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In the Heights

What I liked: First and foremost I liked the cash register frog. The hair salon ladies were funny and the dance numbers were great. They managed to avoid the common problem with large ensemble numbers where they're filmed so they look pretty similar: bunches of people dancing in formation in a large open space (a field, a street, an oddly large restaurant). There were cool locations and interesting filming that kept the dancing all exciting. I liked the fireworks and the sparkler shoes and everyone thinking about what they would do if they won the lottery. All of the food looked delicious, we had to go get horchata and other delicious snacks afterwards. I liked the Hamilton cameo. 

What I didn't: I'm not sure about the old Usnavi narrator telling us the story, I found it more distracting than helpful. The one guy in the swimming pool dance number. He was terrifying. He must have answered the wrong casting call, he was really trying for a role in the exorcist or a haunted circus or something. Yes, he was a skilled dancer, but no one's joints are supposed to bend like that. Some review said that this movie was the new Westside Story, so I was expecting some elements of Romeo and Juliette. So I was confused when the families were all pretty onboard with the romances. I thought maybe they were going for a bold recasting of Mercutio as the grandma, but it turns out this is the new Westside Story in the same way Crazy Rich Asians is the new Mulan. They share some superficial similarities but are very different in every relevant way.
I didn't really get the friend character, he has a dramatic moment going back to direct taxi traffic during the blackout, but I guess I either missed or didn't follow his character development enough to be invested. Finally, I feel like having a date and going to the drug store before they close are not mutually exclusive and that better communication would really have decreased my stress in that scene. 

Who should watch this? People who like Lin-Manuel Miranda, people who do not like Westside Story.  

Would I watch it again? I would listen to the music and probably watch some of the musical numbers again. 

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