Rental Family (2025)

Forging personal connections can be difficult enough these days, even in casual circumstances. But what happens when we require someone to play a vital role for a pressing need and no one is available to stand in? That’s when it may be time to place a call to Rental Family, a Tokyo-based company that provides individuals to step in and fill the missing link. It’s also a perfect opportunity to provide work for unemployed actors, giving them a chance to ply their trade and gain experience at broadening the range of their craft while helping out others in times of need. Such is the case for Phillip Vandarploeg (Brendan Fraser), a largely unsuccessful American actor who moved to Japan years ago to make a cheesy toothpaste commercial but has since found few opportunities to further his career. He initially has reservations about serving as a professional impersonator, but, once he gets the hang of it, he finds himself quite adept at it. However, the deeper he gets into his assignments – such as playing a surrogate father/husband to help an ambitious single mother (Shino Shinozaki) get her daughter (Shannon Gorman) into a prestigious school and impersonating an entertainment journalist to allegedly profile an aging actor (Akira Emoto) and help him relive his memories before he loses them permanently – the more involved he becomes in his clients’ lives, raising ethical questions that give him anguish but from which he has difficulty walking away. In many respects, “Rental Family” feels like a lightweight version of the excellent, recently released Austrian offering “Peacock,” one that aims for a crowd-pleasing vibe more than its substantive counterpart. Unfortunately, though, this is where this picture comes up short. To carry out its narrative objectives, writer-director Hikari’s second feature outing is eminently predictable, interminably schmaltzy and heavy-handed to a fault, qualities that grow ever more cringeworthy the more the story progresses. And, when the picture attempts to break out of this mold and become less obvious, it goes overboard, turning preposterous and lacking in credibility. Add to that an excessive number of minor story threads, and you’ve got an unwieldy production that becomes tiresome and unfocused. What’s more, this is a vehicle in which Fraser looks undeniably trapped, portraying a forgettable role that’s a far cry below his considerable capabilities and a long way from his Oscar-winning performance in “The Whale” (2022). In fact, other than some gorgeous cinematography and a few admittedly touching moments in the aging actor story thread, this one is easily skipped without missing anything worthwhile. The issues addressed here are more substantial than the wispy fluff they’ve been accorded in this project, so, if these are subjects that truly interest you, give “Peacock” a much more deserved view in its place, a decision you’re unlikely to regret.

I can't wait to watch this movie. It says its already out November 20th but I still can't watch it on here or any server. Will it br up soon?

**Good vibes, missed opportunities**

Rental Family delivers sweetness with Brendan Fraser charm, but stumbles in its depths

Fraser remains the MVP—his gentle giant presence and expressive vulnerability carry this film through its overly sentimental beats. Critics are right that his performance is quietly devastating, conveying awkward tenderness as he navigates Tokyo's morally murky rental family industry. The elderly client's storyline genuinely tugs at the heartstrings, offering the film's most emotionally resonant moments.

However, strip away Fraser and the film can't escape its overly sentimental tones with characters that have no depth. The concept itself is fascinating yet deeply uncomfortable—the practice raises all sorts of questions about ethical implications and emotional consequences that the film barely scratches. It could have gone deeper, darker, and more boldly into the oddities of the human rental market, but opts for crowd-pleasing warmth instead.

AND WHAT WAS THAT SHINJI REVEAL?? The movie drops this bombshell about his rental family and just... moves on?? Zero exploration, zero payoff. Frustratingly half-baked.

A pleasant watch elevated by Fraser's magic, but ultimately too safe to truly resonate.

My, how Brendan Fraser has come on since his beefcake gardener days of “Gods and Monsters” (1998). Move on a quarter of a century and he’s “Philip”. A struggling American actor trying to make a living in Japan. He’s fluent, but thus far his success has been limited to a toothpaste advertising campaign that saw him in a cape with pearly white teeth. He makes ends meet by doing the ultimate in anonymous extras work. He turns up, unrehearsed, at events - like funerals - and gets paid what amounts to appearance money for looking sad! It’s at one of those gatherings that he meets “Tada” (Takehiro Hira) who runs a business along these lines, and who sees some potential in “Philip”. What now ensues sees him carry out a variety of jobs, with varying degrees of success, but that really focus on two threads. One sees a daughter hire him to pretend to be a journalist writing a piece on her ageing father. “Kikuo Hasegawa” (Akita Emoto) was an huge star of the silver screen, but now as he approaches his eightieth birthday is losing his memory and his sense of purpose. He’s a curmudgeonly old gent, so can “Philip” earn his trust? The other thread didn’t work so well for me. This sees a well-to-do single mother determined to get her young daughter “Mia” (Shannon Mahina Gorman) into an exclusive school. Like so much in this country, tradition counts for a lot and she concludes that having a father at the interview would stand “Mia” in better stead. Snag? Well she doesn’t let her daughter in on the secret, so.. well you can imagine. I have to wonder what kind of parent would hire an actor to ingratiate himself with her daughter on these terms? Hmmm? Anyway, I found the former relationship much more interesting and enjoyed the rapport between Fraser and the entirely convincing Emoto as this journey focuses more on an older man with an interesting story to tell as opposed to one with status to preserve. On a broader level, it showcases some interesting elements of Japanese culture, attitudes to bereavement and therapy-alternatives that sometimes raise a smile and sometimes make you grimace. Fraser’s sheer bulk also helps to present a distinction between him and his hosts, and some of his facial expressions as he nervously learns the ropes for his new career help pose some ethical questions for a character who is fundamentally quite a decent soul. At times this has an air of ridiculousness to it, especially seen through “Western” eyes, but it really does work.