Saw an advance screening last night, and thoughts copied from my weblog...



Well, it was good. It was better than average, which is good because it definitely had the potential to be awful (original cast or no, it was still directed by the guy who made Home Alone...I don't think it improves on the stage version or can be like a substitute for the real thing, but it was mostly executed pretty well. I thought some songs, especially the song "Rent" really benefitted just from having the kind of large-scale visuals you can't really get on a theater stage. (although they completely dropped the Joanne/Maureen thing from the first few songs, which was a bit weird) The end of the song was a little over the top visually, but it worked...i mean, this is a musical.

Rosario Dawson is better when you're actually watching her...just listening to the soundtrack, her vocals are a bit weak but she really does the part well onscreen. The rest of the cast, obviously, was great, but one thing that I was pleasantly surprised with was that they were able to successfully tone down their visuals and body movements for the film without sacrificing the intensity of it. Obviously I don't know dick about acting, but whenever I've gone to see musicals onstage the tendency is always to exagerrate everything, verbally and physically, since you have to project to such a large audience from a distance, and I wasn't sure how they'd translatate that to film, but it worked, whatever they did.

There were a few things though that need to be said...Rent is still an R-rated story set in extremely R-rated conditions, and was made into a PG-13 movie. Maybe I was just looking for it since I was curious to see how they'd approach it in a PG-13 flick, they were very, very cautious about displays of affection between the movie's gay couples. I mean, it's convincing enough since they're still singing things like "I'll Cover You" to each other, but I still got the feeling they were really playing it safe.

Secondly, when you see Roger sing "What You Own" in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, just shut out the music and sing to yourself "Shot doooooowwwwwn, in a blaze of glory." Trust me. Also, in the unlikely event you read this and you are a U2 fan and see Rent, Maureen's stage for "Over The Moon" looks a lot like Zoo TV. It's kinda cool.

The one thing that I, along with everyone else in the world, is going to bitch about, is that they cut songs. I can kind of understand it, since the stuff they cut ("Happy New Year," "We're Okay," "Christmas Bells"...one or two others) didn't really advance the plot any and weren't really essential in the grand scheme of things. But what they did do, that was really awkward, was turn some of the parts of cut songs into dialogue, almost word for word at times. I suppose to someone unfamiliar with the original, it would go totally unnoticed, but it did elicit a few laughs from the audience just because of how odd it sounded. Probably the most controvertial change is that they took out "Contact," which is fine with me since it's the worst song in the whole thing, (and they'd probably keep that damn white sheet in the movie since it's a PG-13 thing) but it does change how they do the movie a bit. Not sure how people will react to that.

So, end verdict...the movie itself didn't blow me away, but the musical itself and the songs still did, which means that the translation was good. It could have been better, but it could have been much, much worse, and I really do think all the diehards will be mostly happy with it. It remains to be seen whether anyone besides said diehards will go see it. It's not exactly a musical like Chicago that's designed to appeal to mass audiences, which is too bad, since it's a simple yet beautiful story that I think would open a lot of people's eyes if they actually went and saw it. We'll see how that pans out. Alright, that's enough...I'm definitely interested to hear what everyone else thinks about it though.

I'll probably just... rent... it...

~fff - np: bill mallonee - friendly fire

i saw the play on broadway. excellent.

looking forward to the movie.

Thanks for your thoughts Steve! I am looking forward to seeing it now. I am always nervous when I hear musicals being turned into movies, however, when it works, it is a really good thing for the theatre world and exposes more people to the world of the stage.

i want to see this sooooo much!

peace,
zayne

I saw it today!!! and I noticed some of the things that were missing, simply from listening to the musical soundtrack too much, but overall it didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie. I loved it. I think that people not familiar with the musical will be able to understand the underlying themes. Today was opening day and the theatre wasn't all that full. that was dissappointing. I wonder how people will recieve the musical if they have seen the movie first...

oh, and I wouldn't have wanted to be the one trying to figure out how to make it PG-13. that must have been hard.

we went to see this thanksgiving night, and i absolutely loved it. i am very familiar with the story from listening to the soundtrack, but i have yet to see the actual theater production.

i had actually forgotten about *contact*. it's been a long time since i listened to the entire show.

i really loved the movie...and yes, they were very cautious with the gay couples...well, at least, with collins and angel. i think joanne and maureen were done really well, but then...people are much less uptight about females kissing than males kissing.

all i know is that i cried. a lot. and that made me happy...especially since i knew what was going to happen, and it could still evoke that kind of emotion.

As previously mentioned, I was involved in seeing this flick with "someone" on Thanksgiving day...

... and I too loved it. I was not familiar with the theatrical production or the music ahead of time other than maybe a song or two, and I have never been a big fan of musicals or theatre (though I do enjoy it, I'm just not a connoisseur).

I thought the music was good, the songs were great. It was very enjoyable. The story was pretty incredible - I had read a review somewhere (maybe Salon, maybe the Onion AV Club, but not concrete for sure) that said the story was too outdated and not relevant, and I didn't think that at all. In fact, I thought it was incredibly relevant. I know that some people questioned the intensity of the "gay content" or however they worded it, but, having lived in both a fairly liberal environment and in fairly-to-heavily conservative environments, I think it is all a matter of perspective. Since I have never seen Rent in the theatre (which I do now plan to see as soon as I can), I can't compare the intensity of the content to it in that medium. But I felt that, while a more liberal audience might have wanted more (I know kissing has been mentioned), I think the content that was involved, especially with the men, will provide those that see it in conservative areas a chance to see that love exists beyond gender barriers. Maybe it wasn't as controversial as it could've been, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Overall I thought it was very moving and I enjoyed it very much. A great first movie to see with someone special, too, by the way.