All Rent Reviews (Place Here)- Page 3

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 10:19am

Excerpts from the Variety RENT review:

"No day like today" feels like yesterday's news in the long-aborning screen version of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-winning rock musical, "Rent." Director Chris ColumbusChris Columbus has pasted the grungy "La Boheme" update onto film with slavish respect for the original material but a shortage of stylistic imagination and raw emotions. Result is like watching a dancer with no rhythm; it approximates the moves but rarely gets an infectious groove on. Hardcore fans of the long-running Broadway show will constitute an automatic audience, but Sony is unlikely to lure the uninitiated in major numbers.

But the musical's of-the-moment edge has faded.

While "Rent" is not as obsolete as other film versions of zeitgeist-specific musicals -- like "Godspell" or "Hair" -- nor as leaden as last year's "Phantom of the Opera," it feels past its prime.

Columbus' cluttered idea of how to film a musical seems to reference "Fame"in its repeated dancing on tables and seemingly endless running through trash-strewn streets holding hands.


The show has always been something of an inelegant narrative jumble held together by empathy for its characters. Screenwriter Stephen Chbosky does little to alter that, supplying threadbare dialogue that stitches one song to the next without weaving a dramatic fabric.

The central thread of downtowners battling to survive, connect and cultivate some kind of artistic purity in an increasingly soulless corporate world is still there. But the threat of eviction, of being forced to sell out, or of succumbing to illness or drug addiction never acquires much urgency.

Chbosky's chief effort to update the material -- and the movie's most dialogue-heavy scene -- is a protracted country club engagement party for lesbian couple Maureen (Idina Menzel) and Joanne (Tracie Thoms), seemingly designed to mine the gay-marriage debate for contempo relevance.

Forays into an AIDS support group attended by Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin) and his drag queen lover Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia) have a pallid, seen-it-before feel and the film only acquires emotional weight when death touches the band of friends directly late in the action. While aspiring filmmaker Mark (Anthony Rapp) remains the story's designated guide, shooting events for his 16mm documentary, the character lacks dimension here, leaving the film rudderless.

Too often, Columbus adheres to a familiar music-video idiom: When stymied songwriter Roger (Adam Pascal) recaps his brief, blazing success and doomed love in "One Song Glory," the scene seems like recycled Aerosmith; the same character's escape to New Mexico in "What You Own" appears to have been lifted from the Bon Jovi '80s vaults.

Perhaps the most successful efforts to breathe new visual life into the numbers come in "Tango: Maureen," which and half of "Out Tonight," in which heroin-addicted gogo-dancer Mimi (Rosario DawsonRosario Dawson) does some steamy bump-and-grinding in micro-shorts in a sleaze bar, abandoned too early for yet more exuberant running through the streets.

While the decision to enlist most of the show's original cast (Rapp, Pascal, Martin, Heredia, Menzel and Taye Diggs all created their characters on stage) will please diehard Rentheads, it raises awkward questions as to why these people, some of them clearly pushing 40, are still floundering in artsy aimlessness. While there's a general charisma shortage, the actors all do OK, with Dawson, Thoms and Martin finding more emotional nuances than most. But Columbus and Chbosky have not succeeded in making them vivid figures for anyone not already invested in the characters through prior familiarity.

On the tech side, Howard Cummings' production design trowels on the gritty texture and costumer Aggie Guerard Rodgers outfits the cast in thrift-store boho chic; Stephen Goldblatt's widescreen lensing is disappointingly tame and undynamic for a musical, often blighted by poor composition.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 10:23am

I'm not going to complain about the review, because he's made points that I am actually not cabable of seeing -- for example, the idea that people without the predisposition won't care for the characteres. That's a judgement I can't make; I don't have authority to be like "dude, that's not true." Maybe it is. I can't erase my brain and find out, and I'm too biased to make that judgement.

But, anyway, with almost all of the reviews I've read, positive, negative or mixed, I'm really bothered by the fact that they have such blatant errors. That's just unprofessional.

Updated On: 11/20/05 at 10:23 AM

[Whiteboy Spice]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 11:45am

So, who's right? These two reviews couldn't be more opposed, which is certainly always interesting.

It seems to me that the HR reviewer was already fond of the material, and came in ready to give Chris the benefit of the doubt. The fact that he had not one negative thing to say tells me his response probably exceeded his expectations.

On the other hand, it seems like the Variety reviewer had always found Rent to be very flawed in the first place, and was disappointed to find that in his experience Chris did little or nothing to improve on those flaws.

I do take enormous exception to the notion that an HIV-AIDS support group could ever feel like familiar territory, though. Where has there ever before been such a scene in a major studio film?

Anyway, it looks like baggage brought to the film -- the good and the bad -- is certainly coloring critics' responses to it.

I suppose that's probably always the case, but it's more pointed now because Rent has already had such a cultural impact. There will be those critics who will be happy to have a forum in which to add their voices to the parade of boosters or naysayers.

Always interesting to note perspectives when discussing art, don't you think?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 11:49am

I don't know if a major one will turn up (or if it has and I missed it) but I'd be curious to read something by a legit critic who had no baggage to bring into it at all; maybe someone who's never seen the show or even heard the music, if that's what it takes.

