Back during the silent era, Buster Keaton starred in a real gem, "One Week". He marries a lady and decides to build a house from a kit. However, a jerk deliberately screws with the plans and this results in a bizarre mess of a house. It's very funny, very original.
In the 1930s, the Vitaphone division of Warner Brothers made a bunch of very uninspired and often unfunny comedy shorts. One of them, "Why Pay Rent?" is a bit like "One Week" but only if the folks building the house were dumber than a pile of bricks. In many ways, this might have worked better as a Three Stooges short...and which is interesting because Shemp Howard stars in this one as well as Roscoe Ates...and incredibly unfunny comedian whose shtick was stuttering...which was annoying AND rather cruel.
The overall film is like most Vitaphone comedies of the 1930s...rather unfunny and even a bit tedious at times (such as the two women sawing off the table legs bit that went on and on and one). The final sight gag is funny...but not enough to save this one. Overall, just watch Keaton...your brain will thank you for this.
