Vacations are meant to be a time of escape. They are meant to be a time of rest for a select amount of time. Be it one day, one week or heck even an entire month. Sometimes the road to said vacation can be pretty rough. What happens if you’re in a line of work with no vacation time? That’s extra money you have to save up, so that you can still pay your bills that month. Yeah, adulting sucks sometimes. I’ve been married for a little over six years. In that span of time, we’ve done one vacation outside of our honeymoon. Truth be told, most of that comes from the fact that I was working for a job that didn’t offer vacation time. So the challenge of working and saving begins. It’s rough. We save because we want to reward ourselves and enjoy ourselves.

Don’t get me wrong, some people are a bit more off than others. Some of us have vacation time at our jobs and that stress is avoidable. Honestly, I wouldn’t be upset if we mandated all employers to provide vacation time, like they mandated healthcare with Obamacare. Truth is, our bodies aren’t designed to go without rest. Vacations are a nice escape from the ordinary struggles of life. They aren’t all that peaceful, though. As much as we try to make it, other tension or drama has a way to sink into the soil and lay its roots. Imagine, though, looking for an escape, finding it and then ruining it yourself - all because you got caught up in the moment. Sounds like a vacation, you’d learn to hate - right?

For his directorial debut, Dave Franco, pursues such themes in The Rental. The movie depicts two brothers (Dan Stephens & Jeremy Allen White), and their respective significant others (Alison Brie & Sheila Vand), escaping for a weekend at a cabin in the woods. It’s here their vacation twists and turns into drug-induced, fight for your life, chaos. I think it's safe to say that a lot of eyes are gonna be in this movie because it’s Franco’s debut as a director and a co-writer. We tend to be a little more watchful on such occasions ala Jordan Peele & Get Out and John Krasinski & A Quiet Place. Franco has made an impressive debut as a director. He manages to create an atmosphere that effectively uses light, fog, and misdirection incredibly well. Throughout the final act of the film, the lighting becomes tremendously dark. Franco’s use of light, or lack thereof, manages to effectively create tension. When it is met with the score from Saunder Jurrians is a beautiful edge of your seat thriller.

Jurrians’ score may be the real star of the movie, though. There comes a point within the film where it is so prominent that it becomes another character within the movie. Jurrians manages to equally create tension with Franco’s camera work to create a terrifying experience that will shake you to your core. Returning to Franco, though, while he may manage to work wonders visually - the same can’t be said about the rather bland script of which he co-wrote. The biggest issue of said script comes with the use of Vand’s character. It should be worth noting, Vand is the only character of color within the film. They address that factor, very early on in the film. They attempt to have it linger with themes of racism throughout but fail magnificently. It’s a thread that is picked up and put down at the leisure of the filmmakers. What could have been an insightful character arc falls into a convoluted and messy character arc. Even when “the big twist” comes with her, it’s still wasted. 

Franco manages to create tension incredibly well. From the use of light and sound to the character decisions and the fallout there afterward. With such an intimate cast, five total actors, all of them manage to bring their A-game. However, one of them shines brighter than others. That is none other than Franco’s wife, Alison Brie. Brie is treated like a background character for the majority of the film until the fallout occurs. Then she is thrusted into the emotional limelight and man, she crushes this role. Respectively speaking, I don’t know why Brie isn’t a bigger star.

There comes a point within the last act, where audiences are introduced to a twist. While I enjoyed where the film went from that moment, it does feel out of the left field. Had Franco introduced the element a bit earlier within the film, it could have been a bit different. When it finally does come, it just feels a bit out of tone from the rest of the film. So I will warn you, this might sour your experience. I think this move, from a narrative standpoint, will be quite divisive moving forward.

Overall, The Rental, is an impressive debut from Dave Franco, as a director. His use of light and the haunting soundtrack from Saunder Jurrians marks this film as a prime example of an edge of your seat thriller. Adding in character decisions and their fallout within the last act - further establishes Franco’s ability to weave tension like a conductor without flaw. Though the script, which he co-wrote, is a completely different story. A missed opportunity for deeper character arcs, & random tonal shifts can make the delivery a bit sloppy at times. Still, Franco has now entered onto my radar as a director worth watching. The Rental is not as deep and intelligent as it could be, but it’s still a fun time movie worth checking into. 

RORSCHACH RATING:

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Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by), Caless Davis, Dan Rockwood, & Brandon Miller. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. The Rental is property of IFC Films. We do not own nor claim any rights. The Rental is now playing in theaters and on demand.

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