Some thoughts on Rent.
Not, like, house rent, but the movie that I finally got to see the other night. Matt and I had a lovely double date with Alan and Christy, and we went to see it! Yay!
Now, overall, I pretty much liked it, but I have compiled three lists of what I thought.
List 1: Things I Really Liked
- All the big songs were really well done. La Vie Boheme, Rent, Living in America (or whatever it's really called)
- Rosario Dawson was actually better than the original Mimi. Mimi 1 had a scratchy sound to her voice, a la Macy Gray.
- Joanne was really good, too. I liked the original Joanne just fine, but the movie one was good.
- I'll Cover You was so cute!
- The singing in general was good, overall. Nobody really sucked.
- The montage-y scenes (particularly One Song Glory and Without You) were very well-done, and you got a good look at what happened to Roger in slightly more clear terms than Mark's one line about it in the play.
List 2: Things I Didn't Like That Are Not Nit-Picky
- Maureen. Maureen in the play was not a physical comedian. She was a performance artist. Like many of these, her art got ridiculous at times, but it wasn't just the straight-up comedy like they portrayed it in the movie (I'm talking about Over the Moon here).
- Angel. Other than that he wasn't dressed like a woman half the time (that goes on the nit-picky list), they really changed the character. Angel from the play is really super-outgoing, happy, friendly...this Angel was much more subdued and timid.
- The speaking. Pretty much all the speaking. The play has an enormous amount of energy just because they go fairly quickly from one song to the next, with only a few minor (sung) lines in between. And it was really weird to hear the characters speaking lines that I'm used to hearing them sing. I didn't think any of the extra things they added (Joanne's wanting Maureen to commit, the whole engagement party thing, etc.) were all that fantastic, and it took away from the overall feel of the musical.
List 3: Things I Didn't Like That Are Nit-Picky
- Angel kept being dressed normally, without wig. Didn't fit with the character, transitions were weird.
- Maureen is BLONDE.
- Benny wasn't with them at the end to screen the film. I kind of liked the idea that he got booted out of his rich life and ended up back with them, because you always kind of get the feeling he'd still like to be there.
- Mimi's line about Angel near the end was delivered poorly, and it's such a cute line.
- While the play is set in 1989, I don't think it was necessary to set the movie in the same time, or at least have such authentic costumes from then. They mostly served to make the actors (especially Roger and Maureen) look older. I kept thinking Roger looked 45, clearly way too old for 19-year-old Mimi. Roger's hair didn't help this.
List 4: Random Notes
- Was that the original Angel as the waiter at the Life Cafe?
- Was that the original Mimi during the opening song?
- Why did they change the timeline? It didn't really matter, and they covered it up in the songs okay, but I don't get why they did it. It didn't really detract from anything, I just kept noticing it.
- Mark has an abnormally large head. This is especially noticeable during La Vie Boheme. It's creepy.
- Taye Diggs and Rosario Dawson are slightly well-known, but they're not cool enough that you should put them above the main characters in credit order. This always annoys me, when they have a movie "starring so-and-so" when said person has about ten minutes of screen time, but the actual main actors are unknowns.
- I SO thought they weren't going to inflict Seasons of Love on me again at the credits when they started playing I'll Cover You. But then they did. Drat.
Now, overall, I pretty much liked it, but I have compiled three lists of what I thought.
List 1: Things I Really Liked
- All the big songs were really well done. La Vie Boheme, Rent, Living in America (or whatever it's really called)
- Rosario Dawson was actually better than the original Mimi. Mimi 1 had a scratchy sound to her voice, a la Macy Gray.
- Joanne was really good, too. I liked the original Joanne just fine, but the movie one was good.
- I'll Cover You was so cute!
- The singing in general was good, overall. Nobody really sucked.
- The montage-y scenes (particularly One Song Glory and Without You) were very well-done, and you got a good look at what happened to Roger in slightly more clear terms than Mark's one line about it in the play.
List 2: Things I Didn't Like That Are Not Nit-Picky
- Maureen. Maureen in the play was not a physical comedian. She was a performance artist. Like many of these, her art got ridiculous at times, but it wasn't just the straight-up comedy like they portrayed it in the movie (I'm talking about Over the Moon here).
- Angel. Other than that he wasn't dressed like a woman half the time (that goes on the nit-picky list), they really changed the character. Angel from the play is really super-outgoing, happy, friendly...this Angel was much more subdued and timid.
- The speaking. Pretty much all the speaking. The play has an enormous amount of energy just because they go fairly quickly from one song to the next, with only a few minor (sung) lines in between. And it was really weird to hear the characters speaking lines that I'm used to hearing them sing. I didn't think any of the extra things they added (Joanne's wanting Maureen to commit, the whole engagement party thing, etc.) were all that fantastic, and it took away from the overall feel of the musical.
List 3: Things I Didn't Like That Are Nit-Picky
- Angel kept being dressed normally, without wig. Didn't fit with the character, transitions were weird.
- Maureen is BLONDE.
- Benny wasn't with them at the end to screen the film. I kind of liked the idea that he got booted out of his rich life and ended up back with them, because you always kind of get the feeling he'd still like to be there.
- Mimi's line about Angel near the end was delivered poorly, and it's such a cute line.
- While the play is set in 1989, I don't think it was necessary to set the movie in the same time, or at least have such authentic costumes from then. They mostly served to make the actors (especially Roger and Maureen) look older. I kept thinking Roger looked 45, clearly way too old for 19-year-old Mimi. Roger's hair didn't help this.
List 4: Random Notes
- Was that the original Angel as the waiter at the Life Cafe?
- Was that the original Mimi during the opening song?
- Why did they change the timeline? It didn't really matter, and they covered it up in the songs okay, but I don't get why they did it. It didn't really detract from anything, I just kept noticing it.
- Mark has an abnormally large head. This is especially noticeable during La Vie Boheme. It's creepy.
- Taye Diggs and Rosario Dawson are slightly well-known, but they're not cool enough that you should put them above the main characters in credit order. This always annoys me, when they have a movie "starring so-and-so" when said person has about ten minutes of screen time, but the actual main actors are unknowns.
- I SO thought they weren't going to inflict Seasons of Love on me again at the credits when they started playing I'll Cover You. But then they did. Drat.