Having never gone to the stage version, we were not well-versed on the plot. The reviewers do say the movie grabs the 'essence' of the play and successfully adds street and outdoor scenes. Some of the music was familiar, of course.I'm partial to film where people break into song and successfully replace movement and tons of dialog with music. Still, I was surprised how dated the movie seemed. After all it was less than a decade ago that it premiered on Broadway. Those '525,600 minutes' have only passed about 16 times since the play's inception.
Yet, I was oddly reminded of Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). The ideas and action seemed idealistic but from a slightly different epoch. It really was a different time, I guess. New York was different. The views on AIDS were different. Even, the hair styles were different.
Still, the best performances are supposedly to be timeless. I'll have to view Rent again after a suitable stretch of time.