RENTAL FAMILY (2025)

Genre: Drama
Director: Hikari
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Gorman, Akira Emoto
Runtime: 2 hr 
Rating: M18 (Some Mature Content)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 22 January 2026

Synopsis: Set against modern-day Tokyo, RENTAL FAMILY follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.

Movie Review:

Fresh off his Academy Award-winning comeback in ‘The Whale’, Brendan Fraser slips into the role here of a middle-aged American sad sack who moved to Tokyo after playing a goofy, toothbrush-riding superhero in a toothpaste commercial that went viral, only to spend the next seven years as a token white guy in a string of forgettable projects. Like his role of a morbidly obese, reclusive English teacher who tries to restore his relationship with his teenage daughter, Fraser’s latest in ‘Rental Family’ fits Fraser’s career renaissance by playing on his total openness, empathy and emotion that we see in his large, clear eyes.

Indeed, it is no overstatement to say that Fraser is the heart, soul and spirit of Hikari’s Tokyo-set comedy drama. Tapping into her society’s value on self-control that unfortunately breeds social loneliness and stigmatises mental health issues, Hikari – best known for ’37 Seconds’ and her excellent work on ‘Tokyo Vice’ – gently examines the upsides and downsides of businesses who supply actors to play real-life roles in the personal lives of their clients. This isn’t Hikari’s invention to be sure; there are hundreds of such businesses in Japan today.

In the hands of a different filmmaker, ‘Rental Family’ could have turned into a social commentary on the exploitative nature of these businesses; however, Hikari keeps her focus squarely on Fraser’s struggling actor Philip Vandarpleog, whose encounter with the ‘rental family’ business is to impersonate a “sad American” at a funeral, where he is shocked to witness the supposed deceased suddenly sit up in his coffin, in order to appreciate a particularly emotional eulogy. As Philip’s boss Shinji (‘Shogun’s’ Takehiro Hira) describes, ‘we sell emotion’; and Shinji is particularly keen to recruit Philip to play the “token White guy”.

Co-written by Hikari and Stephen Blahut, ‘Rental Family’ unfolds through a series of assignments. One of his early ones involves playing the groom in a traditional Japanese wedding, so that the bride’s unsuspecting parents can have a peace of mind before she moves to Canada to live with her girlfriend. But the bulk of the movie is spent on two of Philip’s long-term roles: the first has Philip play the long-absent father to a young Japanese American girl Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), whose mother (Shino Shinozaki) hopes will raise her chances at the interview to get her into an exclusive school; and the other has Philip play a journalist who is hired by the daughter of the daughter of Kikuo (Akira Emoto), an aging actor with dementia who believes the world has forgotten him, for a big tribute interview.

With the former, the moral dilemma which Philip struggles with deepens when Mia takes an actual liking to him. Should he come clean with the truth? What about when he inevitably needs to take down the part? And with the latter, the moral dilemma which Philip faces is whether to go all the way to fulfil Kikuo’s desire to take an unsanctioned road trip to Amakusa, in order for Kikuo to relive some of his early adulthood days. When does acting stop and real life begin for Philip, as well as his clients, whether suspecting or unsuspecting? That is what Hikari probes over the course of the movie, albeit with more nuance than we suspect some will like.

Even so, ‘Rental Family’ is quietly moving and deeply poignant, thanks in huge part to Fraser’s guileless performance. This is at its core a story about loneliness and human connection. For Fraser’s Philip, it is a chance to rediscover what has been missing in his life all this while, something which the movie sets out early as Philip eats dinner by his bed in his darkened room while and surveying the more interesting lives unfolding in the apartment building facing his own. And for each of his clients, it is about fulfilment of what is missing in their lives, and even as Hikari flirts with the ethical implications of how far Philip is willing to take his roles, it is clear the message is how sometimes we just need to be able to connect to what is missing.

Like we said earlier, Hikari keeps her movie light and gentle, choosing not to over-emphasise the potentially darker aspects of the business – in particular, it would have been interesting if Hikari had developed the subplots involving Shinji, whom in a late scene confronts the farce of his own personal life, and Philip’s testy co-worker (an underutilised Mari Yamamoto) who unfortunately ends up in roles where she is made to play a penitent mistress apologising to heartbroken wives in lieu of their cowardly husbands. Hikari hardly scratches the surface on each of these subplots, but to her credit, acknowledges the more troubling situations that lurk at the edge.

Not everyone will agree with her decision not to go deeper and darker, but those who appreciate ‘Rental Family’ for what it is will undoubted enjoy the warm, uplifting tone she has chosen and of course, Fraser’s endearingly transparent turn as the ‘gaijin’ who helps others discover themselves and in the process regains his own ability to connect to others. And even if it could touch on more about the dark side of duplicity, you’ll appreciate its deliberations about the importance of truth and the comfort of white lies. This is comfort food for the soul, and given the fractured state of the world today, perhaps a much-needed balm to reaffirm our faith in the power of human connection.

Movie Rating:

(Anchored by Brendan Fraser's endearingly transparent performance, 'Rental Family' examines the loneliness in modern society and warmly reaffirms the power of human connection)

Review by Gabriel Chong