RENTBOY sees RENT - But Questions

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 1:41am

So I finally saw the movie. I really liked it. I was kind of surreal to see the OBC up there singing. I've never heard anyone else besides them sing those songs, so it was kinda cool to see it. The movie flowed really well, and I liked most of the changes in the show. I didn't really care for the "engagemnt party" scene, but I think it worked. It was weird to hear most of the sung dialogue to just be spoken, but I think it worked, just took some getting use to, esp when things rhymed. I like how it ends with that show of Angle, that's pretty cool. I think Chris C. handled the picture really well. I was suprised by Rosario, I thought her and Tracie Toms were the best parts of the movie. I also loved Idina Menzel in the movie. I thought she just really played the part well. The only one I thought wasn't all that amazing was Adam. No offense to anyone, I really like his singing, and again he's the only one I've heard sing the songs, but I just didnt think some of his acting was all that up to par with the rest of the cast. I also thought that Taye Diggs was kinda shoved out of the way. I don't remember the stage show all that well (I saw it like 5 years ago), but is Benny not in the final scene? I feel like their is no resolution to the problems between him and roger and mark. Like they still hate him sort of thing. I could def. see this show getting nominated for something. Maybe a supporting actress nod for Mimi or Joanne?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 1:47am

Allow me to rant for just a second. Just a generic statement. Indulge me.

Adam's not as good as everybody else. But he's not BAD. There's a difference. I'm getting so tired of seeing people knocking him as if they don't realize that it's relative, that he's not an actor the way his co-stars are, and that he's gotten SO. MUCH. BETTER. And this is coming from people who are fans. I'm so frustrated, because to me, his performance was so much better than anything I expected.

Ugh. It's late. I'm tired. I'm mad.

I'm done!

Why would Benny be in the final scene in the movie? He's completely removed himself from that friendship, on what seems to me his own accord. He's made it about business with these people, not about friendship.

Mimi would be considered a leading role.

Updated On: 11/24/05 at 01:47 AM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:11am

Tracie is tasty!

[CJWesselman]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:56am

My hopes for a performance nomination go to Jesse. He gave, IMO, the most memorable performance in the movie and had me in tears in the ICY Reprise. I doubt Rent will get any nods for performances, but if it does I think he deserves to have one.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:00am

I agree that Adam wasn't bad he was just not as good as the rest of them in my opinion. I'd say Rosario Dawson might get a Best Actress nod, but that's all I see for the show in terms of acting because I think if they had added "Halloween" and the second part of "Goodbye Love" Anthony Rapp would have been able to play a more complex side of Mark which was not as clear in the movie without those songs, and then he might have had a chance of getting a nod (In my opinion). Wilson Jermaine Heredias might get a nod for Best Supporting Actor but I'm not too sure about it.

[Che2be]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:58am

I agree with most of the things being discussed... I am not an Adam Pascal fan, far from it. But he wasn't bad. He was good. Much better than I expected, but nothing to get him any kind of acting nomination for.
Rosario did an awesome job, I especially think she did great in WITHOUT YOU.
As far as acting NODs go, I think they all have some chance of getting something... Probably NOT Oscars. Golden Globes maybe. It's a tough season to judge acting awards with the big holiday films coming up.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:31am

I agree with Emcee, as usual. Adam was way better than I expected. Knowing that he's not an actor, I was expecting less. And was happily surprised. Great work from him, I thought.

On a side note, I LOVE your avatar Emcee. And I want it.

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:38am

I...am really surprised to see anyone griping about Adam's performance. I thought he was amazing, and I am not an easy person to please acting-wise.

[theatreboi11]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:42am

I could NOT stand the spoken lyrics! It was way too cheesey. I doubt people who have never seen the movie would have as bad of a reaction. Taye Diggs was too overboard with his character...I don't know what it was. I felt the show finally settled in around tango marueen and found its pace. Overall I enjoyed the movie as well.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:44am

Thank you. I laughed so hard when I saw it, and then scooped it up.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:49am

"I felt the show finally settled in around tango marueen and found its pace."

