Review of Rent (2005) by Milesm. — 23 Nov 2005

I saw RENT in 1996, when it first came out on stage and became a cultural phenomena. Although I loved the songs back then, I felt the musical itself, (plot and structure) were not up to par. And actually a bit simplistic.

Here is a musical that celebrates the right to be mediocre, while it makes the enemy of the one minority trying to make his community better. Here is a musical that pretends to celebrate individuality by being mass pop corn entertainment so bland, that it never stands on its own.

I have seen Gap ads with more artistic gravitas. However, what made the play worth the while back then is the same element that makes it now. A SUPERB CAST! And this cast surely delivers, making their roles deeper with time and more meaningful.

Can Idina Menzel be any more talented than she already is? I don't think so. Still the movie suffers from the same problems the play does. It glorifies not artistic integrity, not taking risks in life, not even living a life well lived.

It celebrates youth's right to chose to be mediocre, selfish, and largely lazy. We have a rich kid, Mark, who wants to be a film maker. A poor film maker indeed, someone should just tell him to give it all up.

A film maker he will never be. When he chooses to burn his screenplays,to keep warm, this is a large miscalculation in the writer's part. A true artists would rather freeze to death than let those things he slaved over burn.

Mark is an example of the whinny wannabe artist who lacks the talent or the drive to be a true artist. It's a shame, because the actor gives a pretty darn good performance. The same can be said of Roger, the singer, spending a year to write a song, this is a guy who should feel the ticking of the clock, HIV+, but still unwilling to grow up and give up his immature ways.

I like the songs of RENT, for the most part, like I like a Britney Spears album, it's fluffy sentimentality (largely over hyped in 1996) it is adorable at places, and a lot of fun. I am not saying the movie is terrible, I am saying the source material is highly flawed.

The enemy is an African American guy who becomes their landlord, and then tells them he is gonna turn the building into something "we always dreamed about" if they always dreamed about it, why do they stand so against him.

Surely, their needs to make their dreams come true would outweigh all else. Surely the need to better the community by bringing in positive influences would make the sacrifice worth it. Sure there were homeless people to think about, but wouldn't a giving,sharing person, see that by helping themselves they could help everyone around them.

But no, these characters never think in self less ways, they are obsessed by wanting to leave their marks in the world, and they go about it by doing everything that is opposite to leaving their mark.

They are petulant and immature. They, as written are everything they sing about hating. Maybe that is the trick, maybe the musical really is about a bunch of people who hate themselves and their inability to be unique creators.

Rent is a product of the end of the 20th Century. It is about my generation screaming, "Look, Don't you feel sorry for me. I am trying so hard." But trying so hard to achieve what. In the end, I guess Love is the answer.

The problem is, these people spend so little time loving each other, you're surprised they come to that conclusion, 525,600 minutes later, you are asked to be overjoyed, because they sing, NO DAY BUT TODAY.

.. but what exactly do they do during that day is never answered. This is a movie about wasted DAYS. However, the cast is great, the songs are catchy.