What was wrong with "Rent"?

The other day, my boys and I were chatting about the play "Rent".  My younger son loves the play.  He participated in the show when a local group performed it this past summer, and a few weeks ago he watched it off-Broadway. 

I didn't particularly care for it.  The movie came out the year after the movie of "Chicago", and promised to continue that tradition: a well made movie version of a very popular modern musical.  It didn't.  Where "Chicago" was intelligent, fascinating, and ever so entertaining . . . "Rent" wasn't.  Leah loved the movie, so perhaps, I wondered, my memories were being tainted.  This past summer, I watched a local community theatre company perform the play.  This time, I saw a bunch of talented young people that loved the play and gave it their all.  And in the end, I remarked: "I guess I really don't like the play."

So, last night we were talking a bit about that.  What didn't I like about the play?

I explained that in my college days, back in the late 80's, I used to hang around with people like this.  People that sat there, saying "I'm misunderstood . . . society doesn't understand me" and occasionally staring blankly ahead and saying "why are there . . . poor people?" while everyone else gasped "wow, he's so deep!"  This was my social circle back in the 80's.  "Rent" presented me with 2 1/2 hours of these people. 

We had cool-guy-with-the-guitar, who is artistic and misunderstood.  He mopes around the play because he wants to write that perfect song.  The song he winds up writing, in my opinion, was the weakest song in the show (I felt the same thing about the song "Purple Rain" from the movie of that name).  We had cool-guy-with-the-camera, who is artistic and misunderstood.  We had girl-wearing-cat-ears, who is artistic and misunderstood, and wants people to moo.  We have the philosophy professor, who is deep and misunderstood.  Oh, and by the way, we have stripper-with-the-heart-of-gold, guy-that-sold-out-but-has-a-change-of-heart, and the trannie-with-the-heart-of-gold.  You might say I found this boring. 

I found myself thinking "will one of these people PLEASE go out and find a job?"  And then one of them did, but then quit that job.  Oh well.  In the end, I just wanted to slap these people.