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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. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: ************************************************** ********************* Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email? Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. |
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