Got my copy already.
The deleted scenes clearly were the heart of the film - there was more emotion in them than anything left in the movie. And I personally think the "alternate ending" worked better, but more of as an homage to the way the stage play ends.
The feature-length documentary isn't a "making of" of the movie, that's only about 1/5th of it. The rest is basically about Jonathan Larson and his creation of the musical before his untimely death. Not all that informative for Rentheads, since it's all in "the big black book," but it's nice that they actually featured Rentheads in the documentary, and when they mentioned a handful of Rent theatrical productions around the world, Rent: Philippines made the cut (and the "Rent Manila" poster was flashed briefly). Also, it was nice to see the two original Broadway cast members replaced for the film didn't bear any grudges, and participated in the documentary.
Unfortunately, deleted scenes and the Jonathan Larson documentary are all they included in the second disc. I would've liked it if they had included the show's original press reels as well, instead of just brief highlights from them in the documentary.
The "selected cast" commentary refers to only the two leads, Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal. They apparently did the commentary with Chris Columbus via video conferencing, since although engaging in actual conversations, Columbus says he's in LA while the two are in NY. This works much better than when cast/crew members record separate commentaries and they're just edited together. I haven't listened to all of it yet, but it's been fairly technical so far.
A must-buy for Rentheads. A must-rent for fans of the genre, and still an okay rent for people who merely tolerate musicals.