I DEFINITELY agree with that.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:49am

I didn't think Adam Pascal was particularly bad, but I didn't think he was particularly good, either. All the anger and pain that characterized his performance on stage and on the cast album were just plain gone. He seemed rather narcotized, I thought. I found it hard to work up much interest in him.

I do have to wonder what on earth they were thinking when they gave him that haircut. No self-respecting East Village musician in 1989/90 would have been caught dead with those flowing blonde Farrah Fawcett locks. He looked like he should have been fronting some Styx cover band.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:53am

I do have to wonder what on earth they were thinking when they gave him that haircut.

They didn't. When he was screentested and things and eventually offered the part, his hair was long, and a MUCH lighter shade of blonde than what you see in the movie. Columbus decided to have him keep it. I guess if someone was in rehab for all of those months, he'd not give a damn how long his hair got.

I made my peace with the hair. I love it.

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:58am

I actually thought Adam Pascal (who honestly I'm not a fan of) was fantastic. I could even see award nominations for his work. I thought that the detail of Benny paying for Angel's funeral being taken out was stupid. It makes Benny humanized and in a way, redeems him. Tracie Thoms really brought it though. I was thrilled with her performance. I also found the engagement scene forced. I thought it was cheesey. The spoken lyrics made me want to cry because those are some of my favorite moments. I thought the look and feel of the movie was amazing, though. One of my favorite moments was when people were slowly disappearing at the Life Support meeting. It was very moving. And when they showed Angel dying and Mimi going through withdrawal, it was much more real and had more of an impact than on stage. Honestly, the movie left A LOT to be desired for me...

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:00pm

I agree. I loved the Life Support scene. Just the way they were all together in that empty gym was just cool.

Well, I wouldn't say I thought Benny should be in the last scene, I just think that should have been some closure to his relationship between Mark and Roger. I never realized it didn't happen until i saw the movie. I just think the character of Benny can be way more complex than they make him out to be.

I didn't say Adam's acting is "Bad." Its just not up to par with the rest of the cast. And ppl in the theater agreed with me because I heard people talking about it behind me. I'm not trying to bash him, so please dont take it like that. Right now i'm in school for theater, and I'm taking a bunch of acting classes, so I tend to over-anaylize everything. I just didn't see the motivation behind some of the stuff he did or any processing. I can't really say I'm an adam "fan" because I've only heard RENT and Aida and the HAIR recording.

[luvcaroline]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:27pm

Dramadork, I think that you make some very nice points, but I must disagree with you about Benny. I have never seen Benny as simply the "villain" of this work. He is much more complex than that, as are all of the characters. Don't forget, he once had a very tight bond with most of these people (heck, he was Maureen, Mark and Collins' roommate). However, he got lucky and happened to obtain wealth through his marriage. Now that he has money, he wants to obtain more. He wants to invest in a business he knows a lot about. I have always thought that he expected his friends to be happy about this and totally "on board" with him (I mean, he knows that Roger wants to be a recording artist). He is truly disappointed about their reaction. I don't think he ever expected his choices to hurt them as much as it did (granted, he SHOULD have known, but he's obviously more self-centered than his friends, so he is incapable of recognizing the feelings and needs of others. We all know people like this). In any event, I think he is somewhat conflicted about his choices. Paying for the funeral is his feeble attempt to attone for this. Just my opinion......

Updated On: 11/24/05 at 03:27 PM

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:28pm

I didn't care for Adam's acting. His voice has grown on me over the years, but I don't believe half of what he says.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 4:37pm

I think that Adam was trying to play the part as though he was numb, which made sense. He definitely lacked emotion, but that's okay, because it was almost like it was part of his character. And I think that was Chris Columbus's intention because otherwise why would he have had that whole encounter with Roger & Collins in the beggining where Roger says hiii and Collins imitates him and stuff. I would feel pretty numb too if I were Roger.

