Thanksgiving weekend movies that surprisingly aren't so bad

Part one: Rent.



I rolled my eyes when I learned they were making this into a movie -- a movie starring 35-year-olds -- but I actually sort of loved it. To be sure, there are plenty of reasons to criticize both Rent the stage production and Rent the film, some of which hold no water with me and some of which are disturbing and compelling. But in the end, it's about friendship, love, community, energy and some darned catchy songs, and I just can't hate it, or believe that Jonathan Larson did his community a disservice by penning it and putting it on a stage.

I don't think Rent sells out its serious subjects or real-life counterparts any more than any musical ever did. Did soldiers and rebels actually mark the French Revolution with big production numbers? When history books reflect upon the Vietnam War, do they focus on the hot action goin' down at the Saigon strip clubs? If you take issue with Rent on this front, then you take issue with the genre in general (which, I suppose, many people do).

Watching the film from a suburban multiplex, it made me long to get back to New York. Even if it only represents a fantastical, made-for-Broadway version of the city; even though the filmmakers superimposed Mars Bar on the middle of a block, my heart swelled every time the camera panned across rooftops dotted with watertowers. The city, if not entirely accurate, was recognizable. (That includes the late-'80s-even-more-ghetto-than-today F train.)

Also, who is cuter than Anthony Rapp? Practically no one.