RENT, bitches!

Heh! I went with my mother to see RENT (2005). I had to sit and think a while about what I thought of it, because it was totally good, and I'm conflicted from having seen the show. I had the same problem when I saw Chicago  . And that movie was great. So, what follows will be a somewhat comparision of show to movie, and a discussion of changes I felt worked and did not.

I'm going to assume that if you're not from the New York area (and most of you are not) that you haven't seen the show. Hopefully I won't talk down to you in an off-putting fashion!

[Begin Spoiler for RENT — Highlight to view]

The first difference is that the movie is a musical. Isn't the show? No. The show is a rock opera  . There is almost no dialogue in the show. Like a real opera! But you can't have a movie of four or even two straight hours of singing, so I'm fine with the fact that the level of dialogue increased. What I didn't like is that the dialogue seemed like filler between the songs. Which I find happens in musicals. A few lines of dialogue creates a bridge between two songs. Doesn't have to be. I'm pretty sure Chicago did not have this problem. I'm pretty much going to blame the direction.

There was premature concern about Chris Columbus directing this, and people were worried that it was going to be Columbus-ified. Were these concerns valid? In my opinion, yes. The movie certainly does not suck, because the material is great. But I do think it could have been better under another director. Chris Columbus really doesn't have to make any more movies, as far as I'm concerned. Or, if he does, he should stick with the films we expect him to make: kids' films.

On the old cast: Anthony Rapp was still playing like they were on a stage. He's done enough movies to know better. The same can be same, to a lesser degree, for Ms. Menzel, but it fit her character, so that ameliorates it even more. Adam Pascal is the only one who seems to have mellowed with age, and that made me profoundly disappointed because I love Roger and adore Mr. Pascal in everything he's been in. (Which, um. Is RENT and SLC Punk ) But he's still blond and I still love him. The other gentlemen were still fucking fabulous.

On the new cast: Rosario Dawson looks like a perfect Mimi, but falls flat in the actual ... acting. Or rather, singing. Daphne Rubin-Vega can't really sing, but she does so with intense passion, and that's why she's great. Dawson is sort of the reverse. Not that she was horrible by any means. Tracie Thoms, on the other hand, was ... I freaking love her. She's adorable and tough and great and fabulous and should be in everything. Really.

The show, clearly, it is better. That's probably true in all cases. The show's always better, the book's always better, etc. For me, I feel this way because the moments that hit me the hardest in the show were in parts that were absent from the film. One example is where we learn about the fate of April. **SHOW SPOILER!** In the show, they come off the exuberance of the opening number and Mark is about to head out. "Take your AZT," he tells Roger (just like in the film) but then he explains in song to the near silent audience (with Roger plucking at his guitar in the foreground) "His girlfriend April left a note saying 'We've got AIDS.' before slitting her wrists in the bathroom." And, holy shit. I'm pretty sure I gasped, because it felt like a slap in the face. The movie was sadly devoid of moments like this.

In addition, it wasn't really that great to see April on screen. She was pretty skanky. I mean, so too was Roger, but in the show, it's really up for grabs what April's part was in the acquirement of the HIV. It's strongly implied that Roger contracted it because he was using drugs, and then he gave it to April, who wasn't doing anything deviant. And then she killed herself. Which does a whole lot to explain why Roger is so fucked up. And this is ... off in screen version.

One thing that I did like was changing the time frame of the first act. I could never buy that all that shit took place in one night. So I was in favor of all that, and I smiled to myself at how they changed the lyrics around to fit it. However, it could have been done with more finesse. And that's on the dude that did the screenplay.

In conclusion, I still had tears streaming down my face. It's pretty great. If you have a chance to see the show (and perhaps I'll list some more reasons to do so at a later time) you should definitely do that. But in the meantime, if you have the chance to see the movie (which you do, unless you live in Wyoming or some place) you should do that too.

[End Spoiler]