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5.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Why Pay Rent? remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you’re deep into 1930s shorts or you just really need to see Shemp Howard look perpetually confused for twenty minutes. If you’re looking for a smooth narrative, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want to see a house fall apart in real-time, this is your gold mine.
The whole premise is simple: rent is a pain, let’s build a house. What follows is exactly the kind of physical comedy you expect from that era. It feels less like a movie and more like a series of increasingly bad decisions.
Seeing Shemp Howard here is always a trip. He’s got that specific way of whining that makes you feel like you’re watching a rough draft of his later, bigger stuff. There’s a scene where he’s trying to hammer a nail that just goes on for way too long. It’s not necessarily funny, but it’s weirdly hypnotic.
The construction scenes are where the movie finds its rhythm, if you can call it that. It’s mostly just people throwing wood at each other and shouting. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Gold Diggers of '49, just with more sawdust and fewer showtunes.
It’s short, it’s loud, and it doesn't try to be anything deeper than a few gags strung together. Some of the slapstick feels a bit tired, like a pale imitation of what you might find in The Pet Store, but there’s a charm to the sheer incompetence of the characters.
You can tell the budget was basically a sandwich and a handshake. The walls shake when someone leans on them. It’s kind of beautiful in a pathetic way. 🏗️
It’s not going to change your life. It’s not even going to be the funniest thing you watch this week. But sometimes it’s nice to watch a movie that has absolutely zero interest in being important. It just wants to build a house and watch it break. Can’t really blame it for that.