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RENT / Chris Columbus (2005)

November 20th, 2005 by Scott Marks

Chris Columbus’ RENT (2005)

Rent (2005)

Directed by: Chris Columbus

Written by: Stephen Chbosky, Jonathan Larson

Cast: Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Tracie Thoms, Taye Diggs, Julia Roth, Porscha Radcliffe, Stephen Payne, Darryl Chan, Ken Clark, R.C. Ormond, David Fine

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Running Time: 135 min.

Genres: Drama, Musical, Romance

Chris Columbus continues to leave no fingerprints in this big, loud, colorful version of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway show.

As was the case of A Chorus Line, successfully adapting stage to the screen, particularly a musical with so much built-in over-theatrical theatricality, appears more difficult than translating cuneiform.

We follow a band of scruffy Bohemians living in a gutted tenement. Collectively they can’t raise one month’s rent, let alone five, yet they still have plenty of booze to drink, pot and cartons of Marlboro’s to smoke, and only the flashiest of trend-setting rags to wear.

Mark (Anthony Rapp), a nerdy, heterosexual ‘documentarian’ who makes Andy Dick look like Sid Luft, acts as our narrator. On a purely technical note, Mark’s 16mm spring-wound Bolex camera (that he never reloads and never puts down) holds maybe five to seven minutes of film. His Kodak bills would cost more than a Manhattan penthouse.

Mark still loves his ex Maureen (Idina Menzel), who jumped ship for Joanne (Tracie Thoms), a public interest lawyer. HIV+ Roger (Adam Pascal) rooms with Mark and loves Mimi (Rosario Dawson), a HIV+ stripper at a Gentlemen’s Club where the dancers wear more than the customers.

Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin), Mark and Roger’s former roommate, is a computer genius involved with Angel (Wilson Jermaine) a HIV+ transsexual street performer. Former group member Benny (Taye Diggs) is the “Buppie” who rose above it all and now holds the lease.

With all the broad, Liza-like theatrics, forced cheer, and eagerness to elongate every note, it plays like a special, AIDS-themed edition of American Idol written by Andrew Lloyd Weber.

The simplistic “moon/June/spoon” lyrics comprise almost 75% of the film’s dialogue. Rare exceptions (Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort, Milos Forman’s Hair, Ken Russell’s delirious Tommy and would I dare overlook The Three Stooges in Women Haters) come to mind, but this trademarked A. L. W. talk/sing approach to musicals leaves me cold. You should also note that out of the five films cited above, only one was based on a play, and while Tommy was drawn from a rock-opera it remains one of the great (and few) movie musicals of the past thirty years.

Although based on Puccini’s La Boehme. Rent has as much to do with legitimate opera as The Marx. Bros. Attempts to ‘open-up’ the play (Mark singing and peddling his heart out down the streets of New York) might have been pulled-off in more skilled hands, but a director with a vision would never tackle such a pre-ordained, tamper-proof project..

On a positive visual note, the film is photographed by the superb Stephen Goldblatt (who knew Batman and Robin would make a perfect warm-up?), and Howard Cummings’ production design invites the eye to comb the screen while bored with the music. Maureen and Joanne’s engagement party (reminiscent of Hair’s title number) was the film’s only saving moment.

The story takes place over the course of a now famous “five-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-six-hundred minutes.” Can I get a one-hundred-thirty-five-minute refund?

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

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Filed Under Reviews, Theatrical