Rent

All in all, Rent was a decent movie—not quite, in my opinion, up to the standards set by Chicago (2002), but for those who enjoy musicals, I am sure this will not disappoint.

Rent is the story of one year in the life of seven friends, four of whom live in an apartment building scheduled for demolition, some of whom have AIDS, and all of whom live the so-called “bohemian lifestyle,” whatever the hell that is. From what I could tell, it basically meant not wanting to pay rent and subsisting on some sort of low-paying artistic venture. The story begins on Christmas Eve in 1989, wherein all the residents of an apartment building are burning trash and eviction notices and throwing them in flames out of the window, while singing a merry tune about refusing to pay rent. The landlord, Benny (Taye Diggs), is understandably irritated by this behavior, but because being successful and gainfully employed is frowned upon in this movie, Benny is the asshole and we all hate his stupid middle-class guts! And also, his hair is dumb. Meanwhile, Mimi (Rosario Dawson), who lives in the apartment below Roger and Mark, decides that Roger (Adam Pascal) is not too shabby and goes ahead and hits on him. Probably because he has never had a gorgeous woman flirt with him before, Roger rebuffs her initial advances, and makes up some nonsense about having issues and baggage, and blah blah blah. The next day, Roger and Mark’s friend Tom Collins (the guy from Law & Order) shows up with his new boyfriend, Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a charismatic fellow who nursed Collins back to health after an unfortunate mugging incident. From there Collins and Angel try to convince Roger to accompany them to group sessions for those suffering from AIDS, since Roger refuses to live life to its fullest, especially when it comes to Mimi. Mark (Anthony Rapp), meanwhile, is trying to film a documentary as well as help his ex-girlfriend, Maureen, with her upcoming protest over the scheduled apartment demolition. Mark is somewhat uncomfortable with this, however, as he must work alongside Maureen’s new girlfriend, Joanne (Tracie Thoms), for whom Maureen dumped Mark. The two soon develop a rapport, however, having shared the same insecurities in their respective relationships with the fickle Maureen.

Roger finally decides to take Mimi on a date to Maureen’s protest rally (?), which starts off strangely, and then gradually becomes more and more bizarre and annoying until it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The characters all seemed to think that Maureen’s discussions of cows jumping over the moon with forks and spoons were hilariously ingenious, but I have to admit I questioned the relevance of children’s nursery rhymes to neighborhood re-zoning issues. The “protest” mercifully ends and the movie goes on to its second half, in which all of the characters develop and grow over the course of the year, each having to deal with a variety of personal struggles.

I thought Rent was a decent movie, extremely long, but just interesting enough to hold my attention. It’s a very artistic movie, much like its characters, so if you enjoy that genre then you will love this film. If, however, you’re expecting something along the lines of Chicago, you might be somewhat disappointed, as the dialogue is extremely limited, with songs nearly every 5 seconds. I don’t mean to say this is bad, but if you already tend to shy away from musicals then beware. Otherwise, I recommend Rent, but it might not be a horrible idea to wait for the DVD.