My Rent Movie Review - SPOILERS WITHIN

Saw it last night. If you love the show, I don't think you will be disappointed at all. It really delivers the best parts of the stage production, especially stuff like the La Vie Boheme staging. Some hard core stuff that you forget is in the show - the riot, Collins getting mugged, the drug use, symptoms of HIV/AIDS - is so much more visceral and exciting to watch cause obviously you can do that stuff much more realistically on film than on stage. Adam was right - where the music needs to rock it does so harder than on the cast album. Everyone looks and sounds beautiful, I don't think all you hardcore fans will be let down. Like the LOTR movies I think the filmmakers cared very much about keeping the spirit and integrity of the stage production intact and have treated the material very lovingly. I can go into more detail if anyone wants but just thought I'd give y'all my overview and whet your appetites even more cause I think it totally delivers what y'all want. But I will say that Jesse L. Martin is unbelievable and for me, he steals the movie. There won't be a dry eye in the house during the I'll Cover You Reprise. I hope he gets nominated. He looks and sounds more beautiful than ever before.

"I can go into more detail if anyone wants but just thought I'd give y'all my overview and whet your appetites even more cause I think it totally delivers what y'all want."

Are ya nuts? We wanna know everything! Though from early reviews I've been reading it sounds good!

What will people who aren't die hard fans of the show think? Or more importantly, people who dont know the piece at all. Does it work on its own as a piece of film making and not just a good adaptation for the fans?

Hoo boy - let me try to answer some of these!

Halloween and Goodbye Love 2 are indeed out. I admit this is problematic because those numbers do a lot to round out Mark's character and address his role as "observer" ("Mark hides in his work, from facing your failure, facing your loneliness", etc.) I think this is minor, really, but it stuck out for me cause I like that Roger calls Mark on his bull****.

No Mimi hair glitter. Angel does not join the cast at the end, but he is part of the finale in a moving and beautiful way that I am not going to give up for anything. Patience is a virtue, y'all!

The gay marriage thing is not a real political statement, and I think it works. Joanne's a more conservative character than the other artists, Mark makes her nervous about Maureen's tendencies toward infidelity, so she asks Maureen for a commitment. It's really not a big thing and their "engagement" party just makes a fun backdrop for "Take Me or Leave Me." There is also no real political agenda about AIDS or government advances or lack of funding thereof, but the issue is driven home much harder than in the show, at least for me. It's very different to see Angel in white crying "Take me" and bathed in light and to see him suffering the full on symptoms of AIDS with great makeup effects.

I don't think I can really comment on how people who are unfamiliar with the piece will respond because I, like most of you, am so familiar with every note and all the iconic images associated with it. There are certainly fresh, new moments of visual storytelling that provide new images the stage production cannot, and I hope that this effort to "flesh it out" will interest people who don't know the show. I will mention that "I'll Cover You" is adorable and sweet and almost hokey in its execution, which I think might be an attempt to play down the fact that you are watching a love song between two guys and make that more "palatable" for people who might take offense at that, if you can see what I'm getting at.

Keep 'em coming, kids, I'll talk about this for hours if ya want.

My thoughts exactly MB. What would people not familiar with the stage production think of the new movie?

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thank you Suckage ........ you truly DO NOT suck!

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Wait, am I nuts? Doesn't it open 11/11 in LA/NY then go wide 11/23? I thought I only saw it like a week early...

LilEphie2, you are not stupid, don't say such a thing. By spoilers I meant plot stuff like Collins getting mugged. I don't want people to open up this thread and see something that maybe they wanted to be surprised about. Altho with this community, everyone pretty much knows everything about Rent, right? I just want to be careful because I know you guys are excited to see the movie and want to hear about it, but I don't want to give too much away so you'll be able to enjoy it with a fresh eye.

The main thing I really want to get across is how obvious it is that Columbus and the producers cared so much about getting it right, and by right I mean staying true to Jonathan Larson's vision of what the piece should be, and I can't see anyone who loves the show being disappointed at all. We should have known how much they cared when they called back so many of the original cast members. Oh, about that - it's completely adorable to see Idina all antagonistic to Taye! Man, they are a smoking couple. Their kids are going to be gorgeous.

This movie sounds wonderfull. That's all I have to say.

No (I know what you are referring to), but the ending is very powerful and true to the spirit of the stage production.

I really liked the concept of the other one, but if you say that the real ending is also great, I am happy with that. Thank you !

It's been ages since I read that draft; what was the ending with the buildings?

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I saw the movie today - on my lunch break (albeit a LONG one)

I REALLY wish I could say that I knew how non-rentheads would respond. I don't. I'm a renthead. Which makes me very critical, though.

