Rent

As I'm sure you've deduced from the title, tonight I saw the movie musical Rent. I felt the need to comment on the movie because all of the reviews I've received so far from friends have been mediocre to negative. I saw it with Kim who has not seen the musical nor listened to the soundtrack so for most of the movie, I sat thinking that she must be bored out of her mind. While I don't think she was disappointed to see it, I also don't think she loved it. I must say that I very much enjoyed the show. It definitely was, as many people have said, the stage musical on screen. There was only one scene that I can think of that was Chicagoesc and that is okay with me. I have seen the musical twice before, once on Broadway with-I think- the original cast that was in the movie and a second time in Broadway's sister location, Rudder Auditorium on the campus of Texas A&M. I have also often listened to a burned copy of The Best of Rent soundtrack. During the movie, I had the soundtrack playing in my head and the vague visuals of the stage performances running through my head. I don't think that anyone who has not seen the stage performance or isn't at least very familiar with the soundtrack could really enjoy the movie too much. I picked up on a few differences in the songs/scenes during the movie which mostly bothered me but since I only listen to "The Best of Rent" soundtrack, I didn't pick up on any of the missing songs. While I think they would have made a bigger splash at the box office had they replaced the cast with big names like Zellweger, Zeta-Jones and Gere, I am very glad they did not. Whenever I think of Rent, I will always see Anthony Rapp's funny looking pale face with his over worn blue scarf and purple sweater. Ahh, to be young, naive, creative, living in NYC and to not have sold out. . .to not have to pay RENT! We'll forget about that whole AIDS thing and the fallacy of their expectations . . .(side note, I paid my rent today).