“Rent” Anticipated movie of the popular stage show
Director Chris Columbus gets props for his willingness to stick to the core principles of the pioneering stage musical. Fans appreciated the show’s rock-flavored score, and its serious and should’ve-been-R-rated themes involving AIDS, drug use, homosexuality, poverty and urban survival. And there’s the rub: The critical message of the movie, at equal times melodramatically and poignantly hammered home by the talented cast, (many from the original Broadway version), is “forget regret, no day but today.” So why do we care about your self-induced problems? It’s hard enough to overlook so many handsome bohemians in GAP clothing without being asked to empathize with so much shallow self-indulgence. And the landlord’s the bad guy?
Grade: B-
Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving drugs and sexuality, and for strong language.