In the Heights Movie Review

In the Heights (2021)

Watch the trailer
Written by: Quiara Alegría Hudes (screenplay by), Quiara Alegría Hudes (based on the musical stage play, book by), Lin-Manuel Miranda (based on the musical stage play, concept by) 
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Jimmy Smits, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Marc Anthony
Rated: PG-13

Plot
A film version of the Broadway musical in which Usnavi, a sympathetic New York bodega owner, saves every penny as he imagines and sings about a better life.

Verdict
It's fun to see Lin-Manuel Miranda's first play on the screen, and it tackles real issues about the loss of community and struggle minorities face. It is a musical, and it's easy to see Miranda's composition and style first exhibited in the movie Hamilton. Being a musical, it makes the serious themes seem a lot lighter than they are. The dance ensembles are complex and impressive. It's a fun movie, but it's the message at the core that makes this worth watching.
Watch it.

Review
There's a lot of depth in the story as we see not just a city, but a community through the eyes of a few characters. Being a musical makes this seem a lot more upbeat. Communities and the concept of communities are dissolving. People live in the same area, but don't know their neighbors. In Washington Heights, gentrification is pushing out businesses and the communities that have formed around them.

Anthony Ramos plays Usnavi.

I'm not typically a fan of musicals, but after Hamilton, I'll watching anything Lin-Manuel Miranda is behind. That makes the musical aspect of this easier to accept. While this doesn't have the power and creativity of Hamilton, Miranda created this first. He wrote this as a play while still in college. It's easy to hear his style in the composition and tempo of the music. It's a style he perfected in Hamilton.

Corey Hawkins and Lesli Grace play Benny and Nina.

If this wasn't a musical, it would be much more serious in tone. Washington Heights is changing and we see through three different characters how they experience and are treated by the world as minorities. Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) is planning to return to the Dominican Republic, leaving one bodega for another as he chases a dream life. Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) wants to be a fashion designer but faces hurdles in moving out of the community. Nina (Lesli Grace) is back home for summer from Stanford and doesn't want to return as she misses her community and faces discrimination at school. She feels like her father is trying to live through her as he sacrifices so she can attend the school. It's easy to root for all of them.

The movie does a great job of examining what it's like to be considered other when the characters venture outside of their vibrant community. Anthony Ramos does a great job as Usnavi. This isn't about a reckoning and the discrimination the characters face. This is about Usnavi discovering what he has while realizing the grass isn't always greener.

I'm not a fan of musicals, but the dance numbers provide such an impressive spectacle. Combined with that and set during a hot stretch, this feels like a summer movie. What I appreciate about it is how we see what it's like to have a community that's family.