Tick, Tick… Boom (2021)

My IMDb Rating: 9

Average IMDb Rating: 7.5

Vitals

Runtime: 120 minutes

Directed by: Lin Manuel Miranda

Written by: Steven Levenson, Jonathan Larson

Starring

Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, The Amazing Spiderman 2)
Alexandra Shipp (X Men: Apocalypse, Straight Outta Compton)
Robin de Jesus (The Boys in the Band, Camp)
Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical 3, Spring Breakers)
Ben Levi Ross

Synopsis

Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) is a struggling writer closing in on his 30^th birthday with no meaningful works to his name. He still works as a waiter at the diner where he has worked for a while. Feeling stressed, he works hard on his passion project, Superbia, to the peril of his relationships with his friends (Robin de Jesus, Vanessa Hudgens, Joshua Henry, Ben Levi Ross, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez) and girlfriend (Alexandra Shipp). He manages to secure an opportunity to perform a workshop of his play in the hopes of catching the eye of a theatre owner who will help him turn it into a bigger production. Despite his best efforts, and praise from renowned composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford), his project does not catch on. As Sondheim tells him, Superbia showed he had talent as a writer. He just needs to work on something he knows more about, something more personal. Discouraged, he moves on to write a one-man play called Tick, Tick… Boom which loosely chronicled his previous struggles with Superbia. After that, Larson would go on to finish a project he had started earlier, called Rent. This play showed tremendous promise in the workshops and would go on to Broadway. However, just before its Broadway debut, Larson dies at the age of 35. The musical would go on to become a much beloved smash hit.

Analysis

When I first watched this movie, I had never seen Rent or heard of Jonathan Larson. I primarily knew Andrew Garfield from The Social Network and The Amazing Spiderman 2 and I loved Lin Manuel Miranda. I had heard both good and bad reviews from friends who had seen it, so I was curious to see what I thought of it. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The songs were great and catchy, especially the opening number “30/90”. The choreography was also good, most notably for the song “No More”.

Andrew Garfield did an amazing job with his singing especially considering he had never done it before. I think Larson’s frustrations and motivations for publishing a successful work came across loud and clear. I felt the pacing was spot on for mirroring Larson’s emotions. The more distressed he became, the harder he worked and the faster the movie felt. I think this was intentional as the entire theme of the movie was about Larson believing his time was running out (in reality, it was). His struggles felt real as he was fact approaching a milestone birthday with very little to his name to point to. His friends found his motivations foreign which only added the pressure in his life. He had to manage his personal relationships with his career ambitions. This came even at the detriment to his romantic relationship with his girlfriend, Susan. He feels upset when his friend Michael does not seem to understand his determination.

His relationship with his childhood friend and former roommate Michael seemed very genuine. The actors came across as having a deep history just as the characters did. When they were younger, both dreamed of making it big in the theatre world. However, at some point, Michael decides to take a safer, more stable job in advertising. Jonathan, still determined to succeed, feels Michael sold out and gave up on their dream. This conflict is evident throughout the movie. At one point, Jonathan needs money to help fund his workshop. Michael tells him about a focus group he can participate in to earn a little money. Jonathan attends, but deliberately sabotages it which angers Michael. At this point, their relationship becomes strained over mounting tensions related to Jonathan’s work. Michael, who is gay, is upset by the fact Jonathan chooses to take his chances on an unstable theatre career when he could instead live a life with the one he loves without the fear of AIDS.

In addition to his approaching birthday, the backdrop of the AIDS crisis also serves as an additional pressure for Jonathan to produce a work quickly. He has already lost several friends to AIDS and during this movie, his co-worker Freddy (Ben Levi Ross) is hospitalized with the disease and Michael learns he is HIV-positive. At one particularly climatic scene, as Jonathan is relaying the pressure he feels to Michael, Michael reveals his diagnosis and replies that he knows a thing or two about running out of time. This incident has a profound impact on Jonathan and he finally begins to realize the cost he is paying to pursue his theatrical dreams.

After this movie, I was so inspired, I watched the film version of Rent. I did not like it as much as this film, but I did enjoy it. I think it helped to have this backstory about it to make it even more interesting.

Just as he did with Hamilton and In the Heights, Lin Manuel Miranda again delivers a quality production. If you are a fan of his work, Rent, or theatre productions in general, you will enjoy this movie.

Notes

Andrew Garfield did not have previous experience with singing, but director Lin Manuel Miranda wanted to cast him so bad that Garfield would spend a year learning to sing.

Several members of the original Broadway cast of Rent make cameos in this movie. As do some of Jonathan Larson’s real-life friends.

Trailer