West Side Story – A Musical Hot Mess

In this current age of reboots and remakes, another adaptation of the 1957 musical West Side Story is next up. Originally set to release in December 18th, 2020 before being delayed by almost a year as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year may have been the better choice timing wise, 60 years after the release of the 1961 film adaptation. The question of whether or not this new film is necessary is irrelevant as the musical has undoubtedly amassed quite a fan base over the years that are sure to flock to this new adaptation regardless. Meanwhile with Steven Spielberg also attached to the project, there is plenty cause for excitement. However, all that excitement will surely fizzle out for a large portion of audiences as the final product is a hot mess. That being said, this opinion is coming from someone with little to no connection to the original musical therefore fans are likely to have a stronger connection. For everyone else, the film is a thin and overlong watch in spite of whatever it may boast on a technical level.

For those unfamiliar with the source material, West Side Story is a love story set in the midst of an evolving 1957 New York City as a result of race and class gentrification that systematically pushed the poorer masses aside in favor of the wealthy while new immigrants had also made their homes and established their businesses within the same lands only to be pushed out themselves. From there came the rivalry between the predominantly-white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks who were seen by the former as impeding on their territory but their disdain was rooted in a fear of the different and the unknown. As their homes and livelihoods were slowly slipping away at the hands of the wealthy, this only further fueled that rivalry as they both continued to fight against each other and the inevitable out of a primal need for survival.

Lazily cobbling together social commentary through a gang war that went nowhere made up of dull and thin characters made up of a combination of stereotypes and bad accents. The characters seemed to only serve to further that commentary. Their lack of development beyond that made them uninteresting to watch for the most part. The world-building through the lens of the Jet and Shark rivalry took most of the focus which took away from the aforementioned love story of Tony (Elgort) and Maria (Zegler), essentially making them an afterthought. Representing either side of the rivalry, they were different and eventually found each other but suffice it to say that this did not go down well with their communities. This would ignite a firestorm that put their future and their relationships with their communities in jeopardy. The problem with this was that this storyline and drama was just too silly to care about in a deeper way. Being thin characters like the rest, that connection between Tony and Maria never had a chance.

At the end of the day, West Side Story is a musical and for that, the film still works decently. The songs are catchy and the musical numbers are still somewhat entertaining thanks to some great choreography but they could only go so far in terms of the film as a whole. Where the film truly excels is technically as its production design, costumes, cinematography, and score are all stellar, putting audiences in late 1950s New York City and giving the film an epic feel. Though the script held the film back, some performances still found a way to break through. Elgort as Tony was certainly not one of them. He just could not carry the emotion of the film whatsoever, delivering a wooden performance and never quite fitting with the rest of the film as that leading man charisma was simply not there. Zegler definitely tried as Maria. In her first feature film role, she delivers a scene-stealing performance, bringing some energy which was something the film severely lacked though she could only do so much. It’s just a shame that she and Elgort has absolutely no chemistry. However, it was not Zegler’s fault.

Regardless of what has been said here, West Side Story will still find an audience but for audiences who aren’t fans of the original musical or musicals in general, this may be a tougher watch.

still courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.