Rent Reviews

Even though I'm not a huge fan of musicals, since I kept hearing interesting things about this flick, I thought I should check it out. This movie is based on a play which was hugely successful (it ran for more than 5000 performances on Broadway, won several Tony awards and even the Pulitzer Prize) but this movie was a flop which is not really surprising. I mean, I liked a few songs, the intro was especially awesome, but I didn't care for most of them and there were almost wall-to-wall songs. Furthermore, since there were so many songs, there was barely any time to develop the characters so I didn't care much about them. Still, it remains an interesting musical and I liked the fact that it dealt, for a change, with misfits (artists, musicians, the homeless, junkies, the HIV infected, the homosexuals,...). For Chris Columbus, who just directed the first 2 Harry Potter installments, it was something drastically different and you wonder if another director wouldn't have done a better job (other directors such as Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Rob Marshall and Baz Luhrmann were rumored to be possible choices for the job). Eventually, I thought the whole thing was not dark enough as, for example, the characters looked way too good to be drug addicts and/or infected by HIV. To conclude, the movie didn't really live up to the play but I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.

Forget about the simplistic storylines or the naive political stance of the film. Rent is simply a celebration of youth and idealism in the face of decadence and disease. It is about being a rebel with and without a cause, it is about not giveing in or giving up, and it is about love, friendship and rock'n roll. The music is catchy, the New York setting is nice, and the overall performance from the cast is great. Columbus, whom I usually dislike, did a good job with this film, which, like its musical counterpart, is really a tribute to the spirit of a particular time, place and group of people. Despite some of its flaws, I believe the film has captured the energy and essence of the musical.

When I watched Rent for the first time I laughed at the sillyness of it at times, but it grew on me and now I'll watch clips of the songs from it often. In my opinion it was a little ridiculous in some scenes, and the line "Will you light my candle" just seemed like one huge sexual inuendo to me (and it most likely was).

The characters were great and had so much personality, Angel was one of my favourites. The songs were by far the best part of it though. The "La Vie Boheme" scene was just... wow. That really is the best word for it.

I'd definately go to the stage show if I had the chance.