We watched Rent-A-Pal last night. I had been looking forward to it for awhile, since Wil Wheaton was in it. It’s about a lonely guy who lives in his mother’s basement. Sounds like a setup for a oft-used Ready Player One line, doesn’t it? Anyway, the movie takes place in 1990 when VHS videotapes were the medium of choice for movies and videos.

So this lonely guy is using a dating service to try to find a mate. With this service you purchase videos of people of the opposite sex who you (or the service) think might be a match, you take them home and view them, then fill out paperwork on who you’d like to meet.

Well, this guy finds a tape in a bargain bin at the store called Rent-A-Pal, which promises a virtual friendship. He’s pretty lonely and can’t seem to find a match, so he buys it to try it out. This is where Wil Wheaton comes in. Wil’s character is the “Pal” in the video. A simple guy who just sits in a chair and seemingly converses with you in the video, pausing at the appropriate times, nodding, saying “mmm hmmm” when it’s your turn to speak, etc., etc. But there’s something eerie about this that you can’t quite grasp.

You’ll repeatedly wonder “Did he actually just respond to the guy?” and “Is he just going to come to life and talk to the guy one-on-one for real eventually? I won’t spoil that aspect for you, but I thought they did a great job keeping the audience wondering, building and building, right up until the climax of the movie when things just go horribly wrong.

Sandy and I both enjoyed it and thought it was good. If you grew up on VHS tapes and lived through that era, I think it’s a good one to watch. If you’re of Kevin’s generation–born in the 90’s–I’m not so sure you would “get it”.