‘Rental Family’ Review

Much has been written about a loneliness epidemic plaguing people the world over as everybody becomes more isolated, more free to retreat into their homes, away from other people. ‘Rental Family’ tackles this topic in a way designed to tug at heartstrings and make people cry, even if it is devoid of any real insight as to making people feel less alone.

Brendan Fraser stars as Phillip Vandarploeug, a struggling American actor living in Japan after finding success from a toothpaste commercial years earlier. Desperate for work, any work, Phillip takes a meeting with a company called Rental Family, which hires actors out to play a specific role in a real person’s life. Despite his initial misgivings, Phillip takes the job and though we see him cycle through several different gigs, there are two roles that carry through the entire film. In one, a woman hires Phillip to pose as a journalist seeking to interview her father (Akira Emoto), a retired actor suffering from dementia, hoping not to be forgotten. In the other, a single mom hires Phillip to pretend to be her young daughter’s father in order to help secure her position in a prestigious school. In this latter story, complications arise as the daughter (Shannon Mahina Gorman) is not privy to the plan and consequently believes that Phillip really is her dad.

Continuing a fantastic career resurgence, Brendan Fraser leads a strong cast even if the characters don’t feel fully fleshed out. As Phillip, he brings warmth to the role of a lonely actor, who benefits as much from the job as his customers, but he is not the only standout performance. As Phillip’s boss, Shinji, Takehiro Hira is charming and confident, facing an internal conflict balancing a sincere belief in his company’s ability to do good with pragmatic business considerations. And as the retired actor Kikuo Hasegawa, Akira Emoto plays up a character beaten down in the late stages of life, angry with his diminishing faculties, yet still able to charm with his eccentricities and joie de vivre when faced with somebody who truly pays attention to him.

The movie hits all the right notes of a holiday season, family friendly story that is uplifting and sentimental, yet by the end of the film I was left stumped as to what the message is and how we’re supposed to feel about these characters. The film approaches difficult subjects, supposing that the roles these ‘Rental Family’ cast members play in people’s lives ultimately do more harm than good when the cold transactional reality of the relationships fully hit the customers, and yet this challenging idea is largely discarded in favor of more generically wholesome messaging.

‘Rental Family’ is a cute movie, perhaps a little too cutesy to offer anything more than a superficial acknowledgement to how lonely so many people feel, and how difficult it is to break out of cycles of isolation. With strong performances, beautiful Japanese scenery, and plot beats that are both funny and emotional, this is an enjoyable family friendly movie if you want to laugh, want to cry, and want to believe there’s a path to happiness in this often depressing world.

So long as you don’t ask too many questions.

Rental Family
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some strong language, and suggestive material.
Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes

Director Hikari
Writers Hikari, Stephen Blahut
Stars Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, Akira Emoto
Rating PG-13
Running Time 110 Minutes
Genres Comedy, Drama