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Rent
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Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 171 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia
  • Summary: Based on Puccini's classic opera La Boheme, Jonathan Larson's revolutionary rock opera Rent tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent in the gritty background of New York's East Village. "Measuring their loves in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic. (Sony)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 35
  3. Negative: 4 out of 35
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    100
    One of the best film musicals in years -- exuberant, sexy and life affirming in equal measure.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    60
    Director Chris Columbus has pasted the grungy "La Boheme" update onto film with slavish respect for the original material but a shortage of stylistic imagination and raw emotions.
  3. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Melissa Levine
    30
    Rent plays as a very long joke with no punch line, an exercise in mawkish sentimentality that's embarrassing to watch. Kudos to the actors for truly committing to their roles, but with this material, it might have been better if they hadn't.

See all 35 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 112
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 112
  3. Negative: 25 out of 112
  1. johnf.
    9
    Memories of a world that doesn't exist anymore... much to my deep regret.
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. sarahelisabeth
    5
    Having seen the musical multiple time (both on broadway and on the broadway tour) this movie was bordering on blasphemy. What a wonderful idea it was to form this wonderful, beautiful, and inspiring movie into film. What a wonderful idea it was to use most of the original broadway cast. What a terrible outcome it came to be.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. RyanC.
    3
    Roger Ebert once said of "North": "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it." This quote expresses exactly how I feel about Rent. I do not think the film is abysmal in the traditional sense of the word. It isn't painful to watch, in that the direction or acting is horrible. Rather, this movie is infuriating and insulting because it tells the story of characters whose motto seems to be "Live life exactly how you want it, with no regards for the consequences" but expects us to feel bad for these characters when horrible things happen to them. It's schmaltzy and over-wrought.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 112 User Reviews

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