No masked killers or vampire ballerinas in sight!
The Big Picture
- Melissa Barrera’s breakout role was in
In the Heights,
which underperformed at the box office despite standout performances from Barrera and the rest of the talented cast. - Barrera excels in delivering authentic emotions and strong vocals in the musical adaptation.
- Despite the film’s financial disappointment, Barrera’s career rebounded with genre films like
Scream
and this year’s
Abigail,
showcasing her talent.
Sometimes it takes just one breakthrough performance for an actor to become an overnight sensation. Whether it’s Alan Rickman in Die Hard or Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea, an actor’s initial breakthrough role can set them up for immediate success within the near future. Unfortunately, that is not a reality for a majority of the performers working today, as it can often take years to gain significant recognition. The challenge of proving one’s merit is even more substantial if an actor’s first major role comes in a film that underperforms compared to expectations. This was the case for Melissa Barrera, who starred in the 2021 musical adaptation of In the Heights. Although it fared well with critics, In the Heights significantly underperformed at the box office.
Expectations for In the Heights were understandably high; the film was based on the acclaimed musical of the same name by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which won the Tony Award for Outstanding Musical. While director Jon M. Chu assembled a talented cast who reinterpreted the characters from the original production, In the Heights was a box office disappointment that failed to get any serious attention during the year’s award season. Although it was perceived as a failure commercially, In the Heights should be remembered as one of the highlights of Barrera’s career.
In the Heights
- Release Date
- June 10, 2021
- Director
- Jon M. Chu
- Cast
- Stephanie Beatriz , Lin-Manuel Miranda , Corey Antonio Hawkins , Jimmy Smits , Dascha Polanco , Anthony Ramos
- Runtime
- 120
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Writers
- Quiara Alegría Hudes , Lin-Manuel Miranda , Marc Klein
- Studio
- Universal Pictures
Melissa Barrera Is a Standout in ‘In the Heights’
While she had appeared in a few smaller projects previously, In the Heights saddled Barrera with significant expectations in her first major role. She stars in the key role of Vanessa, a young woman living in Manhattan’s Washington Heights with her family. While she desperately dreams of becoming a fashion designer and putting her artistic skills to good use, Vanessa has to deal with constantly being turned down for a rental application. Her budding romance with Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), the film’s protagonist, becomes more fraught as the film continues. Over the course of the summer, Usnavi and Vanessa realize they have very different intentions for their future. Despite her romantic feelings for Usnavi, Vanessa can’t help but feel that her perspective is being ignored.
Barrera manages to deliver a memorable performance in a packed ensemble. In the Heights features an extensive ensemble cast that shows the diversity of the Latin American experience in New York. While Olga Merediz’s scene-stealing performance as Abuela Claudia is arguably one of the film’s standouts, Vanessa is a character whose impact comes from more subtle moments. Barrera has to characterize Vanessa as someone who has big dreams, but is weighed down by the grueling mundanity of existence. She shows how the responsibilities that she’s saddled with leaves her with mismanaged expectations about the rest of her life; Vanessa has put a lot of effort into a relationship and community that doesn’t always appreciate her efforts.
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Melissa Barrera Gives a Dynamic Musical Performance
Translating a popular musical to the big screen isn’t always a guaranteed success, as the parameters of what makes a good stage production are different than the qualities that make a satisfying film. However, Barrera is able to deliver an authentic performance whilst still delivering strong vocal work. There’s an authenticity that she brings to the conversational scenes that makes Vanessa’s daily routine feel like a slice of life; the breaks into elaborate musical numbers feel like an extension of this reality, and not a drastic tonal shift. In fact, Vanessa’s emotions are so bottled up that the rare opportunity she has to express herself through song serves as rewarding moments for the character.
Despite being paired alongside several Broadway veterans, Barrera delivers terrific renditions of In the Heights’ most memorable musical numbers. One of the standout sequences in the film is the song “Blackout,” in which an argument between Usnavi and Vanessa serves as a backdrop to a massive power outage in the entire city. Barrera does a fantastic job at showing why this is a breakdown point for Vanessa. She’s overwhelmed by the work she will need to do to save her family’s business, but needs to take the opportunity to voice her concerns to Usnavi. There’s a complexity of emotion that the film conveys that makes it one of the standout musicals of recent years.
‘In the Heights’ Suffered From an Ill-Timed Release
While it was considered a financial disappointment, In the Heights suffered as a result of Warner Brothers’ decision to make the film simultaneously available on streaming. The “Project Popcorn” initiative that the studio utilized in 2021 ensured that there was a significant cap on their films’ success within the theatrical window, as many viewers simply opted to see them at home. This was detrimental to many films, but In the Heights was hit particularly hard because of how cinematic it was. With its elaborate musical numbers and instantly loveable characters, In the Heights was a film best experienced with a packed crowd.
In the Heights may have been written off as a failure, but Barrera’s career quickly rebounded thanks to her roles in several genre films. Barrera’s performance as Samantha Carpenter in both 2022’s Scream and its 2023 sequel provided the slasher series with its greatest “final girl” since Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott. While her relationship with the Scream franchise remains complicated, Barrera’s breakthrough work in In the Heights indicated that she could find a way to spin a perceived failure in her favor.
In the Heights is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com