Search Amazon without the MarketPlace!

absolutely incredible (06.08.2010)

Rent is one if thee best Broadway shows I've ever seen. A truly life changing show of our generation. Turning it into a movie for millions to experience for years to come was just miraculous! I was very happy to see most of the original cast members; it made the movie experience so much more real for me. Just incredible; a must see for all. Real life issues brought out with amazing music.

Great movie, enjoyed it more on a bigger screen though (14.07.2010)

I was a big fan of Rent on Broadway, and so when the movie was in theaters, I felt compelled to go see it. I love the film, and the motion picture soundtrack, but I feel like an element is still lost if it's not viewed on a huge screen.

Rent (07.06.2010)

The product I receive was in very good condition just like I ordered. The shipping took half of the time that I expected. I was really pleased.

Masterpiece of modern theater (16.05.2010)

In every way Rent is a perfect work of art; tremendously enjoyable as entertainment and emotionally satisfying. Cinematically it's masterful, true to life, and wonderfully well cast and acted. Impeccable singing, powerful music, witty and brilliant lyrics combine intricately to deliver an exciting and transcendent experience.

Rent is the universal story of creative and artistic misfits trying to make it in the big city. It's a tale as old as civilization, which gives it added punch and turns the film into a wellspring of inspiration. It's a modern retelling of La Boheme, the classic French story, but is original in almost every way. The characters are fascinating, the music sounds new, and the vision of New York City looks and feels fresh as well.

It's a 'must see' for everyone who enjoys the mating of music, great storytelling, and powerful characters. The companion disc 2 (included) is terrific in its own right, and tells the background story of the creation of Rent; first as off-off Broadway theater; then through many versions over the years as a monster hit that toured the globe.

Watered-Down, Much? (28.04.2010)

Here's why I love the Rent OBC/NYTW cast: Because they sound so real. Raw. Unpolished. Adam Pascal (okay, he wasn't in the early NYTW, but still) and Daphne Rubin-Vega stand out particularly; the prior had had no theatre experience pre-Rent (none! They found him singing with his band!) and the latter has such a unique, raspy sound. (Daphne also has been Mimi since the beginning. She played her originally, in the workshop, off-Broadway and on, as well as on the recording.) Maybe what I love about Rent is that it *doesn't* sound like a musical, it sounds so *real*. I also am always so impressed at how real the relationships seemed, and how the actors seem so connected to the characters (read any Daphne Rubin-Vega interview... she's like Mimi in a lot of ways).

That being said, I was very excited to watch the movie. I was incredibly disappointed. There, I said it. I hated it.

If you've heard the early recordings of Rent, you know that this show kept getting more and more commercial. I love the Broadway version (the originals are so angsty; not better, but very... raw), but this movie was too much for me to handle. All their voices sounded so polished, many songs were cut, Joanne became a Soprano (huh?!), the plot changed (not quite has many break-ups, you'll notice, and Take Me or Leave Me was ruined), and I could not feel *any* of the relationships between the characters. Angel and Collins were the only two characters I could tolerate, but I'll Cover You was still too pop-y, though the I'll Cover You (Reprise) made their relationship slightly more real than the others. And what happened to Contact? Kinky, raw, fabulous Contact? Where did that song go? Not to mention Christmas Bells! And the Voicemails! And my favorite songs: Happy New Year A&B? How about Halloween and the rest of Goodbye, Love? (I watched them afterwards on the DVD; this was the only time I liked Rosario Dawson slightly, shame they cut it.) Bonus points for including some original cast members, I guess, but they looked so awkward on a movie set, not a stage (I miss Michael Greif's staging!!). And they didn't even film it entirely in New York! Instead of it being a true musical about bohemian life, it turned into "Look how cool and fun being poor is! Hehe!" The glamorized the issues seen in the musical. For the first time, the cast felt like actors to me, not like real people. All of them seemed so isolated.

