Rent-A-Pal

Wil Wheaton plays one of the scariest villains of the year in Jon Stevenson’s brilliant “Rent-A-Pal,” and yet his character never leaves the confines of a TV screen. He’s essentially a Mr. Rogers for incels, and those who know the power in how Fred Rogers acknowledged his viewers, and the creepiness in people online calling themselves “involuntarily celibate,” can imagine just how toxic that is. With such a disturbing performance, Wheaton treats the sweater-wearing, not-so-subtle misogynist with a constant knowing grin, an image conjured from a white VHS tape being viewed in 1990 that in turn embodies the bleakest parts of the internet. The tape that contains him and his acts of friendship say as much about whoever made it, as it does the person who watches it over and over. Rent A Pal.Rent-A-Pal 2020 Movie Download.

Brian Landis Folkins’ genuinely sweet but lonely David comes across “Rent-A-Pal” while trying to find a girlfriend through a video-based dating agency that’s like Tinder but for people with VCRs. At first it’s a novelty to David—as desperate as he may be from the beginning for someone to talk to other than his mother (Kathleen Brady), whom he lives with—but when the search for a date runs dry, the “Rent-A-Pal” tape sounds like amusing company. The video is just what it offers: Wheaton’s Andy offers company, and advocates having “a good time” with whoever is watching the tape. Andy asks questions and waits for answers, and follows up with flattering statements (“Nice digs!” he says, while pretending to look around the viewer’s apartment). What’s key is that he cares:.

Once David gets the sense that he can talk to this person, that the video’s reactions are in sync with what he’s saying, Rent-A-Pal becomes a true connection for him.