Irishchatter I honestly loved the opening theme song of ' Seasons of Love'. It's just an incredible way to start one of the most recognized musicals in the whole wide world.The rest of the music was great. As usual after her success in the Broadway musical 'Wicked', Idina Menzel killed it with her role as a bisexual woman. Like seriously, you can get that girl into anything! I'm so glad she got involved with voicing Elsa in Frozen. She is a legend. Just stunning!And how can we forget Wilson Jermaine Heredia aka Angel. He looked fabulously smashing dressing up as a drag queen. He really had a lot of energy and his love for Tom Collins just made you smile! I was so gutted that he died from aids. I felt so deeply sorry for Collins cause they were such a cute couple together :((Roger had the best voice with his own rock style. I think himself and Mini were meant for each other. I'm happy they rekindled in the end because it wouldn't make sense for them not being together! I absolutely loved watching this musical, it was so enjoyable!

TheLittleSongbird Not the best film musical in the world but a long way from the worst. Is it as good as the stage show? Not quite, then again that is always a big ask, any musical deserves to stand on its own two feet and Rent certainly does that. Is it perfect? No, some of the last third does feel rushed, the direction in a couple of the musical numbers does have a slightly overblown music video quality that didn't fit with the rest and Benny's part is reduced so much to the point of being a caricature and he did seem too much of a plot device. Is it good? Yes it definitely is, its best parts are actually great. On the most part it does look good, the costumes, lighting and sets are appropriately colourful and gritty, perfectly matching the atmosphere and story and the photography is mostly fine. The choreography has so much energy to the extent that in the upbeat numbers(especially La Vie Boheme) you're tapping your toes, Chris Columbus's direction is more than competent(at least he gives off the feeling that he had a good idea how to direct a musical, which is more than I can say for for example Richard Attenborough for A Chorus Line and Sidney Lumet for The Wiz, to me Annie gets too much undeserved hate) and the script is written amusingly at times, but mostly in a way that really resonates with the audiences emotionally. Not everybody likes the story in Rent, but to me it does have shock value(if not as much as in the late 80s-early 90s) that is portrayed in a harrowing and heart-wrenching way. As an adaptation there is some tinkering like a few song cuts but I found it fairly faithful in spirit to the stage show. But the best component of Rent is easily the score, which is nothing short of brilliant. Sure it has songs that are better than others, then again that is common in musicals, but all range to uplifting to heartfelt, there is lots of energy but also a fair share of pathos. The performances are equally terrific, their characters are not as well fleshed out as the stage show but the cast look comfortable and do a good job in still making them believable.Jesse L Martin's character has the most compelling story arc, and Martin sounds great and delivers with great emotion and spirit, it is very different to his role on Law and Order which is testament to how talented and versatile Martin is. Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Tracie Thoms are similarly great for similar reasons to Martin(Heredia also benefits from being a great dancer), and Rosario Dawson is heart-breaking especially in the latter part of the film. Adam Pascal is ever so slightly stiff in places but is incredibly emotive and his vocals don't disappoint either and Idina Menzel looks as though she is having so much fun even though Maureen is not very well developed here and her vocals are powerhouse quality. Taye Diggs is disadvantaged by what is done to Benny but does his best and is hardly a liability. In conclusion, solid stuff that could have been better. 7/10 Bethany Cox

john weatherly Rent is about to turn into a rant. First off I realize the power of the realism the creator of this went through and that made me want to love it that much more but what I thought the musical was about was a group of free spirits living in a tight knit community where love and creativity flows as quickly as the problems. Then all the sudden they are unable to make this months RENT! The greedy money grubbing landlord wants to evict these rent controlled hippies so he can convert this area into condos and make a killing. How oh how will they scrounge together the couple hundred dollars to keep the music going? Then the movie starts with them not paying this YEARS rent, after not paying last YEARS rent, and NOT planning on paying next YEARS rent... this took a lot of power out of us viewers finding out that the landlord turned off the power on Xmas. I was astonished!!! He was eating the rent AND paying for utilities for at least two years!!! In New York?!?! My God this man must have been made of money! Past tense seeing how he could afford to keep the lights on anymore so wanting to sell a couple plots of land and possibly get some cash flow going. After all this musical does take place in this universe and this universe does need money to keep turning. So sadly they cant get something for nothing. I enjoyed some of the musical numbers and this is packed full of talent. I just really cant get behind their values. You cant get something for nothing even if someone promised that is exactly what he could give you. if the world is ran by hedonist then the world would be filled with love and music and art for one generation. Then someone needs to provide for these adult children. Parents die, the cash cow cant give milk forever. I really want to be all for love and art, but when it comes time to build their Utopia no one was willing to work for it. Which is fitting for their values. If you want to build a better society you need to be willing to work at it so your children or maybe even your grandchildren can have it. This movie makes me feel bad for working to make the world better for my daughter. I wish it was as easy as saying "I'm going to quit paying for things because the world owes it to her children to take it easy" I really wish that was the way of things but that's why the story is awful. Rent Rant Over. Please see this. This is something that needs to be seen as a cautionary tale. I am probably wrong. Maybe its just a musical.

tortuebulle I love musicals, I have seen a lot. But this one.... Holy guacamole, it has the worst cast i have ever seen! They can't act, and they don't sing well. Even if they had chosen great actors/singers, the music is atrocious, and the lyrics are even more.... with the exception of a few songs. The storyline is not well construct and kinda boring. I don't think it brings a good light on the subject it was suppose to talk about. I am amazed that it has a 6.9 out of ten... i guess i don't have the same taste as the rest of the world.This is definitely not a movie i would recommend to a friend or a customer ( i work in a Movie rental store).