Here’s The Trailer For The Movie Version Of “Dear Evan Hansen” Where 27-Year-Old Ben Platt Plays A High School Student

May 18, 2021 / Posted by: Mieka

In the new trailer for the movie version of the 2016 hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, 27-year-old Ben Platt reprises his titular title role as a high school student, following the tradition of adults playing totally unbelievable kids in movies and TV. Ben even went and stole Stockard Channing’s Rizzo wig from Grease to get the look just right. Ben won a Tony for the role but judging by his aged appearance in the trailer, he’s more likely to win a lifetime achievement award than an acting trophy for the 2021 Oscars race.

According to Variety:

“Dear Evan Hansen” follows Evan Hansen, Evan’s classmate Connor Murphy gets a hold of one of his letters and dies by suicide with the note in his pocket, leading Connor’s parents to believe it was a suicide note addressed to Evan. Soon, Evan gets caught in a complicated lie, pretending to have been Connor’s friend and forming a fabricated relationship with the Murphy family.

The movie also stars Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Amy Adams, and Julianne Moore and was produced by Marc Platt (yes, Ben’s dad). Here’s the trailer that’s got everybody saying, “wait, THAT’S what it’s about? I honestly thought it was just a really popular episode of Glee all this time!”

Are we sure this isn’t High School Musical 4: The Social Network? I’ve never seen the show myself but lots of people on Twitter have pointed out that the storyline is morally questionable given its handling of suicide, seduction, and mental illness.

Every day I tweet about how the story of Dear Evan Hansen, as constructed, is kind of an apologia for gaslighting, more people read the Wikipedia plot summary of Dear Evan Hansen and say, "WHAT THE FUCK????" and I get a little closer to God's grace.

— Emily VanDerWerff 🙋‍♀️ (@emilyvdw) May 18, 2021

My main issue with Dear Evan Hansen https://t.co/frT7YfmsK2

— Maria W. Norris (@MariaWNorris) May 18, 2021

But most people just had fun goofing on his dumb hair and how old he looks.

The Dear Evan Hansen trailer looked so good! pic.twitter.com/W7E6tLosBM

— Robert Manion (@robertmanion) May 18, 2021

Ben Platt in the Dear Evan Hansen trailer pic.twitter.com/v1An8EzlCR

— Fiona Applebum says Block Shaun King 🍎 (@WrittenByHanna) May 18, 2021

help I saw this Dear Evan Hansen screen grab and now I can’t unsee it pic.twitter.com/qpE27tXpkt

— Karly Coleman (@karly_coleman) May 18, 2021

No matter your opinion on the plot or of Ben playing a high school student, I think everybody can agree that it could have been worse. Much worse. Imagine if James Corden had been cast as Evan! You just KNOW he asked his agent to get him in the room.

Pic: YouTube

Tags: Amy Adams, Ben Platt, High School Musical, Julianne Moore, kaitlyn Dever, Trailers

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