Rent (DVD)

A group of bohemians living in New York's East Village spend their time trying to make it big in their chosen artistic endeavours. But they find themselves falling out and falling in love and all done through song and dance.

Chris Columbus isn't what you'd call a visionary director. Just look at his Harry Potter movies; they're certainly faithful to the source material but they lack any directorial originality. It's as if he's scared ...
...on a project. He makes nice, safe, inoffensive films. So he's entirely the wrong choice to helm a film adaptation of a musical that was at the vanguard of the genre ten years ago. It deals with uncomfortable themes of drug use and AIDS and uses the tricky format of rock opera.

In order to work, this type of stage to screen transfer needs real directorial punch and a strong sense of self. But thanks to Columbus' uninspired take on ... more

A group of bohemians living in New York's East Village spend their time trying to make it big in their chosen artistic endeavours. But they find themselves falling out and falling in love and all done through song and dance.

Chris Columbus isn't what you'd call a visionary director. Just look at his Harry Potter movies; they're certainly faithful to the source material but they lack any directorial originality. It's as if he's scared that he'll offend the purists by imprinting his own identity on a project. He makes nice, safe, inoffensive films. So he's entirely the wrong choice to helm a film adaptation of a musical that was at the vanguard of the genre ten years ago. It deals with uncomfortable themes of drug use and AIDS and uses the tricky format of rock opera.

In order to work, this type of stage to screen transfer needs real directorial punch and a strong sense of self. But thanks to Columbus' uninspired take on the proceedings, he may as well have sat in the theatre with a camcorder and recorded the stage show. He clearly feels that the original production is sacred, so he even goes as far as utilising the original Broadway cast. They may have been the perfect choices to play young and bohemian artists ten years ago but now they're getting a bit long in the tooth. It's almost embarrassing to watch them doing puppy love when in dog years they'd be close to death.

Despite the play being set in New York, the director fails to take advantage of the city in any way. He prefers anonymous soundstages masquerading as scummy warehouse apartments and grimy performance spaces. The presentation of the songs is dull and uninspiring, making them look like low-budget music videos by overly serious rock soloists. He also destroys any meaning in the dance sequences through over-enthusiastic editing. The earnestness of the movie is its undoing; that and the crippling length. A musical over two hours in length can be trying even when every song is sublime. It's even harder to stomach when the production is so cripplingly dull.

The screenplay by Steve Chbosky is virtually a direct copy of the original stage play. It sticks to the same musical theatre format whereby there's hardly any dialogue between the songs. That means there isn't an awful lot of character development and the paper-thin stereotypes are never fleshed out in a convincing manner. Everyone is young, talented, troubled and broke. The content feels more outdated than the characters' outfits. The protest culture presented in the movie is so pretentious that it feels ludicrous. The anti-globalisation performance art sequence is particularly cringe-worthy. The way it deals with serious topics such as HIV and drug abuse is overly simplistic. It pushes a Reagan era "Just say no" message that is cancelled out by the euphoric celebration of the counter-culture that is fuelled by such activities. It's easy to see why it was ripe for parody in "Team America". It really does feel like all the characters have AIDS and it suggests a pandemic in the Western world that has thankfully never materialised. What isn't explained is how a bunch of penniless bohemians can afford AZT considering it is very expensive and none of the jobs the cast have come with medical insurance that could cover it. The musical continues long past its natural end and it is frustrating sitting through the last forty minutes because it has no other purpose than to tie up loose ends. And don't even get me started on the cheesy ending.

I knew I was going to be unimpressed from the moment the lights came up on the stage, to reveal a group of people feeling the music as they launched into "225,000,600 Minutes". You could tell they were feeling it because fists were clenched, pulling the musical energy down from the sky while foreheads were rumpled and eyes closed in concentration. It's a peculiar thing about the people that perform musical theatre that they feel the need to over-emote, Just because you're belting out a song, it shouldn't negate your ability to act but it clearly does. The majority of the theatre trained actors haven't toned down their stage performances for the camera. This means that they tend towards the exaggerated and distance the characters even further from the audience, making empathy difficult. Many of the performances also feel somewhat tired - probably because the players have trotted them out day in day out on Broadway; a case of familiarity breeding contempt.

The only cast member who is anything like the right age for her role is Rosario Dawson as drug-addicted dancer Mimi. She's sweet and sexy and proves a more than capable singer with strong R 'n' B influences. Anthony Rapp is extraordinarily bland as good boy Mark with an unremarkable singing voice. Adam Pascal lacks the requisite sex appeal to convince as would-be rock star Roger. His voice tends towards the gravely and is suited to the poodle rock pretensions of the music. Wilson Jermaine Heredia is the only cast member that seems to be having anything like fun with his role as the cross-dressing Angel. He puts a great deal of effort into the part and is by far the most entertaining character, so it's a shame he gets so little screen-time. Jesse L Martin has a pleasingly mellow voice and his relationship with Angel is warm and realistic. However, he is far too old for the role and that undermines it totally. Taye Diggs is given short shrift by the script as the conservative Benny. He disappears abruptly and is subject to a complete about-face in attitude that is hard to reconcile. Tracie Thoms is pure musical theatre as lawyer Joanne, cut adrift with nothing you could call a character, but backing it up with a solid voice. Idina Menzel is supremely irritating as diva Maureen. She has an impressive vocal range, but spends most of the movie clenching her jaw and doing crazy eyes at the camera.

I'm not a fan of 1980s' poodle rock, so Roger's musical stylings aren't really my cup of tea. It's hard to take the songs seriously because they stick so rigidly to set rhyme schemes and pounding bass lines. The lower key the style of the song, the easier it is to hear and often to relate to. So "Would You Light My Candle" and "Without You" feel like less of an aural assault than the title song, for example. "Tango Maureen" is a fun twist on a formal style and "La Vie Boheme" is clearly the track most enjoyed by the cast singing it. Everything is belted out professionally enough, but it never feels as though the players invest emotionally in them. The choreography is often ragged and feels unfocussed. However, there are some sharp dancing turns, especially during the "Tango Maureen" sequence.

"Rent" is a misguided and belated attempt to cash in on the abiding popularity of a stage musical. It fails because of lack of imagination on the part of director Chris Columbus. It is a brain and backside numbing experience that leaves a sour taste in the mouth. The songs feel cobbled together, the sentiments unoriginal and the relationships facile. There is nothing to recommend it unless you're in the mood for being bludgeoned with schmaltz.
 

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