Tags:
Film: Rent-A-Pal
Year: 2020
Director: Jon Stevenson
Writer: Jon Stevenson
Starring: Wil Wheaton, Brian Landis Folkins and Amy Rutledge
Review:
This was another 2020 films that I heard people talking about and added it to my list of films that I feel I should see before the year ended. I really didn't know a lot about it to be honest, aside from the title. The synopsis here is set in 1990, a lonely bachelor named David (Brian Landis Folkins) searches for an escape from the day-to-day drudgery of caring for his aging mother (Kathleen Brady). While seeking a partner though a video dating service, he discovers a strange VHS tape called Rent-A-Pal that changes his life.
We start this movie off with the opening credits that reminded me of my childhood. Things look quite 80's here, but what I like is that it doesn't feel they're ramming it down our throats as to it being set in the past. David is watching a video looking for a date. He lives with his mother Lucille who has dementia. It isn’t an easy life for him.
The movie does very well in establishing how this service works. David is bummed when he calls in and the receptionist Diane (Adrian Egolf) states it isn’t uncommon to take extended time. She does recommend coming in and updating his video as it has been 6 months since he has. What I take from this is that they're nickel and diming him as everything costs money. While he's there, he does see a VHS in their bargain bin called Rent-A-Pal.
David brings it home and it has an oddly charismatic host of Andy (Wil Wheaton). David watches it for a bit before shutting it off. Things take a turn though when Diane calls and leaves a message that they've found him a match. The woman is Lisa (Amy Rutledge) and they have similar interests. In his rush, David forgets his wallet. They won't release the tape to him without paying and by the time he returns with his card, Lisa has a different match. This devastates him. He goes home, turns on Rent-A-Pal and drinks heavily. He then starts to watch this over and over again, building a kinship with the person on the tape.
Things take a different turn when Lisa's other match didn't work and Diane reaches out to set them up. David's mother causes him a lot of stress with her condition and Andy seems to be getting jealous, or that's what David perceives.
That's where I want to leave my recap of this movie as that gets you up to speed with the story. This is another one of those that is more of a character study of our lead, David. He's lonely. As the movie progresses with him talking to Andy, we learn that his mother was quite hard on him and his father wasn't around a lot. With his mother's condition, he really gave up on his life to care for her. He's not a great looking guy and he's a bit weird, so this is contributing to how he feels. I develop sympathy for him for sure. We also get to see him descend into madness.
Another aspect to this is could be that the tape Rent-A-Pal cursed or something along those lines. My interpretation of this is no. We never see anyone else watch it so it isn't something we can compare. We also never get stories of anything like that happening. What I think is happening is that David is using this as his outlet. He does build confidence from watching it. We see him tidying up his room and making it feel like how he wants it. There really are positive effects from watching it at first. The problem though is that I feel he's mentally unstable. As he descends into madness, he thinks it is talking to him. He's become too close to something that isn't real. I also feel his psychosis is making him feel guilty when Lisa comes into his life. It is partially him afraid of getting close to her and it is something new that he's never experienced. He's fallen too much into his comfort zone which can be a scary place to leave.
I've already delved into my thoughts on the character, but I really have to give it to Folkins as David. He plays this character so well. I saw someone on social media talking about this movie stating that it does well in making you feel sympathy for the villain. I would agree with that and to add on, we spend most of this time following David and connecting with him. Folkins brings this character to life and makes me almost feel like this is him on a normal basis. Wheaton is really good as well as Andy. It is interesting that all of dialogue for the most part is just recorded. It is synced up well to appear like conversations though. He brings an interesting charisma to the role. I think that Rutledge, Brady and the rest of the cast round this movie out for what was needed.
The last thing to really go over would be the effects and the soundtrack. There really isn't a lot of the former. There is a bit of blood that looks good. That was done practical which I'm a fan of. They did a great job though with the cinematography. I give a lot of props for making it really look like they recorded it on VHS. There's a grainy feel to it so I'm glad they didn't go crazy with making what is watched on TV to be upgraded to HD. The soundtrack fits here as well for making it feel like the era the movie takes place in which I have to give credit for. I also think that as he continiously plays this tape, the audio becomes warped.
In closing here, this is an interesting film for sure. This is a really good character study of David and the rough life he's living. The performance of Folkins really brings to life. Seeing how he can get sucked into watching this tape of Andy is a heartwarming while also being sad. It feels like the era that it takes place without going too far over the top. The cinematography and sound design really work there for me. For my rating of this movie, I would say that it is a good movie overall.
My Rating: 8 out of 10