Anthony Rapp: Without Halloween, I didn't grasp Mark quite as well. La Vie Boheme was too commercialized, and it showed. (Jonathan Larson wrote about things he loved. Hollywood Producers ruined that song.) I *loved* him in the show (and I was lucky enough to see him in it!), so the movie was a let down. I couldn't feel the Mark-Roger friendship, either. (As I say below, perhaps it's fame, but Anthony wasn't as connected to Mark as usual).

Adam Pascal: Sounded too theatre-y, too commercial, and I felt *nothing* between him and Rosario (it's alright, I hate her too, Adam), nor the friendship between him and Anthony. Adam Pascal had such an amazing, raw and real sound; it was polished over here, and it took loads of the emotion away. And what happened to Roger being more, well... angsty and bad-ass? Hmm? I miss the eyeliner and the nail polish. His character was seriously watered down. (Plus Roger is with April when she gets her HIV results in this movie, so it's assumed she didn't commit suicide but died from something HIV-related... as another reviewer mentioned, I felt this took loads away from his character). Maybe to widen the appeal, make the movie more socially acceptable? This Roger seemed sad, not angry. Meh. I love Adam, and I saw him on tour last year, so I know he capable of being *amazing*. Which is why I'm so sad he wasn't. (Maybe fame does this to people, but I felt like he wasn't as connected to Roger in the movie. Maybe because he already has 'glory'?)

Idina Menzel: Again, I felt no relationships, this time between Maureen and Joanne. Her voice sounds too polished as well, and Idina didn't need it! She's amazing anyways! They should have left her how she is, because here she just sounds fake. This Maureen was rather toned-down, as well, though probably to make the movie have wider appeal. The engagement mess irritated me. I did not like it.

Tracie Thoms: I did not like her, but I suppose she did the role some justice. Making Joanne a soprano took, for some reason, something away from her character for me, and her voice sounded fake. She didn't seem to have the strength and intelligence stage-Joanne had, but she did alright. Her relationship with Idina was non-existent, in my opinion. Again, I was annoyed with Take Me or Leave Me.

Jesse L. Martin: Good! Only character I felt they really did preserve, kudos to him. Still a little to edited, though.

Wilson Jermaine Heredia: Without Contact we lost some of him (her?), in my opinion. I missed Angel's witty lines in Happy New Year, as well! But this character held okay... I don't remember having any specific complaints. Wilson and Jesse had the only believable relationship.

Taye Diggs: ... Meh. He was alright. The fact that You'll See was so early was enough to have me irritated with him from the very beginning, though of course that wasn't his fault. Some of Benny's character was simply deleted to me, there was something that made him feel less real. But he did well, better than most of the cast at least.

Rosario Dawson: I could rant *forever* on Rosario Dawson. I do on a daily basis. (I get really irked when people who saw the film then heard the original cast say that Daphne played Mimi wrong... she originated the role, people. She can't play her wrong). Yes, Daphne was seven months pregnant. Yes, she couldn't have done the movie. But did they have to bring in a *celebrity*? One who can't sing, nonetheless; her voice sounds like its been edited for three hours. Her Mimi was glamorous, and I despised that. The entire movie glamorized the issues in Rent, and Rosario Dawson was the worst of it. She and Adam didn't work, in my opinion (the only time they did was in one teeny part of the Without You montage, but I was so pissed there was a montage in the first place that I didn't really notice that the first time), though she was certainly pretty enough for the part. I miss Daphne's raspy voice (Mimi's an HIV+ stripper on drugs who most likely smokes. She needs a raspy voice.), I miss the connection between her and Adam, I miss seeing Daphne's struggles, her brilliant expression, and her amazing emotion. Rosario was emptier to me, and despite the fact that they replaced the original Mimi costume (Another thing: I. Loved. Those. Pants! They came from Daphne's *closet*! The majority of the costumes came from the actors closet! Realism! vs. Hollywood falsity) she was a watered-down Mimi, and just seemed like a whiny teenage brat.

I'm glad that the message of Rent is being spread, true, (although it brought a bunch of so-called Rent-heads who don't even know what they're talking about and have only seen/heard the movie, which drives me nuts) but did they have to do it in a way that seemed so... fake? All in all, stage-show for the win. By the OBC if you don't have access to it. Nothing beats the original.