So far, the reviews for Tick, Tick... BOOM! have been overwhelmingly positive, easily reaching a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Hamilton superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield, the film adapts the quirky semi-autobiographical musical first conceived by the late Jonathan Larson (creator of Rent) in 1990. Garfield plays a pre-Rent Larson, yearning for his big break and struggling with big questions about art, success, and mortality. Although the stage production is typically performed by three actors, the film surrounds its main characters with a veritable who's who of Broadway veterans and stars.
Although 2021 has been saturated with movie musicals, many of the others have received middling reviews at best, leaving room for Tick, Tick... BOOM! to steal the spotlight. Most notably, Dear Evan Hansen flopped with the critics, garnering a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oddly enough, both Evan Hansen and Tick, Tick... BOOM! were adapted by Steven Levenson, but Tick, Tick... BOOM! has received an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 94 reviews) at the time of writing. So what separates one from the other?
Tick, Tick... BOOM!'s overwhelmingly good reviews have hinged on Andrew Garfield's spectacular performance and Lin-Manuel Miranda's expert handling of the source material. Garfield won a Tony in 2018 for headlining the eight-hour epic revival of Angels in America, so he is no stranger to the world of theatre — but his performance as Larson marks his first major musical performance, and he delivers. Although Lin-Manuel Miranda has been prolific in film/television of late, this adaptation marks his first outing as a director, and he takes risks that pay off in the end. Here's what some of the positive Tick, Tick... BOOM! reviews are saying:
In joyfully embracing just about every tool in the movie-musical toolbox, Miranda crafts a fitting tribute to the act of artistic creation. And he might just make some musical converts in the process.
Garfield is funny and charismatic to draw us in and devastating when presenting the palpable shame that keeps us caring.
“BOOM!” is an entertaining, heart-filling work that showcases two musical geniuses, putting a new spotlight on Larson’s musical legacy and giving Miranda another endeavor to gift us with his unparalleled artistry.
In pulling together elements from both stage versions of “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and from Larson’s entire body of work, Miranda and screenwriter Steven Levenson (“Dear Evan Hansen”) have made an inspired jumble, a surprisingly graceful Franken-Steinway of a movie.
What’s refreshing about the debuting director’s approach is that it feels relatively egoless. His style is playful and energetic, often intercutting between multiple threads within a given song or scene, but it doesn’t feel as if Miranda is calling attention to himself so much as trying to open up the show — to give it the wings Jonathan sings about in the final number.
Yet it’s a testament to Garfield’s charms that you can start understand how Larson was able to convince people, long before he became a musical theater icon to acolytes like Miranda (who himself played Jon in a limited-run revival seven years ago), that his enthusiasm could one day lead to something more tangible.
Miranda’s film finds a graceful balance between fact and fiction, framing art as a heightened form of self-obsession and the most magical and important thing in the world
Clearly, Tick, Tick... BOOM! captures the magic of Larson's genius. By all accounts playing an unlikeable protagonist, Andrew Garfield manages to draw in even those turned off by Larson's narcissism and neuroses. Lin-Manuel Miranda imbues just the right amount of earnest magic into the adaptation while preserving its grounded and stripped-back legacy. In this film, Levenson's adaptation lands, weaving multiple throughlines together but staying grounded in Larson's mind throughout. However, Tick, Tick... BOOM! is not necessarily for everyone. Check out some of the more negative reviews below.
While Andrew Garfield gives a driven and kinetic performance as Larson, Tick, Tick… Boom! is messy, missing a distinct spark and emotional depth.
Not so surprisingly, it’s a movie made by theatre geeks, for theatre geeks, though feasibly to a severe fault. In other words: if you know the songs and faces on screen, you’re bound to enjoy it infinitely more than a casual movie-goer will.
Yet, for all the movie’s whirling complication, when it comes to Jonathan onscreen singing his songs, there’s never one right image, never one closeup that catches the magic of the moment. “Tick, Tick . . . Boom!” is missing the inherently documentary element of the musical, the sense that all great movie musicals give, of being there with performers in ways that match the power of theatre but would be impossible onstage.
Almost all the reviews acknowledge that some parts of the film work well and others don't. The negative reviews mostly agree that despite the adaptation's faults, Andrew Garfield's performance as Larson stands out. The positive reviews cede that while the film works, it doesn't always come together as it should. Movie musicals tend to be polarizing for critics and audiences alike, and the qualification that this film's appeal will likely vary depending on your demographic seems to permeate both the good and bad reviews.
That said, the positive critical consensus is a win for Miranda, Garfield, and musical theatre fans everywhere. With inspired storytelling, compelling performances, and a reverence for Jonathan Larson's genius, it's not difficult to see why most of Tick, Tick... BOOM!'s reviews are positive.