…last year’s Rent?
So, I’ve been getting flack from the readers (yes! That’s plural! I have more than one reader! Not including my husband! I don’t know what I’m yelling about!) about mentioning a movie review, then not making with the review. So, despite the toilet needing a scrub, I shall regale you with my take on Rent. Because I would rather put off the toilet scrubbing than the typing.
First off, a little background. Rent first caught my attention when it was transitioning from a wee off-Broadway show, to big kid Broadway. Some theatre peeps were talking, and we thought maybe we would do an NYC road trip to see this show that would surely take the world by storm. The trip fell through, but I started finding out everything I could about the show. At that point in time, I was but a 16 year old high school kid, who had recently realized that she didn’t want to be an architect, but wanted desperately to be on the stage. It was as though the mother ship had called me home. This show, Rent, somehow struck a cord in my 16 year old heart. I learned all I could about Jonathan Larson, and the origins of the show, and the style, and so on. I got my Grandfather to buy me the fancypants book about the show when it became available. Auditions came to my town. With next to zero notice, I got together headshots, a resume, practiced music…the night before (or the morning of, depending on how you look at it) the audition, I blew a head gasket on my car. I desperately called everyone I could think of to find a way to get there (for those of you who don’t know…the Motor City and public transportation have yet to meet). I couldn’t even get a ride to the classes I was missing, much less to the audition. Not meant to be. *sigh* This missed audition eventually came up in a screaming match with my father over my obsession with making acting my career, and how important that audition was to me. The touring company finally came to my town, and I bought tickets the day they became available, one for me, and one for my mother. She told me that the show had better be good after hearing me go on and on about it for so long. Before I saw it with my mom, I got a call from a friend on Easter, she had free tickets and wanted to know if I would go with her. The tix were in the twelfth row…and it was fucking amazing. When I saw it with my mother, it was just as good. She loved it. She realized what I was so obsessed with for so long. I bought a poster and a scarf, and practiced the choreography in front of my mirror. Fast forward a few years, and G and I saw a touring company perform the show again. I have to say, they were scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel with that cast. At intermission, we looked at each other with the WTF? look in our eyes.
So, we heard tales of this film version. Intriguing. Then I heard Chris Columbus was directing, and I thought he must be giving the right people blow jobs, or someone must have been huffing glue when they offered him that contract…but, I figured the foundation was good…he couldn’t possibly screw it up. Then, I looked on IMDB, and saw shit like an actress credited with the role of April. WTF mate???? G kept telling me to think happy thoughts and wait for the movie to come out…maybe it would be okay. I tried to ignore the early reviews that were coming in. So, we saw the film.
Well, all of the original cast members, while aged, were still obviously talented. However, Mr. Columbus and his team turned a rock opera into a musical. A ROCK OPERA into a MUSICAL. That annoyed the piss out of me. Then, he fucked with the time setting. Half-assedly, I might add. I mean, it’s one thing to take a full out concept and execute it fully. But, adding a year into the script, does not a concept make. Nothing else was changed, and there were a number of anachronisms in the film as a result. CC takes some liberties with the plot. Rearranges sequences, has characters do things that make not freaking sense. Ummmm, yeah. Mark would totally have sold out. He put Mimi in a regular strip club, where the women don’t take their clothes off. Did CC read the script? Was he familiar with the show at all? Mimi works in a freaking BONDAGE CLUB. You know, handcuffs, fetishes. the kind of club Roger might have actually set foot in, hence how he would have seen her. Could you really see Roger hanign out at the local Gents club??? And ummm…”The Cat Scratch Club.” Hello???? DO SOME FREAKING RESEARCH! (I would like everyone to note how I am curbing my profanity) Then, Mr. Columbus managed to take a show that is pretty tightly paced, and slow it down to snail speed. I mean, I don’t think there were enough fades, or added dialogue, and could he have maybe set more of the music in totally inappropriate places, and I don’t know, take all the emotion out of Angel’s death??? Oh, and the New Year’s as costume party…ummm…Maureen was wearing the cat burglar outfit because they already knew they were locked out…it wasn’t a surprise. And well, Angel just liked to dress up. Seriously, it didn’t have any affect on the run time to leave it the fuck alone. And ummm…don’t they have people on set and in editing who are there solely for continuity? Then maybe they should have made sure the menu board in the cafe during La Vie Boheme actually said what it was supposed to, instead of chaning every time the camera angle cut. Oh, and Roger’s big song…was CC high? Umm…Roger should, I don’t know be playing the guitar, and could there have been a worse angle for the camera to sit at? And could one of the most emotional chunks of the show have been made to be less affective and slow?
Now, not everything sucked. Setting the Santa Fe sequence in the subway worked very nicely (and let’s face it Jesse Martin could pull off anything, becaue he rocks). The April flashbacks actually worked in context. And Roger actually had the kind of car he probably would have gotten for hocking his guitar. But, overall, this film really missed the mark. It took a great foundation and leveled it. After the first two Harry Potterfilms, which were okay, but could have been great, and then this debacle…how does Chris Columbus continue to get work? I mean seriously? If someone could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it, because right now, I am baffled. And the more I think about it, the more baffled I become.
The sad thing is, I could go on and on, and pick it apart, and get totally worked up. But, I also need sleep. So, if you want to buy me a Jameson, I would be happyto elaborate…but I think you get the idea of how I felt about this film.
Now, I must sleep…but I do have two films that I loved (Narnia, and King Kong), to review. So, if you come back, I promise to be less hostile.