Well, there was no surprises for me with this movie. It makes a poor movie, but I'm glad to have seen it.

"Rent" is the film version of the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical by the late Johnathan Larson about Bohemians in the East Village of New York City struggling with life, love and AIDS. It's a musical telling of having AIDS and living, rather than having AIDS and dying. The picture features all but two of the original Broadway cast.

Many of this musical's stronger sequences lacked intensity on screen. A lot of it comes off as hoaky, much like "Phantom of the Opera." However, recent movie musicals like "Phantom…Opera" and "Chicago" had director's who presented the material with a workable concept. "Rent" lacked a movie concept from its director Chris Columbus (Stepmom, Harry Potter 1 & 2).

The music in the movie was great. I went in already enjoying the Broadway soundtrack; however, some of the songs are very wordy when a viewer is seeing it on screen. People like myself who are intimate with movies tend to have short attention spans, so musical numbers need to come and go quick and should have plenty of spectacle. If it's just a couple of people singing to each other for about five minutes…yawn.

My favorite numbers in the movie was La Vie Boheme, Santa Fe, Take Me or Leave Me, I'll Cover You and Tango: Maureen.

The cast was great, and I really appreciated seeing six of the original eight cast members, including Adam Pascal (School of Rock), Anthony Rapp (A Beautiful Mind), Taye Diggs (The Best Man), Idena Menzel (Just a Kiss), Jesse L Martin (TV's Law and Order) and Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Flawless).

Newcomers were Rosario Dawson (Alexander, Sin City) as Mimi, who has a wonder voice and great addition to the original cast, and Tracie Thoms (TV's Wonderfalls) who was adorable as Joanne.

With the exception of the musical numbers I mentioned above, the movie lacked a spark it probably maintains on stage. I really enjoyed the movie, but it only made me want to see a staged production about it.

Overall, I think if you don't care for movie musicals, this one doesn't get hoakier. If you really love "Rent" on stage, this movie won't disappoint you terribly, but I doubt it will capture the same overall feeling and potency. I didn't think it made a great movie, but I will certainly be buying a copy.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?

Clearly, I made a mistake in all my criticism of this movie. This movie is not a political statement about aids or homosexuality, but a story about love, in all of its forms, and growing up in the big city with AIDS. This movie is too long, and it has way too many musical numbers for me, but there are some very good performances.

Rosario Dawson (Sin City) was fabulous as the drug addict, AIDS infected Mimi. She gave a very convincing performance (is that a good thing,) and she can sure sing well. My favorite actor is Jesse Martin (Law and Order), as the AIDS infected Tom Collins, who falls in love with a transvestite Angel, who helped Tom after getting mugged in NYC. Martin's best scene is when he is singing at Angel's funeral and it is quite touching.

However my problem with the movie is that its way too long and it was very painful to sit through it. I also did not like the scene in which Maureen did her protest song, because I didn't like the music, or completely understand it, and it was too long. My other problem is that it does seem like everyone has AIDS. Now I understand that it is very possible that all of the people who the character was around could have AIDS, but good God, is it that important? Artistic license allows you to change some things. But who am I to judge.

Overall, I don't know if I will see it again, but it is a decent movie. Jesse Martin gave an Academy Award ® performance, but I am sure that he won't get a nomination. It isn't the greatest movie and I do agree with Benn that it probably doesn't belong on the big screen, but it is definitely worth watching, once.

Brian - the Naked Gun