Rent - Middletown Journal movie review

'Rent': Cast pays dividends in overdue film of beloved musical

By ERIC ROBINETTE
The Middletown Journal

When word got out that Chris Columbus would direct the movie of the beloved Broadway musical Rent, fans and critics greeted the news with all the anxiety entailed in an eviction notice.

Well, the Rentheads can relax at least a little. Columbus has turned Rent into a solid if not spectacular film.

Sony Pictures

'Rent'

The verdict: For the unitiated, 'Rent' is a delightful discovery.

Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs
Run time: 135 minutes
Release date: Nov. 23, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material involving drugs and sexuality, and for some strong language.
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On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

The rap on Columbus, the director of the first two Home Alone and Harry Potter movies, is that he's a competent if bland craftsman who doesn't have a distinct enough style to make a musical fly.

The naysayers have a point. As far as imagery goes, Columbus is certainly not an artist on the order of a Spielberg or Scorsese. Rent is not a visual razzle-dazzler like Rob Marshall's Chicago.

What these naysayers forget, however, is that there's much more to a musical than fancy pictures. Another key is getting good performances and chemistry from your cast, and at this, Columbus excels. For the energy of the performances alone, Rent pays dividends.

The musical by Jonathan Larson, who died on the eve of Rent's first preview, takes place in New York City at the start of the 1990s, when the AIDS crisis cast its longest shadow. A group of squatters, some gay, some straight, fall in and out of love with the threat of death not far away. The show is essentially a modern version of the opera La Boheme.

Some studio executives feared that the play's very specific sense of time and place would make it seem dated today, and that its dark subject matter would turn audiences off. While Rent may sound gloomy, it's first and foremost about the bonds of friendship and love, and that subject never grows dated.

The movie starts unevenly as Columbus struggles to get a grip on the musical format. Rent takes too long to settle into its rhythm with the director's inconsistent approach. Some musical numbers are rather flatly staged, others are over-edited.

Once I got to know the characters well, though, the film finally started to work. Most of the excellent Broadway cast returns, with two newcomers: Rosario Dawson as exotic dancer Mimi, and Tracie Thoms as attorney Joanne. Dawson's sexy, moving performance is a particular standout. Her passionate rendition of "Light My Candle" sparked the movie to life.

The Rent veterans, having lived with this material for years, slip into their roles very comfortably, making their advanced age a non-issue. Idina Menzel, who won a Tony for playing the Wicked Witch of the West in the Broadway hit Wicked, is lively and lovely as the quirky, spirited Maureen. It's also fun to see Anthony Rapp in his role as the filmmaker Mark, particularly since Columbus� directorial debut, Adventures in Babysitting, featured Rapp as the smart-aleck best friend.

Kudos must also go to vocal arranger Tim Weil for his outstanding work, particularly on the signature number "Seasons of Love," with its beautiful harmonies.

With high points like that, I was disappointed to see Rent run out of gas in the last act. After a climactic funeral, the story loses focus, and some of the characters' motivations seem arbitrary. At the risk of enraging the Rentheads, the "tear-jerker" scene at the very end is as dopey as the dwarf in Snow White. It may have worked on stage but seems terribly overwrought on the big screen.

Granted, I never saw the stage show, but the movie's strong mid-section at least gave me a clue of what all the fuss was about. I hope the Rent-heads will settle for that, and I hope the uninitiated will make the discovery that I made.