Rent

[diamondsnake]

Anyone else excited about Rent coming to theaters next week? I can't wait to see it!

[Beachwood Mac]

Anyone else excited about Rent coming to theaters next week? I can't wait to see it!

I'm not usually a fan of turning live theater into a movie but this one has me intrigued. I saw it live at the La Jolla Playhouse with Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser).The movie cast is great so I'll probably see it while on vacation next week.

[JazmenFlowers]

I can not wait. I love Idina.

[strandinthewind]

Awful musical - awful production.

[Karlie]

I saw it today! :blob2: It was so good! I almost cried. :o

[dissention]

Awful musical - awful production.

I thought I was the only who thought that. You rock, Jason.

[strandinthewind]

I thought I was the only who thought that. You rock, Jason.


I thought the music sounded contrived and the vocals forced. But, to each their own as many love it.

[gldstwmn]

I love Rent. I hope the movie does the stage production justice.

[dissention]

I thought the music sounded contrived and the vocals forced. But, to each their own as many love it.

Have you read the Boston Herald review? It's brutal and utterly divine.

Deadbeats on parade: Too-old cast, inept lyrics drive down ‘Rent’
http://theedge.bostonherald.com/movieReviews/view.bg?articleid=113491

Finally, a musical for the tone-deaf. For lovers of great American movie musicals, “Rent,” an adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer and Tony award-winning 1996 play, is an ordeal. The 525,600 minutes referred to in the “Chorus Line”-style opening number should serve as a warning to everyone in the audience that this is yet another overrated Broadway show arriving on the screen embalmed and ready for interment.

In the roles many originated onstage, the cast is now too old to pass as the story’s 20-somethings. As the fans of the stage show know, these characters are a cross-section of young downtown New Yorkers, many HIV-infected, circa 1989. These are young artists and bohos who refuse to pay rent for the living spaces they inhabit in the East Village section known as Alphabet City. That’s right, this is a musical about deadbeats. Presumably, these young people believe they are just too plain fabulous and brilliant to pay rent.

Loosely based on “La Boheme,” “Rent” became a “Hair” for the Gen-X Generation. It even has a character named Mimi (newly cast Rosario Dawson, who really can shake that thing). But instead of Puccini’s consumptive flower girl, Dawson’s Mimi is a stripper and intravenous drug user. This film’s variation of the poet Rodolfo is rock guitarist Roger (Adam Pascal), who is so bland he makes Jon Bon Jovi look like Joe Cocker.

Rounding out this bohemian variation on a theme of “Friends” are the straight filmmaker-schlub Mark (Anthony Rapp), the former boyfriend of newly gay performance artist Maureen (Idina Menzel), drag queen Angel (the talented Wilson Jermaine Heredia) and former MIT whiz Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin, whose “Law & Order” fans are in for a shock when they hear him sing). Angel bangs on plastic buckets in the street for spare change, while Tom has a gig teaching at NYU and sings such lines as, “Well, I’m thwarted by a metaphysic puzzle.” Me, too, and I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer weiner.

In the thankless role of Benjamin “Benny” Coffin III, the “sellout” who has married a rich girl and is now his former friends’ landlord and would-be rent enforcer, the usually appealing Taye Diggs is rendered bizarrely inconsequential.

Set in the bad old days of aggressive “squeegee” men, legions of homeless, piles of uncollected trash and an AIDS epidemic among young gay men and drug users, “Rent” looks as if it was shot on a generic backlot New York City set and often seems like the Queer Nation version of “Fame.”

That’s fine, but when I hear such grotesquely unimaginative lyrics as, “You be my queen, and I’ll be your moat,” I imagine Cole Porter and Irving Berlin having a seizure.

The nicely staged showstopping number “La Vie Boheme” comes too late to revive the movie and begs the question: What rhymes with “Boheme”? (Answer: “S & M.”) As Maureen’s lawyer and lesbian lover, newcomer Tracie Thoms sings and dances up a storm, and director Chris Columbus’ obsession with Menzel’s butt is endearing, although it might also be his way of declaring hetero status.

“Rent” the play has already been hilariously skewered by Matt Stone and Trey Parker in “Team America.” But it undoubtedly filled a need to express the grief, anger and sense of injustice that accompanied the AIDS tragedy, and the idea that Larson took a shot at fame and success and died before seeing his creation win the Tony is certainly edifying. The word “rent” connotes a sense all life is ephemeral. But it’s also too ephemeral to waste watching this.

