88 min.
Release Date: July 24, 2020 (Digital & On-Demand)
There have been horror films about voyeurism before, but “The Rental,” actor Dave Franco’s feature directorial debut, doesn’t start out being about voyeurism, let alone a horror film. Though building with a sense of portent and foreboding, the film is more of an unassuming bait and switch. Tight and deceptively simple but cryptic in where it’s headed next, "The Rental" keeps changing, from an interpersonal chamber drama that pivots into a paranoid thriller and manslaughter morality tale. How the film aces misdirection and finally corkscrews into an uncompromisingly mean slasher film among promiscuous, molly-dropping adults surely pulls the rug out, even if it doesn't quite land the punch. Just because bad things can happen to people who make bad decisions doesn’t mean that they always should. As co-written by Franco & mumblecore pioneer Joe Swanberg, “The Rental” is ultimately a more polished, tense and fatalistic version of Swanberg’s own bread and butter (i.e. 2013’s post-mumblecore indie “Drinking Buddies”), or just a superior, more pedigreed version of 2019 IFC Midnight release "Trespassers."
Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Mina (Sheila Vand) are work partners, and Mina is dating Charlie’s younger brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White), a burnout who spent some time in jail. After launching their tech start-up, Charlie and Mina book a cliffside Airbnb overlooking the Oregon coastline for a celebratory weekend with their significant others. Starting off on the wrong foot when Charlie and his type-A wife, Michelle (Alison Brie), pick up the other couple, Josh has his French Bulldog in tow, despite the property's no-pet policy. Once the two couples arrive, while keeping the dog back in the car, the owner of the house, Taylor (Toby Huss), comes off a little blunt, sketchy and possibly prejudiced. Mina and Josh, by default, already don’t like the guy, and then Taylor comes and goes as he pleases, leaving the renters his telescope while they’re out. To cut any tension, Michelle brought party favors in the form of molly, but while she wants to save the imbibing and drug-fueled fun until the next night and get some rest for their hike in the morning, Charlie, Mina and Josh have at it. What happens next should be preserved as a mystery, but the proceedings do involve a hot tub, lies and bad relationship patterns, a hidden camera, and a hammer-wielding masked killer (!).
“The Rental” starts out as a skillfully acted intertwined-relationship drama with a pervasive mounting dread that keeps one on edge anyway. Conceptually, Dave Franco taps into the strange normalization of Airbnb, where we must trust strangers for a getaway in their home based on a star rating. Franco and Joe Swanberg's script also incorporates a timely, provocative layer involving casual racism. For example, before the two couples get to the rental, Mina brings up the fact that she might have been discriminated against by their rental host by having her request denied—possibly for her Middle Eastern last name—while Charlie was accepted an hour after her. Pent-up misgivings and micro-aggressions eventually pile up, only for the characters' mistakes of their own making to then be compounded by a psychotic Peeping Tom. While there has clearly been an outside threat all along, the film is merciless toward its characters by dealing them karmic punishment.
Performances are as strong as they come. Dan Stevens (2020’s “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”), Sheila Vand (2017’s “68 Kill”), Jeremy Allen White (Showtime’s “Shameless”) and Alison Brie (2020’s “Horse Girl”) honestly portray their respective characters with flaws, distinct personalities and personal hang-ups, and their dynamics between each other might be the most fascinating element in the film. The actions of Charlie, Mina, Josh and Michelle and their individual responses to the high-pressured circumstances end up revealing their true colors. While a few of the characters never strive to be likable, Brie should thank Dave Franco (her husband) for making her Michelle one of the more levelheaded and reasonable characters (the actress is particularly a delight when she drops molly).
Technically assured and atmospherically lensed by cinematographer Christian Sprenger, “The Rental” displays Dave Franco’s nearly seasoned hold on character work and escalating tension, as well as his know-how in establishing and using a space effectively. When the real danger happens, the final fifteen minutes ramp up the terror with disquiet, while handling the violence with more of a restraint than expected. One character smartly uses a diversion tactic, only to then make one of the most forehead-slapping decisions that still gives the viewer a harrowing thrill. A chase through the fog-shrouded forest also ends up taking one's breath away. As creepy as the closing moments are in showing how a randomly chosen yet intricately planned situation like this could really happen, Franco’s point is hard to discern and almost seems lost for the sake of atypically cynical hopelessness. Nevertheless, “The Rental” is a solid first effort that proves Dave Franco has the skills to tell more stories, Airbnb nightmare or not.
Grade: B -
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