By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Adam Pascal | Anthony Rapp | Idina Menzel | Jesse L. Martin | Rosario Dawson | Tracie Thoms | Wilson Jermaine Heredia
Country: united_states
Year: 2005
Running time: 135
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294870/combined
Michael says: “I was fortunate enough to have seen the Broadway production of ‘Rent’ with the original cast back in the early 90’s and was caught up in its enthusiasm and heartfelt emotion. ‘Rent’ captured a youthful bohemian artistry with characters that traversed the sexual spectrum and wore their hearts proudly on their sleeves. There had been talk of a movie version of the musical for years but it was slow in coming. In the intervening years the distance gave me a more dispassionate view of ‘Rent’ and I could see how the story, based, incidentally on the opera, ‘La Boheme,’ was pretty cheesy. My enthusiasm was further dimmed when I heard that the Chris Columbus was going to direct the movie-version. It was exciting to see most of the original cast reunited for this film, and I was mildly surprised at my emotional reaction to the songs and story, despite its still evident cheesiness. Columbus surprised me a couple of times, adding a terrific fantasy sequence during, ‘The Tango Maureen,’ and capturing the honesty and sweetness of Angel and Collins’ romance in the dazzling, ‘I’ll Cover You.’ Unfortunately, there were more missteps than successes. Why someone chose to remove most of the sung dialogue, yet keep the lyrics and spoken dialogue (the actors very clumsily tried to hide the rhymes) is beyond me. It also removes most of Mark’s narrative motion, castrating his story and making him a bit of an afterthought in the film. ‘Glory,’ one of the more powerful numbers on the stage, was marred by clumsy, heavy-handed flashback, and in the second act, ‘Without You,’ suffers a similar fate.
“As I mentioned above, the original cast was a delight to see. Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Jesse L. Martin shine as Angel and Collins respectively, and form the heart of the film. They inhabit these characters comfortably, and their love story is utterly believable. Idina Menzel returns to performance artist Maureen filled with sexy confidence. With the awkward story edits and changes to the original dialogue, Roger’s character seems almost a sideline despite being front and center in the musical. Adam Pascal, looking like a bargain-basement Bon Jovi with a bad rock-star haircut seems uncomfortable with the changes. Anthony Rapp does his best with what they have left Mark, and at least he still shines in the centerpiece number, ‘La Vie Boheme.’ Newcomers Rosario Dawson as Mimi, and Tracie Thom as Joanne mesh well with the original cast, and bring strong vocal abilities as well.
“All in all, I would still give ‘Rent’ the musical 4 ½ cats, but the movie only gets 3 cats from me.”