Rent

I watched Rent a long time ago with a girlfriend that was just obsessed with the show. She thought it was the best thing ever. So being a high school guy with my first serious girlfriend, I of course thought it was awesome too.

Now I haven't seen for close to 7 years. I've continued to listen to the music but I haven't watched movie since.

The movie came out in 2005 and its almost a decade old. So does it hold up?

Well lets take a look.

Rent originally was a Broadway musical that was first performed in 1996. Now I haven't seen the musical on stage, I don't know what parts were kept and what parts were left out, what I do know is that all but two of the original cast came back for the movie. Don't ask me why they didn't bring back the women who played Mimi and Joanne, but they didn't.

The being said, the cast is really good. They're all very talented singers and dancers, there's not really anybody in the cast I didn't really like.

The story of Rent follows a group of Bohemians in 1989 New York. While they all have their own aspirations, the majority of the movie, they're just holding themselves up from things like poverty, AIDS, and paying their rent. In the meantime they're finding love and friendship and fighting social norms that are expected of them.

The show deals with issues like AIDS, homelessness, LGBT issues, and other controversial issues in the 90s.

I guess that's the fun part about the movie, the fact that a lot of the issues shown in the movie are not as controversial as they used to be. They still are and definitely still worth talking about but its interesting seeing the rhetoric used to talk about these issues from the 90s as opposed to how its talked about now.

Now its kind of hard to explain the plot of Rent because its mainly focused on the lives of these people. There isn't really anything over arching that connects the plot, its just kind of about their lives.

The entire plot takes place over the course of a year. The first act of the show is really how this group of friends comes together and really become a family.

I really enjoyed the first act of this show.

I think they really front loaded the really great songs into the first act of the show and in that, it kind of takes away from the second act. There are a couple good songs and with a second watch I realize the second half isn't quite as bad as I remember. That being said, it kind of gets convoluted.

The second act is really about how life gets in the way of their friendships. Relationships end whether they're from death or just differences in personalities. The realities of life force them to maybe move away from their dreams and everything isn't what they expected. This sounds really profound but it doesn't really get actualized by the really quick and frankly rushed second act.

A good example of this is Joanne and Maureen. Now I like Idina Menzel and its probably no wonder she became the most famous from this movie, but she's kind of a whore in this movie. She flirts with other men and women even though Joanne is totally faithful. They even sing a song in the first act about how she sleeps around but I guess we'll just have to accept it.

Well the two get in a fight in the first act and give us probably the best song in the second act. They break up, and then maybe ten minutes later, they're back together. I know some time passes but its still really rushed and in the end kind of pointless.

And in the second act, like EVERYONE dies. That's not really an exaggeration. The entirety of the second act is really focused around the death of one of the characters, and then you start seeing supporting characters die off from AIDS and just everybody is really angst. The second act is just that... angsty. The movie a lot of fun when they give a dire situation and yet they still manage to give exciting music. Perhaps not happy music but entertaining.

As for performances, of course Idina Menzel is awesome although believe it or not, she's not really in the movie that much. She doesn't show up until a little farther than halfway through the first act and she's just kind of whore like I said before. Jesse L. Martin (the guy from Law and Order) does a really great job in the film playing a gay man who falls in love with Angel (played by Wilson Heredia) a drag queen. The movie may not focus on Angel but she's really the thing that kind of brings everyone together. Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms were the two that were brought in, I can't really say if they're better than the original Broadway actresses... but they were alright in the movie.

The one problem I have with the movie is how hipster is trying to be. Granted this movie came out before being hipster was cool so its probably more hipster than most hipsters, but its just fuck authority, fight the good fight and don't let the man get you down.

The problem with that is that at one point, one of the characters is forced to "sell out" he takes a job with a news organization. They don't really show how that goes for him... but he seems better off because of it. He has one moment where he's in the news van and looking all angsty (in the second act of course) but its more because all his friends left him, not because he doesn't like the job. He seems to like the job just fine and he profits from it.

The entire movie just give off this vibe that if you do something in order to better your circumstances in life, you're a sell out.

The best example they give for this is in the character Taye Diggs plays. He is the former roommate of the main guys and he married into a wealthy family. He's still trying to promote music and art, he's just doing it with money backing him. But of course, he's not real enough and therefore really painted as the bad guy in the movie even though he really doesn't do anything wrong. In fact Taye Diggs is actually probably the most decent character in the entire movie but he's ostracized because he gave into the man!

Maybe I just related with his character but people just slumming about trying to write a new song, or film a documentary and not doing anything else to help survive and pay bills isn't true artist in my opinion, they're just stupid.

All that aside, Rent is really good. The first act, with the exception of being front loaded and bloated is really really good. The second act is alright with some convoluted story lines and not as good songs. Overall, Rent is a fun show that just points at a lot of problems in society. Maybe in an overthetop hippie douchebag way but its still a fun musical if you like those.

So have you seen Rent? Have you seen it on Broadway? Let me know what you think of the two and compare them if you've seen both. What's better?

I'll leave you with this. Matt Stone and Trey Parker do a really good job in Team America World Police kind of pointing out the obnoxiousness of the themes of Rent with the musical in the movie, Lease. Here is there song, Everyone has AIDS

Update: I haven't rewatched Rent but I found this video on YouTube and it's a 45 minute video essay just talking about the real problems with this movie. I really enjoyed it and if you have the time you should definitely check it out. It points out the problems with the movie thematically, something I couldn't really pinpoint when I did this review back in 2014.