RENT DVD - A Review — Page 3

One point I like to make is about the haters who say the movie is a failure. I feel its becoming clear that it has not been such a bust. The DVD for one is likely to be a good seller and should help the film recoup its production costs and then some. At the Netherlander Theater, the DVD will be flying for example. But besides that, the film has had an enormous effect on the stage version. The show had many sold out shows and weekends after it came out and a new tour is being rolled out that will, by all accounts, do very well. The movie has made people more aware of Rent and it will in the end be successful in keeping Rent alive. Regardless if you liked the movie or not, its spirit and message came through.

"Also, 3 of the cut scenes show Benny in a totally new light and I sort of wish Benny was humanized a bit."


I completely agree. That was my biggest gripe with the movie, how it completely minimized Benny's significance, and I don't understand why Columbus thinks the film works better without that storyline being fleshed out.
In the commentary, during "You'll See", Chris mentions how it was important for Taye to be charming in the scene...to make the audience believe these guys would have been friends with him, which he says Taye does successfully.
Then during the scene when Benny tries to give them the new lease, again Chris and Anthony comment about how good Taye is in that scene. Chris says, "Not enough Taye in this movie" but then goes on to say that the end of the scene(one of the deleted ones) is too confrontational between Benny and Mimi and he didn't want that much of their relationship explained. Yet, I found that to audiences not familiar with the stage show (from the sampling of people I talked to about it), how Benny and Mimi end up together at the funeral, etc. seems so completely out of left field. They just didn't get it and those scenes (plus I think there may have been another one which didn't make the DVD at the strip club) that would have helped things a lot. Not to mention, at the very least, the rest of Goodbye Love, which would have made that completely awkward What You Own transition more tolerable.

Your welcome, dreaminaret! I've so far watched the deleted scenes and the documentary. Let me say that this is one heck of a documentary. As someone else put it, it's kind of like the Rent Bible brought to life. There's so much footage - about Jonathan, the show, and the movie - that I really had no expectations of seeing. It was basically everything you could ever want to know, and I thought they did an excellent job with it.

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Updated On: 2/16/06 at 11:37 PM

Updated On: 2/17/06 at 12:29 AM

My take on the deleted scenes:

1. The extra little snit in the loft -- It's okay. I guess I like it, but it doesn't really do much. I mean, it does have the "my cat had a fall," which is always a favorite.

2. Halloween -- Anthony gives a great performance, but for some reason, it doesn't... really do much for me. I think it needs some closeups to really be emotional.

3. Goodbye Love -- I absolutely love it, and I think the movie needed it. For me, my big trouble with the second "act" of the movie was that it was just too fast. Having this would've slowed it down, and let you really TAKE that stuff -- which I think it exactly what Columbus wanted to avoid. To me, it's integral, and would've made the movie feel so much less rushed. The end of the film just sped by to me, and there really needed to be more. Adam's performance had me really close to tears. Snaps to him.

4. Roger and Taye meet in the bar to reconcile... I don't know. Roger says "thanks for meeting me," and starts it off really awkwardly. I just don't think.... I don't think initiating this is something he would do. It's kind of useless.

5. Alternate ending -- I like it. I like Angel's entrance, when he grabs Collins' hand, etc, and how they cut from one character to the other, the way Mark's movie does, but I think they made the right choice, hands down. Mark's movie was one of my favorite parts of the film, and aside from that, it's far too theatrical. I think that to have them end up back on stage would have been a way of saying to the audience that these are actors, playing parts, and that this is just a story, being told by these people on stage. That transition is something that you can't avoid on stage, but I think it would've taken the film to a really weird place. People are saying that the alternate ending is an homage to the stage version -- but so is the real ending -- it's the same setup, all of them sitting on the table and whatnot. I don't know, I think they made the right choice.

The ones with Benny in them really rounded out his character, and gave him what he was missing in the film as is. That stuff would've done a lot of good, too.

It was so weird to see the movie again.

I'm watching part of the documentary now... the movie part, just for tonight. I'll watch the whole thing tomorrow. Rosario's audition -- yikes! But... whatever they did to make her sound good in the movie, it worked and that's what matters.

As far as Chris' explanation in the commentary for why he didn't put April's suicide in, I feel like... he could've figured it out. I know that's presumptious, but when he chalks it up to something to do with timing and not the material, I think there's got to be a way to have made it work. I probably would've been more satisfied with an explanation that had something to do with the substance of it, rather than something mundane like "I couldn't fit it in the sequence." That's one cut that I'm still not completely at piece with. You don't NEED it there, but I wanted it.

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Updated On: 2/18/06 at 11:44 PM

Borrowed it from a friend who got it at one of the several stores throughout the area that are selling it early. I haven't bought one yet.

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I sort of like the way Anthony explained it to me better -- but this was before he had ever heard from Chris why the decision was made. It was what he -- quite logically -- assumed to be the case. I liked that because it made sense to me, whereas this... this is just like... dude, figure something out. I still think what Anthony told me is probably very valid -- about melodrama and the like. I hardly griped about Columbus' cuts, but this one.... even though the movie WORKS without it, I think it only could've done good for it.

Oh well.

It's odd that now, so many months later, the complaints I have are easier to find -- little things that don't sit totally right with me, because everything's had a chance to marinate, I guess. But I think what's always going to be important is my first, as-honest-a-possible, analysis-baggage-free opinion of it. Which was high. Opinion is still high, just a little more... jaded?

I ramble.

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The guitar thing never bugged me. They talk about it in the commentary, and what they say was exactly why it didn't bug me. I mean, what was Roger going to do? Be like "wait, stop dying, I HAVE TO GET MY GUITAR!!!"? That's ridiculous. Yeah, RENT is a musical, but that's stupid and campy.

To me, it made sense for him to walk away from the group during LVB. On stage he's usually off in the background, for most of the song anyway. He's still a little removed. Well, a lot. He WOULD just wander off and pick up a guitar.

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I can't believe you guys are getting the DVD before we've even had the film over here in the UK...

*squeels* I feel fan-girlish (if that's a word)

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As of right now, the deleted scenes are not in context, no.

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Lol! "Happy Kwanza crackers!" Oh my, that's awesome.

I'm so excited for the DVD. You guys are lucky that you got it early. Still waiting for Tuesday so I can go get it at Costco.

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