Rental family: Brendan Fraser at his charming best

A little bit of background📃

Full disclosure: I am a huge Brendan Fraser fan, and I am so glad he's back. His comedic roles in The Mummy films and George of the Jungle, and his dramatic performances in Gods and monsters and The quiet American show his talents as an actor. It's always saddened me that his career and personal life were derailed by Hollywood. I was eager to see Rental family, not only for Brendan Fraser but also for the insight into Japanese culture. My movie buddy, MH, and I saw the film on New Years Eve 2025.

Rental family | Australian release December 2025 | Viewed December 2025 | Directed by HIKARI | Main cast: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Gorman, and Akira Emoto

The story📖

Rental family is set in modern-day Tokyo. Fraser's character, Phillip Vanderploeg, is a struggling American actor living in the city, best known for a kitschy toothpaste advertisement. We meet Phillip at the start of the film at a low point in life, until he lands an odd job working for a Japanese "rental family" agency. The agency hires actors to play stand-in roles for strangers. It turns out that Phillip is good at his job, and the film shows numerous examples of his empathy and kindness (and acting skills) in weird fake family scenarios. Phillip forms genuine bonds in two of the situations, blurring the lines between performance and reality. The film explores how he must navigate the moral complexities of his work and be his authentic self, at the same time rediscovering meaning in his life, a sense of belonging, and what it means to connect with others.

My thoughts on the film💭

I found myself completely immersed in the setting and in the bizarre world of rental families as I watched the film. Hikari does an incredible job of world building and I felt transported to Tokyo and the surrounding countryside during the 105 minute viewing experience. The whole film is completely bonkers. That said, it is based on real Japanese businesses, where actors are paid to pose as acquaintances or family members to play a role for a particular purpose or simply to fill a void in their lives. I learnt a lot about this cultural phenomenon, as I assume is the film's intent. The Japanese-born director lends an air of authenticity to the subject matter and avoids the film coming across as stereotyped or mocking, handing the cultural practice with sensitively. The film has left a lasting impression on me, and I felt quite sad thinking about loneliness and our attempts to assuage it in modern times.

There are two jobs that Phillip immerses himself in that create the focus of the film. One job calls for Phillip to pose as a journalist researching profile of a retired actor with dementia, to give the man one last chance to feel important. The other job sees Phillip impersonating the estranged father of a young Japanese-American girl whose mother is pursuing enrolment in a prestigious school.

The film is a comedy, and there are certainly some light moments that made me smile, even if it's all a bit mad. The power of the film, I think, is in the sensitive portrayal of the cultural phenomenon and Phillip's genuine care and attention to his role. Fraser shines as Phillip here, and I was completely on board with his character.

The film is predictable and sentimental but with Fraser in the lead role, it is also compassionate and poignant. My only criticism is that Rental family misses the opportunity to go deeper into loneliness and the impact of connections made that are built on fabrication and lies. Phillip's colleague, Aiko, poses as mistresses to help betrayed wives deal with their husbands' infidelity. There was an opening here to have a deeper conversation between Phillip and Aiko about the need for such a practice. The stigmatisation of mental health in Japanese culture is only lightly touched upon. A four- star film would have been elevated to a five-star one if these ideas had been explored further.

In sum📝

Director Hikari and her brilliant cast manage to make a stunningly beautiful piece of cinema that takes a measured and considered approach to a sensitive topic. Fraser makes Phillip empathetic and kind, never cynical or critical of the job he is doing. The characters in the film who reach out to the rental family business are also surprisingly human, with clear motivations for their decisions, even if they may seem odd to anyone not Japanese. It would have been easy for the film to descend into something farcical, but Fraser's understated and warm presence and Hikari's exquisite direction makes for a charming and poignant piece of cinema.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