Dog’s Movie House: “Intrusion,” “Dear Evan Hanson” On Tap This Week!

We’ll start with “Dear Evan Hansen” which stars Ben Platt as the title character. a high school senior who copes with his serious social anxiety disorder with meds and writing letters to himself. (Hence the title.) One day he’s written a letter at school and accidentally printed it out. In this letter he’s confessed his love to Zoe Murphy (Kaitlyn Dever, giving the film’s most honest performance). Unfortunately it falls into the hands of her older brother Connor (Colton Ryan) who assumes it was left for him on purpose to get under his skin, which is apparently the hobby at this particular high school. And this after Connor signs Evan’s cast (he broke his arm falling out of a tree the previoius summer, dontcha know?). Connor steals the letter and three days later, Evan finds out Connor has taken his own life. Connor’s parents, particularly his distraught mother (Amy Adams) find the note and assume (along with the cast signature) assume Evan was the troubled Connor’s only friend. They bond with Evan which allows him to get closer to Zoe and “actually” matter. With each lie he gets more and more popular until inevitably his house of cards comes collapsing around him.

“Dear Evan Hansen” has a very intersting story idea that is totally torpedoed by its execution. The film is too long and is a narrative mess, with underwritten characters and some trite dialogue. The main problem is that the film takes way too much time making a hero out of a character who engages in deplorable behavior to improve his own social standing. There is very little mention of Connor and his troubles. In fact, he’s mentioned as simply “the dead kid” more than once. Classy, very classy.

The performances are fine for what they are, with Dever and Isaac Powell (as Evan’s pre-letter friend) being the standouts. Everyone else, including Adams and Julianne Moore (as Evan’s hardworking single mother) are severely underwritten and don’t have the impact they should have. As for lead Ben Platt, a lot has been made about the fact that he looks too old to be a high schooler, but that’s not really a problem in movies like this. (Anybody have a problem with the mid-thirties Stockard Channing in “Grease?”. . .Didn’t think so.) The problem is that his character (on film at least; I haven’t seen the stage production) comes of as an abhorrent self-serving putz rather than a sympathetic hero. I think it might be the script more than the performance but Platt still seems to be acting like he’s still on stage.

As for the singing. . .well. . . the nicest thing I can say is that it was not for me. It’s like someone decided to do “Springtime For Hitler” but take it seriously. Platt has a good voice, but every song feels like a self-pity party set to music. When you start the eye-rolling in the middle of the first number, you know you’re in trouble. Add to the fact that musicals need to be special for me to connect with people spotaneously bursting into song and enjoying “Dear Evan Hansen” was going to be a severe uphill battle for me. It may connect with others, probably the young whippersnappers who project their own emotions onto the characters they watch, but I found “Dear Evan Hansen” to be a profoundly disturbing cinematic experience. 1 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

Next we have the Netflix original thriller titled “Intrusion.” Directed By Adam Salky from a script by Chris Sparling, “Intrusion” tells the tale of Henry and Meera Parsons (Logan Marshall-Green and Freida Pinto) who have just moved from the East Coast to a sprawling home in New Mexico to get a fresh start after Meera’s tough battle with breast cancer. Henry, a successful architect, designed the home in the middle of nowhere to give the two some privacy. This seclusion comes back to bite them when they are the victims of not one, but two home invasions, the second of which ends with some extreme violence. Despite trying to get back to normal, Meera discovers that her husband may not be who he says he is and does some digging to try to find the truth. This doesn’t turn out well (does it ever?).

“Intrusion” is one of those films that gets by on atmosphere, and Salky makes the best of the sprawling yet somehow sterile interior of the house. The script has better ideas than execution, but leads Marshall-Green and Pinto do a good job of conveying the strands of a fraying marriage even the the story moves a bit too fast to have much of an emotional jolt. Marshall-Green in particular is pretty good at showing multiple sides of his personality. His performance improves throughout the film while Pinto’s suffers a bit as she becomes more of a typical “damsel in distress” as the film hurls towards its climax.

Overall, “Intrusion” is an atmospheric yet derivative thriller that gets by on it’s polish and execution (there are a couple of unexpected jump scares that really work) rather than a wholly original script. That said you could do worse on a Saturday afternoon (like pay money for “Dear Evan Hansen,” for example). 3 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

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