My favorite musical of all time is Rent, so I confess my bias upfront. For those of you not in the know, tick tick Boom is a both a musical by and basically a mini biopic of Jonathan Larson.
My second favorite musical is Hamilton, so I obviously had a good feeling about tick tick Boom (directed none other than Lin-Manual Miranda). But I’m also very objective when it comes to movies. For instance, I love Christian Bale, but didn’t love the writing for Ford Vs. Ferrari. (And I know I’m in the minority, but bring on the debate if you’d like to: irun2eatpizz@hotmail.com).
But I digress…the only teeny tiny problem with tick, tick, Boom is it took a little too much time to settle in. Or perhaps it was just a matter of front loading the weakest songs. Or it could have been a French Dispatch Syndrome* start, sequences too quick for me as an audience member to experience fully. *formerly known as monkey mind)
But trust me, CHUMP Change compared to the other glorious 150 minutes of the film. I will be throwing soft items at the television if Andrew Garfield does not receive at least one film award. Watching a man cry several times may sound like a boring exercise, but Garfield is so believable in is character’s angst that I was with him every tear drop of the way. Alexandra Shipp is not only gorgeous, but she, too, is a tremendous actress and singer who needs to say no to the other schleppy rolls she’s been accustomed to playing. Ditto for the acting and singing of Robin de Jesus, Vanessa Hudgens, and Joshua Henry! A few non-singing roles of note were Bradley Whitford as Steven Sondheim and Judith Light as the clueless agent.
A definite re-watch for me! And a great tribute to an uber talented musical composer.
