no1voice

If you like THIS....

....you REALLY should check out 1973's "Phantom Of The Paradise" with songs by Paul Williams(!) and directed by Brian De Palma! It predates Rocky Horror, and I actually like it better! Amongst all the great scenes: a trio of performers who sing in a completely different, flavor of the week style every time they take the stage. This includes a Sha Na Na like group, a Beach Boys group, and a musical number that's parodying Alice Cooper - which everyone leaps to the wrong conclusion of being Kiss, without doing the math....

It's Phantom Of The Opera meets Faust meets Picture Of Dorian Gray meets Rock And Roll! A bit dated now a somewhat cheesy even then, it still successfully combines black comedy, romance, Gothic horror, drama, and rock and roll musicals into a package that helped pave the way for BOTH Williams and De Palma's future work, which would immediately follow.

And hey, LEEMAN52 - the 'Alice Cooper Show' ISN'T professional?!? Why in hell's name would he be so emulated then?

I just saw a screening in LA and a packed house of SAG members LOVED this film! Ryan Gosling's performance hearkens back an equally moving and effective performance from Peter Sellers in Being There, which Gosling and director Craig Gilespie admitted was about their only reference point. Gosling's character is sweet, good natured, and painfully shy and is the heart and soul of this film. His performance as Lars (along with patient direction and a wonderful script) is the prime reason that it all works. I laughed HARD throughout, but by the end I shed real tears over the plot and characters - and I thought doing so over a talking pig was bad! This is a performance WAY out of the ordinary for Gosling, and most of today's young actors could not have pulled it off. Expect an Oscar nomination for Gosling and for the screenplay.

Everything said in the first post is pretty much correct - except some minor points. I'm a MAJOR Musical Theater fan, but I've never been much of a 'Rent-head', (I find the story a bit pretentious and self aware - basically a modern version of "Hair") - yet the emotion and energy is real and infectious, fueled by an incredible and memorable score.

As I remember, though, both the songs "Halloween" and "Goodbye, Love" were NOT in the final cut I saw last night (11/6), but the interview with the cast and director was inspirational!

The best factor for me was that Director Columbus made a decision to shoot it AS A MUSICAL and not try to hide it's musical theater roots (like say, "Chicago"). Also, he cast many members of the original cast (a throwback to old movie musicals). These were brave and successful moves, and should finally knock down that door to MORE movie musicals.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!