Rent

We saw Rent last week on opening day, which kind of tells you about our anticipation of seeing this movie. We usually wait a few weeks before we go see a movie in a theater, or else end up seeing it on DVD a year later.

We loved it…four stars…thumbs up! If you live in the Bay Area, our little man was clapping out of his chair.

However, we already loved Rent the musical before we ever saw the movie. I’ve seen it four times, and my fiancé has seen it five times (maybe even six, but who can keep track?). I’m personally not a big musical fan: the only other musical I’ve seen is Les Miserables (wait, I also saw The Music Man at Great America when I was little - but that doesn’t count). But the songs and spectacle of Rent is one of those rare things in life that never fails to be both uplifting and tear-jerking at the same time.

So the question is, would the movie version live up to the stage version? I say yes, although you can never beat the excitement of seeing it live. The movie did a good job of bringing a new dynamic look to the songs. Apart from a few numbers that were left out and a slight rearrangement of some of the songs, the movie stayed faithful to the stage version. It seems to me that the source material is so strong, you’d have to do something really stupid to mess it up. Like changing the setting to outer space and making all the characters robots.

I don’t think the movie will win very many new fans, but Rent the movie should make the current fans happy.