Some good ideas are explored in the film, such as the highly relatable and relevant premise that AirBNB bookers can appreciate, the current climate bringing prejudice and racism to the forefront, as well as exploring how relationships, privacy, secrets are all part of what matters to us these days which many have taken for granted.
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What’s going for this movie is the audience’s anticipation for Dave Franco's (James Franco’s brother if you are still wondering) maiden debut as writer-director. Cowritten with Joe Swanberg and based on the story involving Mike Demski, that one never really knows anything about the hosts of Airbnb rentals, interacting with blind faith with one another on a ‘trusted’ platform.
The film begins with two couples renting an Airbnb to celebrate the latest successful round of funding achieved for their startup, where Charlie (Dan Stevens - Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) and his wife Michelle (Alison Brie), and his business partner Mina (Sheila Vand), together with her boyfriend cum Charlie’s brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White).
The dream weekend getaway soon gets off an ominous start when Charlie successfully books the property while Mina was rejected just half an hour before him due to suspected racism by Taylor (Toby Huss), the caretaker of the house who totally fits the bill of a white male supremacist.
Soon secrets begin to spill as they discovered they are being spied on in the rental house, and things behind to spiral downwards when confrontations lead to the devolvement of the situation.
The film started building tension and is largely an atmospheric study, with a slow setup both plot-wise and camera work. However much of the build-up was not developed sufficiently to create enough sense of peril and denouement at the height of the film’s climax. The last one part of the film was contrasting rushed and wrapped conveniently so much so that it becomes a B-grade slasher flick that makes the film look as if the director and writers decided that they have spent too much time earlier developing the story.
Some good ideas are explored in the film, such as the highly relatable and relevant premise that AirBNB bookers can appreciate, the current climate bringing prejudice and racism to the forefront, as well as exploring how relationships, privacy, secrets are all part of what matters to us these days which many have taken for granted.
All in all, this is a fairly decent movie but the filmmakers could not decide if they want it to be a more psychological or physical horror, without actually planting itself firmly in either or both spheres.
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