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Review: Rent (**)



 
 
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Old November 22nd 05, 12:30 AM posted to misc.kids
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Default Review: Rent (**)

RENT
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes



RATING (0 TO ****): **



So how, you ask, is RENT, the popular rock musical which borrows bits of its
story from La Bohème? Loud and shrill. Bring earplugs. Seriously.



The thin plot involves a group of bohemian artists, some of whom live in a
gigantic loft apartment in New York's East Village. The artists like to
protest the greedy capitalists' desire for them to pay their rent. Set in
1989, the largely gay and lesbian community appears to have the majority of
its members having AIDS, although their suffering isn't visible until the
end of the last act.



The story is told with non-stop "singing." To this untrained ear, it
sounded more like sustained screaming in unison. The acting is all
passable, but none of the actors or the characters stand out. Rosario
Dawson plays Mimi Marquez, an exotic dancer at the Cat Scratch club. She's
a heavy drug user, whose shooting up raises serious questions about the MPAA
rating the film PG-13 instead of the more appropriate R. Jesse L. Martin
("Law & Order") plays Tom Collins, a jovial guy who doesn't let his AIDS get
him down. Wilson Jermaine Heredia plays Angel Schunar, a very convincing
transvestite. Idina Menzel plays performance artist Maureen Johnson, who
leads a protest movement of mass "moo"ers. As Joanne Jefferson, Tracie
Thoms plays Maureen's lawyer lover. Joanne is frustrated by Maureen's
constant philandering, even at the fancy party to formally announce their
engagement. In the weakest performance of all, Anthony Rapp plays the
central character of Mark Cohen, a documentary filmmaker who is recording
the lives of his friends.



Certainly the presold members of the audience will love this frantic film,
as several vocal members of ours did, but, if you haven't fallen in love
with this musical before, you're unlikely to understand why others like the
movie. It is light-years away from the universal appeal of something like
CHICAGO or MOULIN ROUGE. Director Chris Columbus (HOME ALONE) doesn't
appear to have much of a clue about how to make an accessible and
entertaining musical. RENT is an assault to your ears that is more likely
to leave you with a headache than good memories.



RENT runs a very long 2:16. It is rated PG-13 for "mature thematic material
involving drugs and sexuality, and for some strong language" and would be
acceptable for most teenagers.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, November 23,
2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the
Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.



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