Film Review: IN THE HEIGHTS (2021): A Fun, Energetic Summer Movie Crowd Pleaser

In the Heights Review

In the Heights (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Jon M. Chu, and starring Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins, Olga Merediz, Jimmy Smits, Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, Noah Catala, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mateo Gomez, Marc Anthony, and Patrick Page. 

In the Heights, directed by Jon M. Chu, is a crowd-pleasing New York City-set musical that is bound to have audiences dancing in the aisles all summer long. It’s essentially everything that a good summer movie should be. It has an attractive, engaging, energetic cast and is never boring. It may even earn some Oscar nods. Even though the film is a lot of fun, it never feels like the story gets to the point where there is any doubt about what’s going to happen. However, that may just be my subjective opinion as audience members were sniffling and tearing up in the theater suggesting they may not have suspected it was going to have a feel-good, upbeat ending.

Anthony Ramos is the movie’s star.  He plays Usnavi, a bodega owner with big dreams. He is telling a story to some children about his past and the film is framed with this scenario as it goes back in time through flashbacks as Usnavi relates details about his former life in New York City’s Washington Heights area.

Vanessa is Usnavi’s love interest and she’s played by the sublimely amazing actress Melissa Barrera. Both, Ramos and Barrera create sizzling hot chemistry together and play off each other masterfully. Vanessa is an aspiring fashion designer who wants to get a new apartment but needs a co-signer to get the lease as the film’s main story line begins.

Enter Nina (Leslie Grace) who is hiding a secret about why she doesn’t want to go back to college next semester. She was enrolled at Stanford but tells her dad (a remarkably good Jimmy Smits) that the deadline has passed to pay for the upcoming semester’s tuition. Grace and Smits play off each other’s talents remarkably well creating a believable father-daughter relationship.

There are three other major players in the film. Nina’s potential love interest is a dispatcher named Benny who is well-played by Corey Hawkins. Then there’s Usnavi’s cousin Sonny (the charming Gregory Diaz IV), a young undocumented dreamer who has a heart that is unstoppable and is employed at the bodega Usnavi runs. Rounding out the lead characters is the aging heart of the Heights, Abuela Claudia (played by the absolutely fantastic Olga Merediz who may be writing her acceptance speech for the Oscars as we speak but I don’t want to jinx it). Merediz steals every scene she’s in with her winning characterization and relatable character.

This film’s centerpiece is a Highbridge Pool sequence where the characters sing a song, “96,000,” which refers to the amount of a winning lottery ticket that was sold in the neighborhood. This sequence is absolutely remarkable and will have the entire theater tapping their toes. Which character has the winning ticket? See the film to find out.

There are a number of fun scenes set in the beauty salon where Vanessa works and the characters are richly detailed and relatable. The film revolves around a blackout and counts down in each scene the days before the blackout is to occur. The blackout is a key part of the film as when it happens, it tests the willpower of the  characters of the Heights and challenges them immensely in their lives.

Creative scenes saturate the film from the Mister Softee truck that competes against an independent vendor selling ices to a great sequence where Grace dances with Benny on a fire escape of an apartment building and the camerawork here makes it the second best scene in the picture as it creates visuals that should be seen to be appreciated. This whole film is full of originality and is fun from opening to close.

In the Heights is not a perfect film. It may be at least ten minutes too long and the romantic entanglements didn’t seem to have much suspense for me but the music and dance scenes are what it’s all about. The likability factor of the characters and the seamless direction by Chu are the icing on the cake and make it the perfect escape at the movies on a hot summer day.

Rating: 8/10

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