of the reasons why it took so long for In the Heights to make it to the big screen is because there are very few Latino stars in Hollywood who could've appeared in it. Although the reason for that is because Hollywood in general doesn't usually have a ton of opportunities for a majority of Latino performers in mainstream media. So Jon M. Chu and his producers decided to create opportunities for Latino fresh faces, rising stars, and character actors by giving them roles in this film. I must say that it is very refreshing to see a major movie musical with a cast mainly consisting of people within that criteria as opposed to A-list celebrities.
Anthony Ramos proves to be a very charismatic leading man as the central character of Usnavi de la Vega, the bodega owner in Washington Heights who dreams of moving to the Dominican Republic. It also feels poetic to see him in this part given that he previously played two different roles in the original cast of Hamilton, and one of them was as the son of Lin-Manuel Miranda's character. I really liked Leslie Grace as Nina Rosario, a good girl who returns home after dropping out at Stanford University much to the dismay of her overprotective father, Kevin (Jimmy Smits). She in my opinion not only has the best character arc in the whole film, but I also thought she shared some great chemistry with Benny. The latter character, who works for Kevin Rosario's dispatch, is played very well here by Corey Hawkins. Melissa Barrera, I thought was quite good as Usnavi's love interest, Vanessa, who dreams of of getting out of the Barrio and become a fashion designer. While Lin-Manuel Miranda may have aged out of the role of Usnavi at this point, he still does make some appearances in this film. I really loved his extended cameo as Piraguero, the Piragua Guy. He even has a fun little confrontation with a certain somebody (In the Heights and Hamilton fans will know who I'm talking about when they see it) during his big number, 'Piragua'. I thought the three salon ladies played by Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, and Dascha Polanco were all tons of fun in their roles. Although Olga Merediz (who happens to be the only original Broadway cast member reprising their role here) is the heart and soul of this movie as the loving matriarch of the barrio, 'Abuela' Claudia.
Overall, whether you're Latinio or not, you should still be able to relate to the themes of In the Heights. It's a story about home, community, and family. The film may be currently available to stream on HBO Max through July 11th, but if you're willing to see it in a movie theater, I personally suggest you should do that instead. After all, there really is nothing like experiencing this kind of film on the big screen with an audience.
Rating: 4.5/5