Rent Control (2002)

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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… More 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, Rovi