AMERICAN DREAMERS (IN THE HEIGHTS)

Every now and again, film industry observers like to pitch similar movies  head to head when they come out within weeks or months of each other.

Usually, it's when they deal with the same subject like Kevin Reynolds' 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' in 1991 with Kevin Costner and John Irvin's 'Robin Hood' with Patrick Bergin or Richard Tanne's 2016 Barack Obama movie 'Southside With You' and Vikram Gandhi's 'Barry'.

Sometimes the films have similar plots like the 1989 dog and cop comedies 'Turner and Hooch' with Tom Hanks and 'K-9' with Jim Belushi or Roland Emmerich's 1996 alien invasion epic 'Independence  Day'and Tim Burton's more tongue in cheek version 'Mars Attacks!' or the star studded 1998 insect animation adventures 'Antz' with Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone and Gene Hackman  or 'A Bug's Life' with Dave Foley, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, David Hyde Pierce and Kevin Spacey.

Success or failure is normally measured by the films' ability to connect with audiences mostly at the box office.

Occasionally it is measured by their critical reception.

This year, the head to head contenders may be two streetwise New York musicals.

In the blue corner is John M Chu's big screen version of Lin Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit 'In the Heights'.

In the red is Steven Spielberg's reimagining of Robert Wise's Oscar winning Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical 'West Side Story'.

This desire to pitch Chu and Spielberg's films head to head is understandable.

Both movies are forged from Broadway hit musicals.

Both feature Latino communities living in the heart of New York and their struggle for acceptance in wider American society.

Both revel in their set piece songs' smart lyrics.

They also have elaborately staged choreography, young casts and boast vibrant costume design, production design and cinematography.

But is the eagerness to pitch 'In the Heights' and 'West Side Story ' headlong into a head to head contest that fair?

We won't really know until we have seen Spielberg's remake of 'West Side Story' which comes out in December.

All we have now is Chu's summer release.

However, deep in our hearts, we know both should be judged on their own merits.

To that extent, Chu's follow-up to his 2018 romcom 'Crazy Rich Asians' is everything you would hope for from a musical of this kind.

With Miranda's signature rap lyrics and its fusion of Broadway dance numbers and Latin music, everything seems to scream surefire hit.

However its box office performance has fallen significantly short of Warner Bros' expectations.

Is that because it has been pitched as a Latin American tale of dreams and aspirations?

Or is it simply because of a reticence to go to the cinema because of ongoing concerns about Covid and the availablity of it also on digital platforms?

It's hard to tell but there's no denying it is an impressively energetic movie full of spectacle, best experienced on a cinema screen. 

'In the Heights' finds Chu going back to the highly choreographed movies that first made his name - 'Step Up 2' and 'Step Up 3'.

At the start, Anthony Ramos' Unsavi de la Vega is recounting a story to a group of kids about his life in the Manhattan  neighbourhood of Washington Heights at the time of the July 2008 blackout that hit power supplies in New York for two days.

The movie quickly swings into the energetic rap of the title track 'In the Heights' in which we see Unsavi chase Noah Catala's Graffiti Pete from spray painting the shutters of his bodega which he is preparing to open for a day's trade.

Over the course of the number, Chu introduces us to most of the main characters - Melissa Barera's aspiring fashion designer Vanessa Morales, Corey Hawkins' taxi dispatcher Benny, Unsavi's undocumented immigrant cousin Gregory Diaz IV's Sonny de la Vega, Jimmy Smits' cab firm owner Kevin Rosario, hair salon trio of Daphne Rubin Vega's Daniela, Stephanie Beatriz's Carla and Dascha Pulanco's Cuca and Olga Merediz's Abuela Claudia.

We also catch a glimpse of Miranda's Puerto Rican shaved ice salesman Piraguero.

And not long later, viewers are introduced to Leslie Grace's returning Stanford University student Nina Rosario, Kevin's daughter.

Unsavi is smitten with Vanessa but also harbours long held dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic and reviving his father's beach bar business.

An attorney and family friend Mateo Gomez's Alejandro informs him that he has the opportunity to do just that.

Vanessa, who draws inspiration from the city streets for her designs made from discarded garments, is struggling to break into the industry.

Nina is uncertain if she wants to return to Stamford, feeling out of place there and is struggling to find a reason to continue her studies.

However her father Kevin is so keen to see her pursue her degree there, he is selling parts of his business.

This unnerves Benny who works for Kevin and has feelings for Nina who he was previously involved with. 

Abuela enjoys a matriarchal relationship with most of the young people in the neighborhood and harbours the dream of one day winning the lottery.

Chu and Miranda's film charts the ups and downs of each character as they pursue their dreams, find their purpose in life, chase romantic hopes and combat local gossip.

However the movie also asks questions about the importance of community as the inhabitants of Washington Heights deal with prejudice and creeping gentrification.

For the most part, Chu's movie is a joyously raucous affair - full of verve and colour.

Quiara Alegria Hudes' screenplay mostly does a pretty good job transferring the bombast of Broadway song, rap and dance routines to a film set and cinematographer Alice Brooks, film editor Myron Kerstein, production designer Nelson Coates, costume designer Mitchell Travers and choreographer Christopher Scott all make significant contributions.

The cast bring their A game as well to proceedings, with Ramos, Barera, Grace, Hawkins and Diaz IV delivering what should be star making turns.

Smits, Merediz and Gomez enjoy their elder statesperson's status and are any assisted by Miranda and also Rubin Vega, Beatriz and Pulanco in their comic supporting roles.

And yet despite these many pluses, 'In the Heights' doesn't completely satisfy and ends on a rather disappointingly predictable note.

Chu's film doesn't quite hit the heights of the greatest musicals and feels like it could do with having 20 minutes shaved off its running time.

That's not to say 'In The Heights' isn't entertaining or good.

It certainly is but, at times, it also feels a little too polished and showbizzy for its own good.

Its song and dance routines are spectacular and a little exhausting.

However it also feels as if Chu and his cast expect Broadway-style applause as soon as they end.

Nevertheless, they are very well executed and it has to be said that Chu, his cast, writer and crew do an impressive job expanding Miranda's story beyond the confines of the theatre stage to the expanse of the big screen 

In the absence of Spielberg's version of 'West Side Story,' comparisons to Robert Wise's 1961 Oscar winning version of Bernstein and  Sondheim's musical are inevitable and 'In the Heights' fares decently against it.

Obviously, it is more contemporary in its musical style but it also attacks the subject of the Latino community's place in US society with earnestness and vigour.

However for all its visual flourish and energy, 'In the Heights' lacks the instant glow that songs like 'America,' 'Officer Krupkie' and 'Maria' in Bernstein and Sondheim's show give you.

And while the music is fine, it brings to mind Damian Chazelle's 'La La Land'.

Just like that film 'In the Heights' feels enjoyable, if a little disposable.

There is plenty to admire but no showstopping tunes and its big moments, while well executed, struggle to leave an indelible mark.

Nevertheless, Chu's film still sets a high bar for Spielberg's 'West Side Story' to clear.

Good luck with that, Steven.

('In the Heights' opened in UK and Irish cinemas on June 18, 2021)