Movie Review: Rent Free

Ben (Jacob Roberts) and Jordan (David Treviño) have been friends since childhood, growing up and going to college in and around Austin, Texas. Now adults, they are each adrift, struggling to find work in their chosen fields, with their continued friendship remaining the only stable thing in their lives.

When we meet them, Jordan is helping Ben move to New York City, where a pair of friends have somewhat miraculously agreed to let him stay for free. Alas, Ben’s poor decision making almost immediately puts an end to that and they both wind up right back in Austin. Jordan’s girlfriend is less than thrilled with the idea of housing his acerbic and somewhat thoughtless friend and the discussion over doing so escalates to the dissolution of their relationship and the duo now finding themselves homeless.

They devise a plan to spend the rest of the year living for free by couch-surfing among their friends to save money and move back to NYC at the beginning of January, which takes place as a series of vignettes, each introduced by the cost of the home they visit, that allow us a glimpse into the problems affecting Gen Z and the malaise they’ve fallen into, thankfully filtered through a cleverly comic lens.

Treviño is charming as the rudderless Jordan and conveys his generation’s angst convincingly while Roberts is perfectly cast as Ben, who quickly manages to grow on the viewer despite being intensely agitating, even sometimes a tinge too much so. The actors portraying the various friends and family they encounter give wonderful performances, fully bringing their characters to life and encapsulating a different aspect of our current American era.

With assistance from Drew Levin’s stylishly naturalistic cinematography, writer and director Fernando Andrés has really assembled something special here, capturing the essence of a specific time, place, and people nearly perfectly. The jokes could be a little funnier, and a little more character growth might have been nice, but Rent Free still works as a pleasantly aimless slice-of-life that examines friendship, sexuality, family, the economy, and growing up that will be relatable to many and memorable for many more. Despite its flaws, you’ll want to make room for it. ★★★★