Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick…Boom!
There’s just something about Andrew Garfield in Tick, Tick…Boom! I can’t stop thinking about. He so perfectly embodies the spirit of every desperate theater kid I’ve ever met—that strange admixture of absolute confidence, profound social awkwardness, and an almost frantic need to live for your art, man. Garfield doesn’t so much depict that spirit as he does let it emanate from his very bones. The question of whether or not you like his aspiring musical theater composer Jonathan Larson is almost laughably beside the point; the big, messy, open-hearted drive to do something, anything, in an effort to connect creatively with others is what radiates from the performance, and Garfield’s unabashed passion in the portrayal shines so bright, it almost overtakes the film itself. Talk about a show-stopper. [Alex McLevy]