Dear Evan Hansen addresses a number of important real-world issues such as mental health and loss. As the characters are all dealing with their own struggles and grief, many of them end up making morally questionable decisions. Some of these decisions are small and understandable while others are huge and indefensible.
The movie makes significant changes from the play in order to do a more effective job of calling out the moral failures of some of the characters as they are held accountable and forced to grow. For the most part, the film does not present the characters as bad or villainous people, but rather as hurting people who compromise their morals.
8 Evan Hansen
Evan is one of the most complicated and morally complex characters in the movie. On the one hand, he crosses some major lines, consistently lies to everyone around him, and selfishly benefits off of another student's death. For some audiences, these actions will make Evan unlikable and irredeemable.
But on the other hand, Evan is clearly not amoral or evil. He does not act maliciously or try to intentionally hurt people. He is presented as someone who is isolated and hurting, and he makes the unfortunate decision to let that pain drive him to do some bad things.
7 Connor Murphy
While his onscreen presence is limited, Connor is one of the most complex characters in the film. With a less-than-ideal home and school life, Connor clearly dealt with issues of loneliness and pain. However, this often came out in the form of lashing out at school and mistreating his family at home.
Connor is not a bad guy, just someone who is alone and hurting with no one to turn to. His behavior, though not acceptable, is understandable as the audience learns more and more about him.
6 Alana Beck
Alana uses Connor's passing as the opportunity to start the Connor Project to help others who are dealing with mental health issues in private. Overall, Alana is a caring and compassionate person who is willing to sacrifice her time to make the world a better place.
While she may be one of the best characters in the Dear Evan Hansen film, she makes the indefensible decision to post what she believes to be Connor's suicide note online for the world to see without asking his family for permission, leading to major backlash for the family. Alana did a lot of good, but this shocking action led to a lot of pain and deeply affect the Murphy family's lives.
5 Larry Mora
Initially, Larry comes across as a stereotypical workaholic absentee father who is emotionally distant and unavailable. Because of this, audiences may rush to judge him. However, it is later revealed that this is simply a misguided attempt to project strength because he believes that is what his family needs.
Larry does make some questionable decisions, spying on Connor's emails prior to his death and occasionally using a snippy tone while talking to Cynthia. While Larry may not be one of the best movie dads ever, he genuinely cares about his family despite his difficulty showing it at times.
4 Jared Kalwani
While Jared is not the mastermind behind the deception, he is certainly an accomplice. Evan would not be able to have pulled off his elaborate ruse with Jared's help, so he shares some of the blame for the fallout. However, he does repeatedly voice his concerns and objections about what they are doing.
In general, Jared does not seem too concerned with morals but he does make it clear that he thinks Evan is making a mistake. However, Jared could have done much more to stop Evan from expanding his lies and failed to do so.
3 Heidi Hansen
Eva's mom, Heidi, is doing the best she can as a single parent pulled in numerous different directions. While she does not necessarily do anything amoral, she is preoccupied with her work and misses some of Evan's warning signs and pleas for help.
Heidi is trying her hardest and just did not realize how much Evan was hurting. In the play, Heidi's struggles are more clearly communicated through "Anybody Have A Map?" and this cut song could have made Dear Evan Hansen very different and made her feel like a more moral character. She loves him and is doing her best to show it, even if she slips up sometimes.
2 Cynthia Murphy
As a grieving mother, Cynthia is desperate to hold onto any connections to her son that she can find. While her pain is certainly understandable, it causes her to pressure a young and vulnerable teenager as she pushes Evan to share more and more about Conner. However, she is kind enough to treat Evan like a son, even after she finds out about his deception.
Cynthia is by no means responsible for Evan's lies and did not really do anything wrong, though she is the adult in the situation and could have recognized that she was putting too much pressure on him. Even still, she is an incredibly loving and gracious character. This is a great role for Amy Adams and her empathetic performance makes it hard for the audience to blame her for anything she does.
1 Zoe Murphy
While Zoe is initially guarded and dismissive of Evan, it becomes clear that this guardedness is her way of dealing with everything that is happening. As she sees gets closer to Evan she begins to let her guard down and shows off her real personality.
The biggest demonstration of her morality comes at the film's conclusion as she somehow finds a way to forgive Evan and show him the orchard after everything he has done. She proves herself to be a sweet, kind, and forgiving person even in the face of pain and loss.
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