Nobody loves a good show tune more than I do. I'm perfectly at home with the tradition of seemingly normal adults bursting into song. Yet, despite my anticipation, I watched this film with impervious detachment, much like having a tooth extracted under local anesthetic.
Columbus has cleaned up "Rent" for the mass-consumer audience. The set design is a candy-coated version of itself-- New York via Disneyworld. Likewise, the characters have no food or heat, but every hair is in place, every costume custom-fitted. Even heroin and AIDS are pristine, until the very end.
Columbus has sanitized the musical score as well. While "Rent" has a couple of lovely ballads, the endless parade of songs, beefed up with a cheesy "Rock" orchestra, tend to grate on the nerves.
I deeply admire Columbus's decision to cast most of the original Broadway ensemble-- too bad the film wasn't made ten years ago. These actors, most of whom are pushing pushing forty, simply cannot portray struggling artists in their teens or twenties-- at least not on screen. Rosario Dawson is a lovely addition, but she is no 19 year-old.
The director should have taken a page from Marshall's "Chicago" (2002) and staged more songs on stage, as he did the opening number, "Seasons of Love". Ironically, it is only in the mystique of their theatrical environment that these characters truly come alive.
Columbus has cleaned up "Rent" for the mass-consumer audience. The set design is a candy-coated version of itself-- New York via Disneyworld. Likewise, the characters have no food or heat, but every hair is in place, every costume custom-fitted. Even heroin and AIDS are pristine, until the very end.
Columbus has sanitized the musical score as well. While "Rent" has a couple of lovely ballads, the endless parade of songs, beefed up with a cheesy "Rock" orchestra, tend to grate on the nerves.
I deeply admire Columbus's decision to cast most of the original Broadway ensemble-- too bad the film wasn't made ten years ago. These actors, most of whom are pushing pushing forty, simply cannot portray struggling artists in their teens or twenties-- at least not on screen. Rosario Dawson is a lovely addition, but she is no 19 year-old.
The director should have taken a page from Marshall's "Chicago" (2002) and staged more songs on stage, as he did the opening number, "Seasons of Love". Ironically, it is only in the mystique of their theatrical environment that these characters truly come alive.
