Ironically, director Chris Columbus, (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”) , infused little magic into his film adaptation of “Rent”. Despite the powers of film over theater to allow for more focused attention and more practiced moments, “Rent” comes off as stilted and flat. Even the music, which would be the saving grace of this film was brushed aside by Columbus. Songs “Christmas Bells”, “Happy New Year (A/B)”, and “Contact” were replaced by unimpressive new dialogue. Especially grating were two new, and lengthy, scenes that played for a few cheap laughs and were outweighed in their laying of important groundwork by their glaring gratuitousness. The first of these scenes is a job negotiation between filmmaker Mark and the sleazy TV producer Alexi Darling (Sara Silverman), and the second is Joanne’s confirmation to girlfriend Maureen. While Columbus should be applauded for aligning many of the now famous original cast, he did so little with them that even this decision was arbitrary for audience members new to the musical.

Adam Pascal as Roger kept the audience at bay, showing little believable emotion, and his singing suffered because of it. Jesse L. Martin (“Law & Order”) as Collins provided the film with some moments of genuine emotion and was undeniably charming, but his constant swagger bordered on drunkenness. Taye Diggs (“Chicago”) as Benny was given one great song, “You’ll See,” and this accomplished actor will surprise his new fans with a voice they’ll never expect. His real-life wife Idina Menzel (Elphaba in the original Broadway cast of “Wicked”) as Maureen was, unfortunately, unexciting. Her best role was to come years after “Rent” in “Wicked” where, as the Wicked Witch of the West, she was able to keep the audience spellbound for the length of the production. Anthony Rapp (“Adventures in Babysitting”) as Mark seemed incompetent as a filmmaker and was only just more interesting as a character. Neither Joanne (Tracie Thoms) nor Mimi (Rosario Dawson) were part of the original Broadway cast. The newcomer Thoms was an obviously talented singer and a captivating actress. Dawson on the other hand, seemed only to look the part, lacking the vocal strength of the rest of the cast.  She should only be applauded for letting the makeup department do its worst to her throughout the film. Finally, the last piece of the cast was Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel. The Tony Award winner was truly enthralling as the AIDS infected transvestite. Holding the audience spellbound with his unique voice and profound acting talent, Heredia was the star of the film.

While “Rent” was a poor showing overall, there were genuine moments of excitement and emotion. The music and scenes around songs “Tango Maureen”, “Life Support”, “Another Day”, “Will I”, “La Vie Boheme”, and “Goodbye Love” were bright spots in this otherwise distant and inconsistent film. Much of the soul was missing from this musical that has so much to do with hope. At least a decade from now Hollywood will have its chance again to expose the beauty of “Rent” to a much wider audience, they must succeed next time.

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