The perfect hostess
Room For Rent is a 2019 mystery-horror film starring Lin Shaye.
After the death of her husband, newly-widowed Joyce Smith (Shaye) is dismayed to learn that he'd left no money in their retirement account, roughly $2,000 in their savings account, and $6,000 owed to the bank in the form of a loan he'd taken out for "repairs". While at the library, wondering about what to do, she sees an investment magazine about making a Bed & Breakfast. She struggles to adjust to life on her own and as a small entrepreneur, striking up a friendship with one of her first guests, until Bob enters the picture as her latest tenant.
This film provides examples of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Joyce initially thinks the magazine is extolling the virtues of a "Buh-nib" when it was actually "BNB".
- All Women Are Lustful: Joyce is a romantic at heart, checking out Romance Novels from the library pretty frequently. Sarah also has a passionate one-night stand with Bob, and Joyce actually kisses her teenaged assailant as a means to try getting him to back off.
- Cool Old Lady: Joyce wants to be seen as one (and more) by Bob, going so far as to install a satellite dish so he can watch football while pretending to be an ardent fan herself.
- Death by Falling Over: Joyce's late husband, Fred, is found dead after he'd fallen off the roof, apparently from a heart attack.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Joyce is subject to harassment by a group of skaters, with one in particular sexually assaulting her in an alley after she'd thrown his skateboard into a trashcan for his inappropriate comments.
- Downer Ending: The movie ends with a pregnant Sarah returning to Joyce's home to house-sit, hoping that Bob will return. Except Joyce had murdered Bob when he'd tried leaving to be with Sarah, burying him in the backyard and converting his old room into a nursery to welcome her "grandchild", leaving it pretty clear about just what her plans were for Sarah.
- The Ending Changes Everything: After the full events of the movie, rewatching the beginning makes one wonder whether Joyce's late husband had died on his own, or may have had some "help" along the way.
- Innocent Inaccurate: Late in the movie, Joyce's snooping in Bob's room has her find a bag of white powder labeled "nose candy" - she has no idea what it is, and accidentally sniffs a palmful up.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Sarah becomes fast friends with Joyce after she'd helped Sarah realize how controlling her ex-boyfriend was.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Joyce is shown doting on Boodles every so often to keep this character trait established.
- Mad Love: Joyce towards Bob, as she's all-but convinced herself they're in a relationship, as reflected in her letters to Sarah. A few scenes have her providing a Romance Novel-style voiceover as she and Bob interact, including her sexual assault on his unconscious body.
- May–December Romance: Joyce likes to think of her and Bob this way, but he just sees her as a sweet old lady.
- Paying in Coins: Joyce does this early in the movie for a few dollars in canned cat food after her credit card is declined, showcasing just how bad her finances have become.
- Ready for Lovemaking: Joyce invokes this trope very often around Bob by dressing younger and, on one occasion, asking for his "help" reaching a towel while she was in her bubble-bath.
- Rescue Romance: Joyce's infatuation with Bob grows after he delivers exactly three strikes to the bullying skater, leaving the teen gasping for air after he'd egged her house.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Joyce and Sarah both fall into this category.
- Slipping a Mickey: Joyce does this to Bob with sleeping pills so she could live out her fantasies with his unconscious body.
- Spoiler Cover: The poster for the film shows Joyce holding a knife with the Tag Line of "She'd kill to find a decent man", effectively spoiling the twist that she's the one to worry about, rather than Bob or one of her guests.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Joyce describes Bob as this word for word on multiple occasions.
- Teens Are Monsters: When Joyce stops at a skate-park to watch, and a group near the front start making crass jokes about how she's a Dirty Old Woman. She responds by throwing the skateboard of the worst offender in a nearby trashcan, and he later responds by sexually assaulting her in an alley, then egging her house after she extricates herself from the previous situation.
- Unreliable Expositor: It turns out that Joyce is one, almost to the point of being a Consummate Liar, provided she doesn't get need to make one up on the spot.
- Vorpal Pillow: Joyce uses one on her neighbor after Sarah had talked to her, as Gladys had let slip that Joyce had gotten pregnant, but Fred had made her get an abortion as he didn't want children.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Joyce invokes this after the death of her neighbor, Gladys, as a means to get sympathy from Bob despite not really being close with the woman. Well, aside from physical proximity as she smothered Gladys to death.
- You Remind Me of X: Late in the movie, Joyce tells Bob that he reminds her of her son, who'd died at 16, as a means to explain why she'd snooped - an obvious lie, as she'd earlier told Sarah that she and Fred hadn't had any children, but Bob doesn't know that.
