The movie, directed without a personal stamp of any kind by Chris Columbus, is so slick that the grime comes from a spray can and the grungy bohemian costumes look rented from a Betsey Johnson boutique sale.
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Rent
Overview
In New York City's gritty East Village, a group of bohemians strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
Director and cast
- Chris Columbus Director
- Anthony Rapp as Mark Cohen
- Adam Pascal as Roger Davis
- Rosario Dawson as Mimi Marquez
- Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins
- Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel Dumott Schunard
- Idina Menzel as Maureen Johnson
- Tracie Thoms as Joanne Jefferson
- Taye Diggs as Benjamin Coffin III
- Julia Roth as Rent Tenant
- Porscha Radcliffe as Rent Tenant
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
It's real -- and, on screen, it's really cringe-worthy. Not quite Phantom of the Opera cringe-worthy, but not as much fun to blow raspberries at, either.
The film captures the beautiful spirit and the raw energy of Larson's play, and it respects the wonderful, gorgeous, life-affirming music.
RENT is mediocre and recommended only to those who can claim a familiarity with the play.
As directed by Columbus, Jonathan Larson's East Village reworking of 'La Boheme' in the age of AIDS retains its calisthenic pathos, as well as most of its original cast, but you'd have to be a real Rent-Head to envisage Academy Awards in its future.
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