The look and feel of the film is incredible. It's VERY dark. It's dirty. The power is out a lot, and I don't think anyone takes a regular shower. Or shaves. Except maybe Angel.

It is so much easier for everyone to express deeper emotions on film. Songs that turn me off in the stage show (namely "Your Eyes") become masterful and very moving.

The acting is off the hook. OFF THE FREAKING HOOK. Rosario doubters, be prepared to have your butts kicked by her Mimi. She's intense, she's sassy, and very, very lost. She has some really incredibly intense drug scenes that are just mindblowing.

Jesse probably wins the acting award, though. His ICY:R is... again, there are no words. Everything he does, everything he reacts to is SO organic, so natural, and so perfect that you can't keep your eyes off him.

The "most improved" award goes to Adam, who has moved from stage hunk to... master of making Lea's eyes tear up. Yes, the hair is huge (but Wet!Adam makes it worth it) - he's SO much more intense than he ever was on the stage at the Nederlander. Glory = score. Another Day = score. When his nose is red from crying... even BIGGER score.

Wilson is... Wilson. I don't even know any other way to put it. He's so damn pretty in his wig, too. His Angel is touching, and funny, and he's still got the drumming going on.

I'm not even going to talk about Anthony, since anybody who knows me know how much I love him. I can't even type about him. His Mark borders on obsessive compulsive with the camera, though, and you can really see himself burying farther and farther into his work as the **** hits the fan. It's brilliant.

The **** hits the fan a lot harder and more obviously than in the stage show. It's highly effective. Any **** you can think of that hits the Rent fan: it does it, and it's more graphic/clear/urgent/scary.

Tracie: WOW. Singing, yes we knew, but her acting. I feel BAD for her. Her poor little face falling every time Maureen lets her down just makes you want to take her home.

Taye - THIS is one hell of a Benny performance. I will honestly admit to NEVER having enjoyed "You'll See Boys" as much as I did in that movie theater. ALSO - they've developed Bennys character much further, as well as defined all the relationships clearer - I empathized a lot more with where Benny was coming from - he wasn't so much the bad guy.

Idina: Um. Yes. First of all, props to whoever gave her dancing lessons. Amazing. She's very.... flexible.

But seriously, Idina was brilliant. Her Maureen is TRASHY TRASHY TRASHY - just... not a classy girl. And that is amazingly hilarious. Over The Moon is insane. She's just so out of control. And just so everyone knows, she does NOT indicate for the movie audience to moo. Her acting for the more serious scenes is spot on - Maureen may be a skank, but she's got a heart of gold, that's for sure. The audience laughed at almost every word that came out of her mouth.

Outside of the individual people... the whole movie was just... intense.

I cried for the first 20 minutes. NO, there wasn't anything sad going on. I was just so overwhelmed by the whole thing.

My FAVORITE numbers were the "La Vie Boheme" sequence (SO incredibly faithful, yet even BETTER than onstage), "Tango Maureen" (adorable), "Will I" (cried again here), "Take Me Or Leave Me" (trashy Idina in classy environment = good) and um.. well ok everything. Everything was hott. Yes, hot with TWO t's. More would be gratuitous.

The BEST number in the whole thing is "Without You", hands down. Amazing.

Not to say that the movie was perfect. They took a LOT of lines from the stage show that aren't sung and turned them into dialogue. While they don't rhyme, hearing them spoken sometimes gave me a case of the giggles. But for the MOST part, the added dialogue is KEY. Jesse, Adam, and Idina have the BEST added things to say. Idina has the most... added... stuff and it is all hysterical. I like it, it didn't detract from the show.

The movie SOUNDS different from the soundtrack. The vocals of whoever the camera is on are the loudest... that is VERY effective, keeps it from sounding fake. Doesn't seem "tracked" at all, the closer you "are" to a person, the louder they are. The songs are expanded. Lots. Extra bits of interlude/extra voices/ect. SOUNDS GREAT.

So in conclusion. It isn't Rent the stage show. It transcends that. I really feel like it is the most faithful movie adaption I've ever seen of a musical. The spirit of Rent is really there. And when the credits ended, and the screen just said "Thank you, Jonathan Larson" - I said it too.

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emcee, the last scene (Finale B) was supposedly out on the street, where Mark flipped on many projectors that projected on the buildings scenes from the movie (aka "his" film), and as the song ended we saw individual frozen images of all the basic cast members and on the last NO DAY BUT TODAY every building projected the image of a smiling and beautiful Angel !

Updated On: 11/2/05 at 06:37 PM