Sorry Brad but I saw the film w/ Steve @ the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood and I totally agree with him on this one, completely. Rent just not a good movie. It may be a great musical on Broadway but didn't translate well onto film. Chris Columbus probably did care about preserving the artistic integrity of the show (which would explain why most of the original Broadway cast appear in the film) but like the first 2 Harry Potter movies, Chris Columbus merely filmed the show (or book) rather than adapt it to the form of a 2 hour movie. That can be great in itself for fans but the general audience entering the movie theater may not see it that way. Changes (few or many) need to be made to allow the story to better fit the movie format. Looking away from that, the actual story itself is weak. The characters didn't seem all that interesting. It seemed like one cliche after another (the aspiring film student, the struggling musician, the raunchy but caring seductress, etc.). The style of the music was nice. The vocal performances were pleasant. Despite that, the songs were not interesting & I cannot for the life of me remember more than a line or two from the opening song & that's it. They're just not memorable. Don't think I'm opposed to musicals. I'm the guy who was dragged kicking & screaming to see Chicago and left the theater humming the music, anticipating a DVD release. Chicago wasn't just a direct lift. It was adapted to a film (ex: additional dialogue, fewer songs, etc.). I don't want to spoil your fun & if you enjoy Rent then that's fine by me but it appears that not everyone is enchanted with this particular movie (
RottenTomatoes).
"Eight thousand fortysome irretrievable seconds, how do you measure the time that you wasted on Rent?"