Movie Review: Rent

by Chris

Before I get to this review I feel an insatiable need to confirm that there are, in fact, 525,600 minutes in a year. So, now that mathematical accuracy is assured for all you anal retentives and obsessive compulsives out there we can move on to this garbled review. If you think I thought this movie was anything other than pure gold then you’re clearly addicted to smack and you should enter my 3-step rehabilitation plan.

Step 1) Get a life, loser.

Step 2) See this movie.

Step 3) Get off the smack.

I wasn’t quite sure exactly what to expect upon entering the movie theater. After all this was not only the first time I was seeing this movie but I had also never seen the Broadway play on which it is based. While it is a play that’s been around 10 years, and has been showered with Tonys and countless other awards, it wouldn’t be the first time that wonderful material has had all of the life sucked out of it by a film iteration. This, and the lack of any other moviegoers in the theater whatsoever, made me somewhat apprehensive.

This apprehension was soon swept away by the magnificent music, story, and (surprisingly) good acting. Considering that it’s a musical I wasn’t expecting quite as much emphasis to be put on actual acting, but the parts of the movie that weren’t sung were good.

The story revolves around a group of dirt poor Bohemian folks (is there any other kind) living the dirt poor Bohemian life in the year 1989-1990. There’s Mark, the filmmaker, Roger, the musician, Mimi, the . . . uhm . . . “dancer”, Tom, a professor, Angel, a cross-dresser who can raise hell with two drumsticks and a bucket, Maureen, Mark’s old girl friend, and Joanne, Maureen’s new girlfriend. Needless to say they’re an interesting group.

The best thing about this cast has probably got to be the chemistry between them. Six of the main characters were actually in the original cast so the chemistry is oft-times palpable. There are times when you forget they’re a dirt poor group of vagrants and think: “Man, I wish me and my friends were like that!” Unfortunately, unless you and your friends have the eerie ability to spontaneously burst into seemingly choreographed song and dance you can’t and won’t, but you can always live vicariously through Rent.

If by this point you haven’t reached the conclusion that this is an amazing musical and theatrical masterpiece that you should definitely see then please see above for my 3-step plan. La vie Boheme!