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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Movie Review: The Guest (2014)

Genre: Mystery Thriller  

Director: Adam Wingard  

Starring: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: Recently released from service, army veteran David Collins (Dan Stevens) arrives at the home of Laura Peterson, claiming to have been an army buddy of Laura's son Caleb, who died on active duty. Laura welcomes David and he soon meets her husband Leonard and their teenaged children Anna (Maika Monroe) and Luke. The seemingly affable David involves himself in the family's affairs: Leonard is promoted, Luke's bullies from school are taught a lesson, and David makes a good impression on Anna's friends. But he also carries a violent streak, and when Anna delves into his background, bad things starts to happen.

What Works Well: Director Adam Wingard creates an entertaining vibe combining stranger unease with character manipulation and sudden bursts of violence. Dan Stevens charismatically embodies the vague spaces between good and evil, unsettling an entire family with supportive deeds compromised by questionable methods. Maika Monroe as the scrappy Anna emerges as a capable adversary, parlaying suspicions into facts to counter David's subterfuge.

What Does Not Work As Well: The backstory is an unfortunate empty shell of conspiratorial governmental incompetence, undermining attempts to create meaningful context. Once the violence escalates and the body count rises, the narrative zing dramatically declines.

Key Quote:

David: I'm a soldier, man. I like guns.

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