This isn't on topic of Rent being turned into a film, but, I didn't want to start a new thread:
Okay, WHO thought it would be okay to take 'Seasons of Love' and use it for a Macy's commercial??? Seriously, that's verging on criminal.
(I turn on actual live television for the first time in, like, seven months, and this was the first thing I saw. Very disheartening.)
Speaking of the movie though, I found it very hard to watch. I didn't altogether dislike it; it was just a weird experience (which itself is weird to say because I grew up watching musicals). I think I remember being happy with "Take Me or Leave Me", but the song's so good, it's a hard one to mess up. It's been so long now since I saw this movie in theaters, I can't really put a finger on what struck me as slightly off, but I have a memory of thinking 'Why are they moving during "Rent"? They're supposed to be singing into each other's faces'; and 'Who are all of those other people singing with them from their windows?' and, 'Mark's not supposed to be riding a bike right now.' It's silly I know; obviously a film is staged differently than a play, yada yada yada... I don't usually react to adaptations this way, but there were just moments throughout that seemed, I don't know, visually wrong.
(I guess Phantom felt a little strange too, but that was mainly because they changed some of the arrangements, and because characters spoke lines that were originally sung. And, much as I love her, I couldn't negotiate Minnie Driver as Carlotta.)
Worst part of Rent: The Movie, for me, was when they cut to Roger rocking out with the Santa Fe rock formations; it just looked absurd (and fake).
I can't remember what I thought of Rosario Dawson as Mimi (I generally really like her though (CG, did you at least like her in Sin City?) I do remember being shocked by how thin she was. It was funny to see a much older Adam Pascal; all the little drama kids of that persuasion had crushes on him in high school
Anyway, maybe the movie's like Return of the King or Life Aquatic, not what I was expecting, so a second, or multiple viewings after the lowered, or, readjusted expectations, helps me to enjoy it for what it is...