tick, tick...BOOM! (2021)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
Andrew Garfield delivers a moving, powerful performance as Jonathan Larson, the iconic Broadway writer/producer who would create “Rent,” prior to his untimely passing at age 35.
An impressive directorial debut for Lin-Manuel Miranda, balancing tribute, homage and legacy with a fair depiction of Larson’s complexities and engaging music.
Wears its heart on its sleeve and melds together musical numbers, drama, and a quasi-documentary-style approach to immerse into the world Larson both inhabited and left behind for others to learn about and appreciate.
NO
There are times that the film expects you to be knowledgeable about Broadway and its inner workings and top stars. Lacking that knowledge can leave some viewers behind or quickly disinterested.
Miranda’s frequent shift in tone and format of storytelling could cause some viewers to find the structure of the film chaotic and messy.
Larson, as portrayed by Garfield, is emotionally all over the place. Miranda presents him without purity, and sometimes he does things that are self-absorbed or unlikable. How much you like or accept the character of Jonathan Larson will largely determine your take on the film.
OUR REVIEW
Prior to the launch of “Rent” on Broadway in 1996, Jonathan Larson was a playwright and author, composer and performer, hustling in and around New York City trying to find ways to simply be heard. Out of frustration, and through the onset of a creative madness that takes hold of most artisan minds at one time or another, Larson, born in 1960, believed his time to create something lasting and meaningful was ending - on the cusp of his 30th birthday.
After nearly getting his musical “Superbia” produced, his eight-years of writing, editing, refining, composing, and writing all over again, generated feedback akin to: “You’re great. The next thing you write will even be better!” Larson, deflated and defeated, felt turning 30 was the line of demarcation for his becoming a success or failure at pursuing his dream.
This intensity, this unrelenting desire to create, drives Lin-Manuel Miranda’s cinematic adaptation of Larson’s “tick, tick...BOOM!” stage show. Larson, who tragically died of an aortic aneurysm in 1995, is played to the hilt by Andrew Garfield, tremendous and inexhaustible in each and every moment he appears on screen.
Miranda, like so many Broadway contemporaries, sees Larson as a game-changer, someone who influenced a generation of playwrights, songwriters, actors, and performers. “Rent” redefined musical theatre (as Miranda’s “Hamilton!” would similarly do nearly 20 years later) and Larson poured everything he had, and everything he was, into everything he did. In awe and tribute to Larson’s legacy, Miranda walks through Larson’s formative years, step-by-step, with pains and successes carrying equal weight.
Framed around the idea of watching old footage, we first see Garfield on a lightly arranged stage with a piano and an ensemble of vocalists sitting to his left. Presented as a “rock monologue,” Larson shares stories about his efforts to get “Superbia” completed and to the stage. Transitioning into a rollicking opening number, “30/90,” Miranda soon takes us away from the amateur-looking video of the opening moments into more conventional scenes which depict Larson’s stories and experiences. Along the way, scenes turn into musical numbers and characters break into song, with Miranda keeping Garfield at the center of nearly everything.
Some of the numbers are fantastic set pieces, others struggle to stay memorable. Yet Garfield remains a force throughout, never wavering and finding ways, through song and dialogue, to create a conflicted, ever-evolving character who leaves a lasting impact on everyone he meets.
Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford) becomes a fan, drifting in and out of Larson’s world offering encouragement and advice. Larson’s girlfriend, Susan (Alexandra Shipp), loves and believes in him, but also recognizes that her future is not necessarily dependent on someone else’s successes or failures. Childhood best friend and roommate Michael (Robin de Jesús) tries to be a voice of reason for Jonathan, but is caught between his own struggles in relationships and life, trying to find his own way.
To his credit, Miranda avoids feasting enough idol praise on Larson to make tick, tick...BOOM! come off as a form of hagiography. Instead, he leans into Larson’s devout obsession to achieve success from a self-imposed timeline, recognizing the impacts this has on those closest to him. Miranda smartly avoids making Larson wholly sympathetic in key confrontations. In turn, he channels those frustrations and disappointments and life-lessons, if you will, into something profoundly bittersweet and beautiful.
Miranda also recognizes that Larson was a personality the world never truly got to experience. That Larson never got to see “Rent” performed on stage is something of a gut-punch, Garfield creates a character so dynamic - a messy, rambling, enigmatic underdog we hope to see succeed.
Unfortunately, Steven Levenson’s screenplay adaptation leaves other characters somewhat underwritten or relative afterthoughts. Vanessa Hudgens emerges with a powerhouse musical number (“Come to Your Senses”) and is given little else to do. Judith Light makes the most of her few scenes as Larson’s agent, but the nexus of surrounding friends and characters, many of which inspired “Rent,” are simply in and out, offering anecdotal influence on the story overall.
Garfield is so committed to the performance, he largely brings everyone and everything along with him, even if Miranda sometimes fails to let those supporting roles emerge from the Larson/Garfield cinematic shadow. Miranda knows how to entertain though, and he also intuitively knows how to do things the right and proper way. The musical number “Sunday,” presented as a mid-film tribute to Larson, features a number of surprise cameos and appearances, and is one of the year’s best movie moments.
Overall, tick, tick...BOOM! is entertaining, emotional, and effective; a crowd-pleasing embrace of an artist whose tireless resolve and desire to tell stories through creativity, honesty, and a whole lot of heart continues to inspire to this very day.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp. Robin de Jesús, Vanessa Hudgens, Joshua Henry, Bradley Whitford, Jonathan Marc Sherman, MJ Rodriguez, Judith Light, Ben Levi Ross, Laura Benanti, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Richard Kind, Tariq Trotter, Kate Rockwell.
Director: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Written by: Steven Levenson
Adapted from the musical “tick, tick…BOOM!” by Jonathan Larson
Release Date: November 12, 2021
Netflix