“In The Heights” Is Missing Something

This review contains spoilers.

In The Heights is the latest musical blockbuster from Lin Manuel Miranda that’s arriving in theaters. The film is underperforming at the box office, and has garnered mixed reactions from audiences.

These mixed reactions spurred me to watch the film. And for most of the film, I felt like something was missing within the film and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

The film has its moments for a good majority of the film, featuring great songs (my personal favorites being the opening song, “No Me Diga”, and “96,000") and stars to move the plot along, but after the major event that the film builds up to, things are left at a standstill.

One of the issues that I noticed while watching was the lack of Afro-Latinx actors or actresses in the film. This was in issue that was present in the Broadway run, but it since musical films are by design picking up audiences who aren’t familiar with the musical; As well as the fact that the musical debuted on Broadway thirteen years ago, the criticism is more than valid.

Additionally, that issue wasn’t helped by Jon M. Chu, who responded to the criticisms oddly and has had this issue happen with the Asian representation in his previous film Crazy Rich Asians.

The second issue that impacted the film was its writing. The story drifts frequently after musical numbers, and it feels as if there are three major events that are important to the film: The Lottery, Usnavi’s decision on either staying in Washington Heights or moving to the Dominican Republic to revive his late father’s business, and the Blackout. Outside of that and the musicals that weave through the film, everything else seemed like filler. And if that filler was removed, we would've had a shorter and more livelier musical with those major points reworked into stronger focuses within the story.

All in all, In The Heights is an okay blockbuster that you can check out; And while I did watch this at home, you may enjoy this more in a loud theater.

Grade: 3/5

In The Heights is available in theaters and on HBO Max now.