:)
Gail

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 5:24pm

Yeah, summer, I guess I can see where that could be a character choice, but I wasn't totally convinced it was. But could you explain more when you say he's cold. He is cold to the world? Cold to his friends? I mean these are his best friends, you think he could just let loose and be himself around them. And if he suppose to be "cold" - He can't be cold through the whole movie or what's the point? He's got to change some how. I just didn't really feel all the emotion during the "your eyes" scene, and I think it might have been more of the directing than the acting. I just felt like Chris C. didn't know what do with the songs half the time. Although I like what they did in La Boheme.

[Broadwayluva]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 5:53pm

ok, so i went to the movie yesterday with my mom, sister and friend and when it got to the part in La Vie Boheme when they talk about Benny's dog dying and they show Angel and Collin's face, my friend and myself were the only two in the theatre who understood and were laughing . . . yeah i love that scene!

[mallardo]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:13pm

Anyone who saw Adam Pascal as the Emcee in Cabaret KNOWS the guy can act. He was fine in the movie - he was playing the character and playing him well.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:55pm

I had no problem with Adam's portrayal. I think it was obvious that the direction he got was to be subtle. If you don't like subtlety or understand it on film, then you wouldn't like his performance. The problem that a lot of people have with him, in my opinion, is that they're used to the overly angry portrayals of Roger which have 'graced' the stage version with several actors in the role over the past few years. Roger was not initially so angry, Adam wasn't an angry Roger onstage back in the day. I thought he did a very good job in the movie and I loved his facial expressions. I thought all of the performances were good, some better than others but I think anyone who thinks that any acting nominations are going to be forthcoming, is dreaming. :)

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 7:27pm

Stop bashing Adam please! He did a wonderful job, he was Roger, angry at the world, sad, frusterated, and in love. Please tell me where he went wrong? I feel he played the role passionetly and argh, he's just so beautiful.

True Jesse was just, well Jesse a superb actor, he was more of the humorus character in the show. I loved him too, but Adam did very well.

Sorry if the Adam discusion was finished but i had to say something.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:14pm

Okay, but you lost all merrit when you said "he's so beautiful." That is not a basis for his acting ability. I agree he played it sublte, but at the same time there should always be something going on behind his eyes. There should always be processing and whatnot. I'm not bashing him, just talking from an acting perspective. I still liked the movie. Its not like i'm bashing him, just trying to have an intelligent debate.

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 11:32pm

I am not an Adam Pascal fan, but I must say he surprised me. He was in no way the strongest thing in the movie, but he really did have some nice moments. And ultimately I bought it. I also thought he really sounded great-it's kind of crazy to me that he has been singing that way for such a long time and hasn't lost his voice yet.

My FAVORITE part of the movie was Wilson J. (I will not try to spell the names). I didn't have the privilege of seeing him on Broadway but he was just so powerful. He was so complete and compelling-though Angel had such a wonderful attitude about life, you could see the pain and fear in him, especially in those life support scenes.

Jesse L. Martin was also wonderful. Loved his performance in the funeral scene. And Rosario blew me away too-mostly because I didn't expect so much from her. But I loved her singing and thought her take on the character was also very moving-same thing as with Wilson, she put on this tough exterior but you could tell how terrified she was.

All in all the movie has it's issues, but I was very very moved. My favorite addition to the screen version was the flashback scene during "Glory" that showed Roger and April meeting, and what happened after.

I really think that if Jonathan Larson were still alive the movie would have been able to deal with some of it's issues. For many of the movie musicals that have been made recently (Phantom, Chicago, Evita) the composer has written new music for the film. If Larson were here, I think it would have solved a lot of problems if he had written some new sung dialogue to fill the new scenes in the movie. I think the whole thing would have made more of a statement if it had been sung through as originally intended. Anyone have any thoughts?