tick, tick...BOOM! is an autobiographical musical written by Jonathan Larson starring a fictionalized version of himself, the movie directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is based on the stage musical of the same name. In the early 90's Jonathan(Andrew Garfield) is an aspiring musical theater composer, workshopping a project, working at a diner, and self-destructing his relationship. A workshop performance of Jonathan performing the titular musical is used on and off as a narration device adding to the(ineffective, insufferable) meta-meta element.
Garfield is commendably committed, he and the cast are all saccharinely sincere in a very authentic if bafflingly dated 90's musical theater way. They are all competent, with some decent musical and dance talent but no one particularly wows. What is most startling is the white self-absorbed entitlement of Jonathan the character, the mythologizing of the narcissistic "committed" "starving artist". There are countless times in the movie where characters tell Jonathan how great and talented he is which is somewhat difficult to buy given what we see on top of the fact he's very clearly a selfish asshole. Is this an inherent flaw of the source material or a deficiency in Garfield's performance, its unclear.
Much like Miranda's other 2021 offering In The Heights the material is dated, doesn't hold up, and in this instance begs the questions why now but more importantly who cares. It is well performed but the music has the kind of generic musical theater sound that Miranda himself moved beyond with Hamilton. Ultimately this may simply come down to taste, to me, it is soup to nuts confusing and unengaging.
Appealing perhaps to the Gen X musical theater crowd but most likely offers little to none beyond that small demographic.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Don't See It.
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