Movie Review: The Rental (2020)

Genre: Suspense Horror  

Director: Dave Franco  
Starring: Dan Stevens, Alison Brie  
Running Time: 88 minutes  

Synopsis: Two couples decide to spend the weekend at an idyllic but secluded California ocean-front rental home. Charlie and Michelle (Dan Stevens and Alison Brie) are a couple, while Charlie's business partner Mina (Sheila Vand) is in a relationship with his brother Josh (Jeremy Allen Wright). After the house caretaker Taylor (Toby Huss) hands them the keys, tensions and romantic complications arise, before a disturbing discovery in the shower increases the stakes.

What Works Well: Dave Franco's directorial debut invests admirable time defining the four main characters, drawing out an entangled bundle of emotions. Charlie and Mina work closely together, generating natural unease within Michelle and Josh. Mina's ethnicity exposes Taylor's potentially racist attitudes, while Josh is the less impressive brother, susceptible to a short temper and bursts of violence. When bad decisions set the stage for real trouble, the final third enjoys a suitably ominous soundtrack and pointedly challenges genre cliches.

What Does Not Work As Well: The aesthetic and visuals are frequently a combination of murky and muddy, and the vacationers become less likeable as they reveal their true characters. While the theme of surveillance tied to danger holds interest, fundamental narrative decisions related to the source of villainy are polarizing.

Key Quote:

Michelle: This will never be over.

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