[xxxmx]

woo hoo. ^^^ that's how i felt about the stage show. when i first moved to new york i went broadway crazy, saw everything. Rent is the only show i didn't like. hated, actually. i'm tired of it. yet i could sit through Phantom ten times...

and they're right on about the cast, it's like watching Grease... so unconvincing.

[ryan8472]

Well I thought the movie was great. :nod: :shrug:

[strandinthewind]

"That’s fine, but when I hear such grotesquely unimaginative lyrics as, “You be my queen, and I’ll be your moat,” I imagine Cole Porter and Irving Berlin having a seizure."

Exactly. I mean, "its delicious, its delightful, its delovely" was clever, light, and just plain flirtatious as opposed to the quote above. But and again, to each their own.

[JazmenFlowers]

I had never heard of Rent when I listened to the soundtrack. I hated it...hated it. It sounded cheesy and unpleasant to listen to. Then, I saw a touring company and I cried that last half of the show - the whole time. I loved it. Something about it touched me. So, I will see the movie tomorrow and hope it has the same impact.

Like Jason said, to each his/her own.

[DavidMn]

I'm thinking of seeing it tonight, so I hope I will enjoy it.:nod:

[Brwn_eyes0511]

I enjoyed it!

I <3 Idina.

[Rickypt]

Rent is flawed and filled with stereotypes. Perhaps if Larson had lived, it would have gone through some edits before making its B'way debut.

However, to each his/her own, yes, but I can't see how anyone could think it's an awful musical. It's an extremely clever rewrite of La Boheme, and with the limitations presented by any play or musical, does an admirable job capturing a moment in history that did indeed exist. I worry that the movie just took too long to make and the whole thing is too dated.

[JazmenFlowers]

so I saw this last night and I thought it was great. this is a hard one to adapt for the screen and I think they did a good job. there were some things I didn't like, but overall I was very happy with it. Rosario Dawson was a lot better than I expected. I hate that they played down Out Tonight. The actor who played Angel was brilliant. I love Idina, I really do, but why did they make Maureen seem so comical? To me, she was very serious about her work and what the fug was up with Over the Moon (the cow song) - I mean, Idina sounded horrible to me on this one and it really changed to feel of the protest.

Anyway, I like it a lot.

[DavidMn]

so I saw this last night and I thought it was great. this is a hard one to adapt for the screen and I think they did a good job. there were some things I didn't like, but overall I was very happy with it. Rosario Dawson was a lot better than I expected. I hate that they played down Out Tonight. The actor who played Angel was brilliant. I love Idina, I really do, but why did they make Maureen seem so comical? To me, she was very serious about her work and what the fug was up with Over the Moon (the cow song) - I mean, Idina sounded horrible to me on this one and it really changed to feel of the protest.

Anyway, I like it a lot.Sounds like a very fair and balenced review.:nod:

[ryan8472]

what the fug was up with Over the Moon (the cow song) - I mean, Idina sounded horrible to me on this one and it really changed to feel of the protest.
My friends and I moo'd when she said to moo. Nothing like having an interactive movie experience. :laugh:

We are such dorks. :lol:

[Brwn_eyes0511]

so I saw this last night and I thought it was great. this is a hard one to adapt for the screen and I think they did a good job. there were some things I didn't like, but overall I was very happy with it. Rosario Dawson was a lot better than I expected. I hate that they played down Out Tonight. The actor who played Angel was brilliant. I love Idina, I really do, but why did they make Maureen seem so comical? To me, she was very serious about her work and what the fug was up with Over the Moon (the cow song) - I mean, Idina sounded horrible to me on this one and it really changed to feel of the protest.

Anyway, I like it a lot.

Bite your tounge!

That was one of the best parts of the movie! :nod:

[JazmenFlowers]

Bite your tounge!

That was one of the best parts of the movie! :nod:
lol...if you say so
:shrug:

[Nico]

My gawd...it seems very few here really care for "Rent". I love it. It just touches me. I do think that there are parts that are sort of over-the-top and slightly hammy, but the whole feel of the play is so raw and energetic that I just got hooked. To me, it was a beautiful way of describing/showcasing some serious issues that continue to exist...and I loved that they made the film. I think the whole original cast is great, especially Adam Pascal.:xoxo: Whatever...I'm always an odd ball I guess. :)

[Richard B]

Yuck. Who resurrected this thread?

Rent the movie SUCKED.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Yuck. Who resurrected this thread?

Well...it's not really all that hard to figure that out...:laugh: ;)

Rent the movie SUCKED.

