Review of Rent (2005) by Chads. — 03 Feb 2006
The truth about "Rent" is that all the memorable songs are front-loaded, ending with the rousing "La Vie Boheme". Up to this point, the Tony Award-winning Jonathan Larson musical offers up a pretty good time for "Rent"-neophytes.
"One Song Glory" should've confined Roger(Adam Pascal) to the apartment, but the song is still gloriously corny, and moving; the two same adjectives that can also be applied to "Seasons of Love".
Stripped of its signature guitar riff from the Broadway version, "Out Tonight" no longer bears a passing resemblance to Sinnead O'Connor's "Mandinka", and Rosario Dawson convinces us that she probably won over her castmates.
But after we leave the restaurant, apart from the duet between Maureen(Idina Menzel) and Joanne(Tracie Thoms), "Rent" is for die-hards only. It does "fun" better than "maudlin".
You can't really blame the filmmaker because it's all about the songs. "Rent" needed one more song, a death song along the lines of "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables".
What Roger writes for Mimi is pretty weak. In "What You Own", Roger is walking in the desert like he's Bon Jovi in the music video for "Blaze of Glory".
This review of Rent (2005) was written by Chads. on 03 Feb 2006.
Rent has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
