- Directed by John M. Chu and based on a stage musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights sings, dances, and acts out the tale of the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, a culturally rich area populated primarily by Dominican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans. Narrated to a group of children by a young man named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), the story focuses on how the various residents of Washington Heights feel about their neighborhood, particularly as it is increasingly threatened by the forces of gentrification, racism, and, well...a heat wave.
- Although he gets along well enough managing a convenience store with his cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV), Usnavi constantly reminisces about how great life was as a child growing up in the Dominican Republic. Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) wants to move away, too, but in the downtown direction to launch her career as a fashion designer. A cab dispatcher named Benny (Corey Hawkins) likes working in Washington Heights insofar as it ingratiates him with his boss, Kevin Rosario (Jimmy Smits), although Benny is more interested in Kevin's daughter Nina (Leslie Grace), who has just returned from Stanford. Nina worries that her academic struggles will disappoint her father and the entire neighborhood, but she's also just happy to have returned to some familiar faces.
- Although much of the film focuses on the younger residents of Washington Heights, the heart and soul of the neighborhood resides with the kindly matriarch "Abuela" Claudia (Olga Merediz), who raised Usnavi after his parents passed away. She, Kevin, and local beauty shop owner Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) have seen the neighborhood experience its share of ups and downs, which is why they're concerned that Kevin is selling off property to pay Nina's tuition while Daniela and her staff (Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco) are getting priced out of their shop by rising rent. Doubtless a catastrophic blackout in the middle of a heat wave will give the people of Washington Heights a chance to demonstrate what really makes their neighborhood special.
- The positive social messages of In the Heights are certainly more impressive and thoughtful than average, and the music does a good job reflecting a variety of styles that one might reasonably encounter in Washington Heights. While the film is sometimes far too on-the-nose even by the standards of a genre in which everyone constantly and loudly sings what they are thinking — the lyric "we are powerless!" comes quickly to mind — it is also introspective enough about issues of identity and belonging that I can hardly complain too much. The on-location scenery is wonderful and such an integral part of the film that I can't imagine how it would have worked on stage, although at least the stage production would have spared its audience the rare eruptions of corny visual effects. Miranda and Marc Anthony make completely unnecessary cameos, although admittedly I would be willing to see a sequel arranged entirely around Miranda's Paragua vendor publicly feuding with the Mr. Softee guy (Christopher Jackson).
