I’ve never been very fond of musicals, and I never really knew why. But as for Rent, I have a major gripe. The musical attempts to touch on some very serious and gritty topics like disease, poverty, crime and violence, but also has a playful, upbeat tone which is provided by the frequent musical scenes. Because of this, I found myself confused as to what emotion the film was trying to evoke. One scene in particular stands out to me: the scene in the beginning of the film when Collins gets mugged. He is brutally beaten and robbed of all his possessions, and left to suffer in a dirty alleyway, but for some reason, spontaneously breaks out into an upbeat song. I found this complete non-sequitur absolutely hilarious, and it completely took me out of the moment. I think the upbeat nature of many of the scenes takes away from the significance of the themes that the writers were trying to address. Although I’m sure it’s possible to tackle serious themes in a musical format, I think the style and emotion of the music affects its success greatly. One thing is for sure, the way it was executed in Rent left me very unsatisfied. 

I also didn’t like the direction that the plot progressed. The film tried to portray Benny as the villain, yet I think he is one of the most understandable characters in the musical. Throughout the film he tries to give his old friends the benefit of the doubt, tries his best to de-escalate disputes. Whereas the main characters, the ones that were portrayed to be the starving artists, the moral purists and protectors of the downtrodden, were the most erratic and self-centered characters in the whole production. Surely my view of the characters is subjective, but all things considered, I would probably go out of my way to avoid this film in the future. It is simply not my idea of fun.