2021 saw a disproportionately high number of musical films released compared to other years in recent memory. For better or worse, I have seen almost all of them. These films vary widely in tone, musical style, and quality; and many were originally intended to be released in 2020 before the plague came along and ruined everybody’s lives. Thus I have decided to forgo a traditional top ten films of 2021 list and simply share my thoughts on all the musicals, roughly ordered from worst to best.
But first, some disclaimers: I will never watch Music. Consider Sia’s ableist vanity project an honorary last place. I also have yet to see Come From Away, Vivo, and Respect. I would have watched them in preparation for this list, but it already has fifteen entries and that’s more than enough.
15. Dear Evan Hansen
What was already a complete misfire on stage became poorly translated into an even worse film. The most obvious of the film’s mistakes was the casting of Ben Platt in the titular role. His performance brings to mind a Z-list Rick Moranis impersonator more than anything resembling actual human behavior. The commitment to aesthetic realism nerfs any possibility of energy or vitality that the insipid radio-playable pop songs could have provided.
14. Cinderella
The 347th and hopefully the last attempt to drag the classic fairy tale kicking and screaming into the era of corporate-approved pop feminism, this telling of Cinderella feels like it was created by an AI after being forced to read 1,000 hours of 2014 BuzzFeed articles. Camilla Cabello fails to bring any amount of charm to her portrayal of Cinderella and the song selection is frequently nonsensical. The only redeemable element is Idina Menzel’s cover of “Material Girl.”
13. Diana: The Musical
This Broadway flop has been hailed as an immediate camp classic, but COVID restrictions requiring this filmed version to be shot entirely with no audience zaps it of any energy. It has its moments of hilarity and exceptional tastelessness but overall fails to entertain even as a watchable disaster. The inevitable wave of community theater versions will probably be much more engaging.
12. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
The feature film version of a Target Pride month ad. Aggressively inoffensive at every turn, with bland pop-inspired songs and unimaginative blocking. Richard E. Grant fares the best out of the main cast as retired drag queen Loco Chanelle, but even he seems to be phoning it in.
11. Tick, Tick… BOOM!
Finally, a film that answers the ultimate question: What if Sunday in the Park with George were bad? Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first and hopefully last venture into directing contains everything insufferable about Rent but with none of the drive and urgency that made that show resonate as an authentic expression of youthful angst rooted in a specific time and place. Andrew Garfield’s performance as Jonathan Larson is comprised entirely of surface-level tics—all emotions are indicated but none are felt.
10. Encanto
Colombia marks Disney’s most recent stop on its cultural imperialism world tour. Their diversity remains entirely aesthetic, with no substantial creative involvement from any actual Colombian people. None of the characters exhibit more than one personality trait, and Lin-Manuel Miranda seems to have spent a total of fifteen minutes on the entire score. It’s not the worst thing Disney’s put out over the last couple of years, but it doesn’t put much of its own spin on their standard “misfit child struggling under the weight of their family’s expectations has to go on a journey and discover the secrets of the [blank]” formula they’ve been relying on since Moana.
9. Annie Live!
Other than Jesus Christ Superstar, none of the current wave of live television musicals have been particularly engaging and Annie Live! is no exception. Celina Smith is the best Annie I’ve ever seen and the rest of the cast turns in decent if not superlative performances. I also appreciate the inclusion of the Hooverville sequence that got cut from every other film adaptation, but the show itself will never be for me.
8. Muppets Haunted Mansion
This was one of my most highly anticipated films of the year, so I was disappointed that it wasn’t funnier. The script only engages in the most basic of references to the attraction, largely opting to just substitute the Muppets in for the ride’s most prominent characters. Pepe is just the worst Muppet, I miss the days when Gonzo was paired with Rizzo instead.
7. Annette
This is a film I really wanted to love. Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard both give strong, committed performances, and director Leos Carax is steadfastly committed to the bit. Where the film falls apart is in its music, which relies on unmemorable melodies and extremely repetitive, hyper-literal lyrics.
6. Schmigadoon!
There’s a lot to like about Schmigadoon! The cast is very charming across the board, with exceptional turns from Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Ann Harada, and Aaron Tveit. Most of the songs generally do a good job replicating the sound of Golden Age Broadway musicals without just putting new lyrics over existing melodies. However, like Muppets Haunted Mansion it suffers in its unwillingness to go beyond the most obvious reference points; making the jokes feel repetitive after the first few episodes.
5. Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar
It’s probably a stretch to count this one as a musical, but it has two major musical set-pieces and I wanted to include more films that are actually good. It’s so nice to see a studio comedy with actual colors in it, and it helps a lot that it’s frequently very funny. Some of the sequences with the villains drag a bit, but the film is at its best when it’s just Barb and Star hanging out together.
4. Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Not only an invaluable historical document, Summer of Soul is also a showcase of many incredible musical performances that might have otherwise been lost to the sands of time. My personal favorite is Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples’ duet of “Precious Lord Take My Hand.” The talking head sequences present an interesting examination of the relationship between culture, memory, and present-day identity; but sometimes I wanted them to stop and just let the music play.
3. Anything Goes
This pro-shot of Kathleen Marshall’s production of the classic Cole Porter show marks the fourth time this musical has been filmed and the first to do the show justice. Sutton Foster is a great Reno Sweeney with exceptional stage presence and comedic timing, bouncing off Robert Lindsay’s exceptional Moonface Martin and Samuel Edwards’ Billy Crocker with ease.
2. In the Heights
Despite many ill-advised changes made to the story in the transition from stage to screen, In the Heights shines when the spotlight is on the music. The opening is energizing, “96,000” makes great use of the locations, and “Paciencia y Fe” is extremely powerful. The flatness of the characters makes a lot of the book scenes drag—particularly in the second half—but when it works it’s pretty stellar.
1. West Side Story
West Side Story surpassed all my expectations, being not only the best film of the year overall but easily my favorite film to come out of Hollywood in at least half a decade. Tony Kushner’s screenplay manages to find new nuances in one of the great American musicals, Steven Spielberg’s blocking is out of this world, Justin Peck manages to stay true to the style of the original without recycling Jerome Robbins’ choreography, and Janusz Kaminski produces some of the year’s most striking images. Both the much-discussed puddle shot and the two shots that frame the rumble sequence are some of the best of the entire Spielberg canon.