I loved it :o

[Richard B]

Well...it's not really all that hard to figure that out...:laugh: ;)



I loved it :o
That's cool, Brandon.

I like a lot of crap films. However, this is not one of them.

[Patti]

I saw Rent last weekend and I really liked it. I was never able to see the live stage production unfortunately. But I did enjoy the movie.

[macmar71]

Seasons of love was a song my sister danced to at her recital a few years back so I bought the movie soundtrack and my sister's broadway soundtrack has been borrowed as well.I really liked the movie which I just recently saw via DVD release and when Angel dies the tears come, so sad. I have plans next month to see it live in NYC.

[sasja]

Brrrr... La Boheme at least has Puccini's wonderful music, behind its overly sentimental clap-trap libretto....

I could not make it all the way through Rent. Just eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww eeew eew. :eek:

Sasja

[diamondsnake]

I love Rent! I have watched the DVD a million times these last few days. I just think it is so sad, and gritty... My favorite song is the "Will I lose my dignity?" tune during the life support meetings. So sad...

[Sorcerer386]

First of all, that reviewer doesn't get the basis of the rent issue. When Benny married Alison and became the landlord, he said that his roommates didn't have to pay rent. Then, he suddenly shows up saying they owe a year's rent. Plus, if anyone can actually look past the homosexuality and aids issues (and God forbid people do that, because it's SO abnormal) they would see it's really about a group of friends trying to make it in the world, and trying to make a difference. Mark trying to make his great film, Roger trying to write one great song that touches people before he dies. You know, of all the characters, as far as society is concerned Angel and Collins make the most untraditional couple, yet they are the only two who actually LOVE each other. What is so terrible about that? That's why I find it so sad when Angel dies.

Anyway, the reviewer was right in one aspect. Most of the cast were too old for those roles. And you do get the cheesy scenes, which Santa Fe tops (singing in a subway while the homeless clap along, not good). Not to mention that they cut important things out of the second part (Roger leaves for Santa Fe and comes back in the same song). But it has its good parts...the flashback of Roger's life with April during One Song Glory, the montage during Without You. It wasn't bad, but I expected a little better to be honest.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Love it...all of it.

[Nico]

No question the play is better...it's absolutely fantastic when you're watching all of it live. And the raw energy is so addictive. But I did like the movie a lot. I think the arrangement for the songs, with the stronger rock beats, was awesome. And I love a lot of the scenes. It's very different watching it on screen. There are closeups, nothing seems as "jangly" (but still perfect), and...yeah, the actors are somewhat older-looking...but I never actually considered the age thing, even with the play. They can still be young people- maybe later 20s this time- but the whole theme is still there. They are all going through stuff and trying to band together, despite whatever pitfalls. I love it. I missed a lot of the scenes and running order of the play, but hey I'll just see them again when I go in July.

Cinema and theatre are two different things, so I never expected them to be the same. I appreciate the difference. And because I'm kind of a "renthead" I am very happy to see most of the originals in the film. :)

[ontheEdgeof17]

Well....

I was invited to the 10th Anniversary Show on the 24th....whether I get an actually seat or not is still up in the air as of right now....but more than likely I will.


Should I fly to NYC for two days to see the Original Broadway Cast and have dinner and dancing with them afterwards? :confused:

[Nico]

Should I fly to NYC for two days to see the Original Broadway Cast and have dinner and dancing with them afterwards? :confused:

Uhhh... :] F#&* YEAH! They are incredible together...and when will you have this opportunity again? Go.

[diamondsnake]

Do it!!!! No doubt about, this is a once in a lifetime chance!

I have been watching this movie daily lately. I am addicted. I would kill to see the show on Broadway.

[JazmenFlowers]

Do it!!!! No doubt about, this is a once in a lifetime chance!

I have been watching this movie daily lately. I am addicted. I would kill to see the show on Broadway.
luckily, I will see it on May 18 on Broadway. I'm so excited.

[diamondsnake]

luckily, I will see it on May 18 on Broadway. I'm so excited.
You are so lucky! I need to see this show soon! I am making it a mission!

[Nico]

You are so lucky! I need to see this show soon! I am making it a mission!

Yes, go see it. It's fantastic. I was lucky enough to see it with the original members about 10 years ago, with my dad. It was unforgettable. I will say, though, that the story line and characters make more of an impact on me now than they did back when I first saw it. And seeing the film got me into it all over again. I'm going in July. It will be my third "Rent" show!