Themes: Schemes and Ruses, Unlikely Criminals, Hide the Dead Body
Main Cast: Melissa Joan Hart, Ryan Browning, Andrew Kavovit, Carmen Electra
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
Fresh from Iowa, Holly (Melissa Joan Hart) and Calvin (Ryan Browning) arrive in New York, there to pursue careers as actors. Alas, money is mighty tight for the new arrivals, and decent housing is well night impossible to find. Eventually, Holly is forced to move in with her eccentric, cat-crazy Aunt Agatha (Lynne Marie Stewart), who lives in a rent-controlled apartment in the middle of an upscale neighborhood. When Aunt Agatha dies of natural causes, a desperate Holly hits upon a brilliant idea: she and Calvin will pretend that Auntie is still alive, the better to remain in the apartment for a minimal price. The couple enlist the apartment building's feckless elevator operator Dennis (Andrew Kavovit) as their co-conspirator, then spend much of the rest of the movie trying to keep their landlord's suspicious son Vincent (Joseph D. Reitman) from stumbling upon the truth. Filmed in 2002, Rent Control did not make its ABC Family Channel debut until September 9, 2005, by which time the made-for-cable film had been extensively re-edited to accelerate its pace. The film has since been released abroad under its working title Aunt Agatha's Apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Beege Barkett - Claire Fealy; Don Novello - Rico; Shirley Prestia - Aunt Rose; Lynne Stewart - Aunt Agatha; Ron Perkins - Gene; Richard Livingston - Leonard Lasso; Joseph D. Reitman - Vincent Lasso; Alan Dale - George; Joel Michaely - Peter; Earl Schuman - Iggy; Gerard A. Facchini - Serpico; Brandon Griffin - Alex
Credit
David Eric Brenner - Director, Brett Hedlund - Editor, Melissa Joan Hart - Executive Producer, Timothy Swain - Executive Producer, Jeanette Buerling - Executive Producer, Ali Forman - Executive Producer, William Goldstein - Composer (Music Score), Boris Zelkin - Composer (Music Score), Nava - Production Designer, Christopher Duddy - Cinematographer, Holly Wiersma - Producer, Joseph P. Genier - Producer, Mike Elliott - Producer, Allison Graham - Producer, David Eric Brenner - Screenwriter
