Tick, Tick… Boom! Review

The new Netflix movie Tick, Tick… Boom! is a very unusual biopic. Typically biographical dramas focus on the successes of their subjects. This movie… not so much.

In the winter of 1990, struggling composer Jonathan Larson suffered an existential crisis on the eve of his 30th birthday. Having spent years crafting his first full-length musical, he found himself hitting a creative wall, unable to proceed. The following year, he chronicled his struggles into an experimental rock monologue titled “Tick, Tick…Boom!”, in which he expressed his longing to shake up the theater world and produce the next great musical before it’s too late. Of course, five years later he would do just that, creating the Pulitzer Prize-winning phenomenon Rent. The tragic irony of Larson’s story, however, is that he never got to see that success, as he died suddenly the morning of the show’s premiere.

0Posthumously, his one-man “Tick, Tick.. Boom!” was revised into a successful three-person show which, in turn, has now inspired this latest iteration of the piece- a feature film of the same name directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. A sort of biopic about Larson’s life just before he crafted his opus, the Tick, Tick… Boom! Movie incorporates elements of both of its stage predecessors into one cohesive whole. And it’s great.

I must confess my bias, as I am essentially the exact target audience for this movie. I’m a huge fan of musicals, already loved the stage versions of both of Larson’s works, and couldn’t be a bigger fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s if I tried. So this movie did not need to do much to win me over, and yet, it still managed to surpass my expectations. Especially when considering that this is Miranda’s first film as a director, it’s kind of stunning how well it comes together. 

The film is told through the wraparound narration of Larson’s rock monologue, in which he directly tells his story to the audience through song. This performance is intercut with more straightforward dialogue scenes of his life and interactions with his friends, creating a pretty clear picture of how messy his life was in the early ’90s. The nature in which the onstage songs comment on the “real” character scenes almost felt like an homage to the storytelling in the film version of Cabaret, one of nearly a thousand references and Easter Eggs to musical theater packed into this dense, dense movie. The downside to this adaptation is that it shifts the focus back nearly 100% to Jonathan’s side of the story, allowing very little time to be spent on the other people in his life. This change makes sense in order to present the movie as a biopic, but it was nonetheless disappointing to see some of his friend’s songs cut.

The centerpiece of this movie, of course, is star Andrew Garfield, who really does an incredible job bringing Jonathan Larson back to life. Garfield’s Larson is clearly severely depressed, but presents to the world with a manic smile and enthusiasm, as if he’s always on. We knew Garfield had a mastery of American accents, but his musicality and singing voice are a real surprise to discover this late in the game. He carries this movie with effortless charm and charisma, and I will be sorely disappointed if we all forget about him come awards season.

As a director Miranda has conducted several brilliant sequences and musical numbers, each more inventive than the last. While he manages to keep the dramatic scenes engaging and heartfelt, his style truly shines in the film’s lighter moments. There are songs in this film that feel straight out of a Muppet movie, they’re so over the top and whimsical. While the film as a whole runs a bit long, the individual musical numbers were so exciting I found myself wishing they wouldn’t end. This is a truly impressive first feature, and I hope he does more.

Overall, Tick, Tick… Boom! Is an absolute treat for a musical theater fan. It shows a rather bleak snapshot of life in New York in the early ’90s, but manages to still feel hopeful instead of depressing. The music is great and is admirably performed by the film’s eclectic cast. The production design seamlessly recreated the time period without being showy. Clearly the filmmakers behind Tick, Tick… Boom! are deeply passionate about the subject matter. It’s just a really solid movie.