Filmmakers can’t quite make big-screen ‘Rent’

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In theaters

RENT, directed by Chris Columbus, written by Columbus and Stephen Chbosky, 128 minutes, rated PG-13.

Toward the nerve-jangling midpoint of the new movie “Rent,” when the story and its Bohemian-wannabe characters have whipped themselves into a high froth of full-blown camp, I waited for a break in the deluge of song and dance numbers to ask my movie companion a question: “Where in the hell are we?”

“In a movie script” came the reply.

An excellent point. In Chris Columbus’ self-aware adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s robust 1996 stage musical, “Rent,” there never is a question that we’re dealing with a film that apparently broke a hip upon its leap from stage to screen. Occasionally, the movie is entertaining and engrossing, but too often for the wrong reasons. It’s a mess, collapsing in ways from which it doesn’t recover, though God knows it tries.

The problem is that “Rent” never was intended for the screen. It’s designed for the stage, a completely different beast with different needs, starting with the electrical give and take between a cast and its audience. Broadway and Hollywood know the difficulties of pulling off this sort of film, but hope, I’m afraid, is more powerful than logic, and in this case, hope got the best of “Rent.” Hope sent it to hell.

A contemporary retelling of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” the film does bring back much of the original cast, who do their best here, and it’s hardly lacking in big issues as it deals with homelessness, death, drug addiction, sexuality, HIV and AIDS. And yet in spite of this, it packs the dramatic punch of a feather. The movie has a rushed, awkward feel to it. It strains to be as engaging as Larson’s songs.

Unlike Rob Marshall’s excellent adaptation of “Chicago,” in which the song and dance numbers ingeniously stemmed from Roxie Hart’s imagination, or the upcoming “The Producers,” which exists to spread its wings in the ether, “Rent” demands to be taken literally, which is its problem.

In one scene, a character might be having a perfectly engaging conversation about the dangers of shooting up dope or the worry of not being able to pay the rent, and then suddenly be singing his heart out, setting trash cans ablaze and dancing on tables as if that’ll keep on the lights. It doesn’t.

What Larson’s “Rent” had going for it was rage; it was conceived out of fear and desperation.

What Columbus’ “Rent” has against it is apathy; it was conceived to make a buck. With the exception of World AIDS Day, in which the mass media finally put HIV and AIDS above the fold, neither is given the focus it demands. Somehow, in spite of a pandemic that continues its dark march, we’ve grown so inexcusably comfortable with it, news about its progress has been relegated to the fringe.

That’s the real crime this movie does make us face. It’s also the reason it can’t totally be dismissed.

Grade: C-

Also available

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, directed by Michael Gondry, written by Charlie Kaufman, 108 minutes, rated R.

What’s so tempting about Michael Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” which the River City Cinema Society is showing at 7:30 tonight at the Bangor Opera House, is its premise. Imagine if you could permanently erase someone from your memory – perhaps a former lover who jilted you; a trusted friend who wronged you; a childhood bully who humiliated you.

With those people no longer clouding your thoughts and causing you emotional pain, you would essentially be free of them forever, allegedly living a happier life basking in the eternal sunshine of your newly spotless mind.

In the heat of the moment, such a possibility would undoubtedly be tempting. Just imagine the power of entering a crowded doctor’s office and declaring that you’d like to delete Jane or Jim – forever!

Still, since who we are is all that we have experienced, is it wise to remove negative elements from which we have learned so much? A caveat of undergoing such a procedure is that you’re also erasing any good memories you might have had with that person. Is that wise? And what are the ramifications should you do so? “Sunshine” considers the ramifications, with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as the vehicles that drive them.

In the movie, Carrey and Winslet are Joel and Clementine, two polar opposites who meet by chance on a train, fall in love, and then fall out of it over the course of their relationship.

When Clementine elects to erase Joel from her memory, he learns about it, visits her doctor (Tom Wilkinson), and promptly requests out of spite that she also be deleted from his memory.

But all isn’t so easy when it comes to matters of love and human relationships, and the filmmakers know this. So, what unfolds here is dense, complex, and moving, particularly when it occurs to Joel during the procedure that he might be making a grave mistake. If Clementine evaporates from his memories, so does the knowledge that he once had love in his life. And isn’t that worth always knowing, even if the relationship ended badly?

Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Kirsten Dunst co-star, but they add only peripheral interest. This show belongs to Carrey and Winslet, who find in the trappings of Joel’s subconscious not only two strong performances, but reasons to review the past to find what really matters – the potentially brighter end that might accompany it.

Grade: A-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

THE VIDEO/DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl In 3-D – D-

The Amityville Horror – C-

Batman Anthology – A-

Batman Begins – A

Blue Collar TV – C-

Bride & Prejudice – B

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – A-

Cinderella Man – A

Crash – D

Cypher – C+

The Devil’s Rejects – B

Dukes of Hazzard – D

Empire Falls – C-

Guess Who – C+

Gus Van Sant’s Last Days – B-

Happy Endings – C+

Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection – A+

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – B-

Hostage – C-

The Interpreter – B+

Kicking and Screaming – C

Kingdom of Heaven – B-

King Kong: Collectors Edition – A

Kung Fu Hustle – A

A Lot Like Love – D

Madagascar – D

March of the Penguins – A

Melinda and Melinda – B

Million Dollar Baby – A

Millions – A-

Mission Hill: Complete Series – C+

Monster-in-Law – B-

Mr. & Mrs. Smith – B

Point Pleasant: Complete Series – C

Polar Express – C-

Rize – A-

The Ring Two – C-

Robots – C-

Sahara – C-

Scrubs: Complete Second Season – A-

The Sea Inside – A-

That ’70s Show: Complete Fourth Season – B

Sin City – A-

The Skeleton Key – B

Stargate Atlantis: Complete First Season –

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – B+

Upside of Anger – B

Unleashed – C-

Warner Holiday Collection – A

War of the Worlds – B+

The Wedding Date – B

Whoopi: Back to Broadway – C+