The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said "Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it."

The film version of the Broadway musical "Rent" is corny, predictable and rather boring to sit through. None of the characters are believable and director Chris Columbus ("Home Alone," and the first two "Harry Potter" films) fails to create any sort of fluidity between the trite ditties.

"Rent" is based on the opera "La Boh?me," which was written by the Italian-born Giacomo Puccini and first performed in 1896. The Broadway musical and film translates Puccini's opera into a jangly story set in New York's East Village in 1989.

The tale revolves around a bunch of 20-something-year-olds struggling to "find themselves" in a world where corporate America is the ever-looming devil.

Overall, the film is painful to watch and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

What was painful to watch

There's zero character development.

All of the characters are clinched stereotypes of grappling, self-righteous twits believing they have something to offer the world artistically.

Of course, the flick presents a guitar-playing hunky dude unable to finish a song, a filmmaker that doesn't want to bow down to "The Man," an exotic dancer with a drug problem, a lesbian performance artist, etc., etc.

Leaving a bad taste in the mouth

The songs are terrible. The lyrics seem to come from idealistic yuppies unable to rhyme. The music accompanying the stock lyrics aren't catchy and sound overproduced.

What ever happened to the good old' musicals like "Singin' in the Rain," "White Christmas," and "Mary Poppins"? Alas, "Rent," provides bohemians with drug problems unable to hold a tune.