Not being a musical theater guy, I didn’t realize this flick was based on a real play much less a real life. It felt like someone’s personal journey fictionalized to the screen though… and it made sense why Lin-Manuel Miranda would be directing it. Here we have a story about a promising writer trying to create a play/musical based on a high concept that most people didn’t get. What’s the difference between a futuristic examination of life, the universe, and everything and a hip-hop play based on the American Revolution? Surely someone told both writers they were mad… so it made sense that Miranda was behind this.

But I learned as the movie went on this is a play by real-life Johnathan Larson who was able to stage it before moving on to Rent. Now, I know Rent… so that was my hook to understanding the movie… and why I kept thinking to myself, “obviously this is going to be about a guy who realizes he has to write a musical about AIDS”… and lo and behold…

I enjoyed this film even though I thought it might run a little long and was certainly a little inside baseball. Like I said, not a theater guy so I had to appreciate the film at a slight distance… I don’t know this world though I do know about dreams and aspirations.

So it was a good musical that tried my patience a little but was generally very well acted and sung. It has a beating, emotional heart that I was able to gel with and feel moved by (even when caveman me wished they’d get past the current song… did I mention not a musical theater guy?).

But, as I’ve quoted before, movies are a machine for generating empathy and that’s all that matters. Could I imagine myself as an almost-thirty (*gasp*) struggling artists in NYC? If the movie’s good enough – and it is – sure. Well done.

Score: 85