It's all perspective, no?

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 11:51am

Someone who met Anthony last night said that he said Ebert and Roeper gave it 2 thumbs up.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 11:59am

yay!

Your avatar... are those Lego Mark and Roger, or what?

Updated On: 11/20/05 at 11:59 AM

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 12:07pm

LOL, yes. Lego Mark was lonely, so I made a Lego Roger for him, and now they're friends.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 12:08pm

It's kind of like Wax Lion and Monkey Buddy.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 12:12pm

It is.

Speaking of Wax Lion, I really want to see the pictures of the cast from the premiere party with him.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 12:13pm

I was hoping Wax Lion would reveal himself.

[LariTheLoud]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 1:06pm

I hope he will. The suspense is killing us!

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 1:35pm

I'm not really surprised by the reviews. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I wasn't expecting glowing reviews, or anything.

I wonder how 'Hollywood' people feel about 'Broadway' invading their "territory" - like some people here hate movies turned to musicals.

I imagine most producers don't care - a movie's revenue (hopefully). But I still wonder...

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 1:43pm

Well, that is the curse of an already existing musical being made into a movie. I mean, same as Phantom of the Opera . . . there were a lot of critics who hated the show and came to the movie already making up their mind that they will hate it. Same for RENT or any other broadway musical turned movie. If it was an original movie musical, it would have more "real" reviews instead of biased opionions already made by them seeing the broadway show before hand and already making up their mind that they will like it or not. But, I don't think RENT was made for the critics, it was made for the movie going public and I think it will make a HUGE impact on the many people who see this film.

Updated On: 11/20/05 at 01:43 PM

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 1:50pm

>>>Someone who met Anthony last night said that he said Ebert and Roeper gave it 2 thumbs up. <<<

I am skeptical unless I hear it right from Anthony.

RENT is not even on the list to be reviewed this weekend on their show...I think it will probably be next weekend.

And neither have reviewed the movie in their respective newspapers either as they wait for release to do that as well. The review should come sometime next week.

[Whiteboy Spice]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:13pm

Ebert and Roeper informed Sony that they gave Rent two thumbs up, so Sony could use that info in their ads. They did not yet share the content of their reviews -- they reserve that until the show airs.

Jeffrey Lyons also sent rave quotes -- but not the entire content of his review -- to Sony. The quote ads should be appearing by Wednesday. Sony didn't get these quotes in time for Sunday's NY Times ad, because it has to be put to bed by midweek. Not sure whether other papers feature quote ads yet.

For the record, of the reviews published so far, the majority of them are quite positive. Tomorrow, Time, Newsweek, and others will break, and the dailies will appear on Wednesday.

And Emcee, I agree that it would be nice to hear from a critic who had no prior experience of the material, but I think it's unlikely we'll get one. Too many folks from all corners of the media universe have seen this show.

Anecdotally, I've met several folks now -- not friends of mine -- who never saw the show and loved the film, including one man who said he had not expected much, and in fact hadn't looked forward to seeing a story about AIDS. He went on to say he thought the film was very powerful and predicted it would be a huge success.

We'll see soon enough how right or wrong he was...

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:13pm

Well, I trust the people I heard it from...but I guess we wont know for sure until next week.

[Whiteboy Spice]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:13pm

Sent from my Treo and double posted. Sorry.

I wanted to clarify something: we don't yet know what the major mags and dailies thought. Not sure that was clear in my previous post. Updated On: 11/20/05 at 02:13 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:22pm

Am I the only one that's not reading any reviews? I just felt like I already knew too much, so I wanted to form my own opinions without having to sift through someone else's baggage to get a legitimate perspective.

Maybe I'll check some of them out after I see the movie, but until then, I don't want to know.

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:30pm

I skim reviews and read people's responses to the review...and I look at the picture, if there is one. :)

Mandi Moo: I love the new Lego Roger. Lego Mark has someone to talk to!

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:46pm

Lego Mark was getting lonely, so I made him a friend.


I haven't really read any reviews either. When one is posted I may read the first line or two, to get what thier general feeling is, but other than that, I don't need to know every little thing.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 2:59pm

The tomatometer has moved from 86% to 88%. Every day it gets higher and higher.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 3:03pm

The whole board drama last week was mentioned in Variety. The link is in Rob's blog.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 3:22pm

Double posts happen to the best of us, no worries.

I just read the thing in Rob's blog. Interesting.

[Alli579]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 3:24pm

Whiteboy Spice, it is so nice to hear from you! We've missed you around here. As always, thanks for the info. It's great to know that positive things are coming from this movie even before its official release!

Orangeskittles, I too have decided to boycott reviews. After reading last week's reviews posted on this board, I was losing sleep and stressing way too much! I read Emcee's review of the film, which put me at peace, and decided that was it for me until I see it myself. (28 hours!)

For the record, I cannot wait to see this film, and love every minute of it. :)

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 3:31pm

"The tomatometer has moved from 86% to 88%. Every day it gets higher and higher."

At first I forgot you were talking about Rotten Tomatoes so I thought: "What in the world is a tomatometer? Something that measures the size of a tomato? And why is it measure in a percent?"

I'm having an off day. Hehe