Movie Review: Rental Family
One of the most delightful cinematic experiences I have had in 2025 came from director Hikari’s Rental Family, a sweet, warm, lovely movie that features the best performance of Brendan Fraser’s career.
Fraser plays Phillip Vandarpleog, an American actor working in Japan. Phillip primarily works on commercials and small parts in movies, struggling to find his place and purpose in Japan. As he waits to hear back from his agent about a big acting job, he gets offered a role from a “rental family” agency, which hires people to play stand-in roles in people’s lives. These roles can range from a funeral attendant to an absentee father making an appearance in a child’s life. While different from anything he’s ever done, Phillip takes the gig and starts to find a connection in a world where he always felt out of place.
Fraser’s performance is marvelous. It’s an understated performance of kindness and empathy. When we first meet Phillip, he sticks out like a sore thumb. Frasers’ 6’3” frame has him towering over every other citizen in Japan. Doorways seem small when he walks through them, and his apartment feels like he’s living in a closet. At night, he stares out of his bedroom window at the apartment building across the street, watching other people live their lives. He’s never met these people, but these brief moments at night are the closest connections he has in Japan.
When Phillip gets hired to work at the rental family agency, he is cast in several roles. He portrays a writer interviewing an old man at the tail-end of life, a husband marrying a woman in a fake wedding to trick her parents into thinking she’s leaving with him, even though she plans on running away with her female lover, and a father showing back up in his daughter’s life to help her get into a prestigious school. They are distinct roles, and each one holds significance in a unique way. For the woman he is “marrying”, he is giving this woman freedom to leave her strict family. As the writer, he allows an old man to live out his final days. As the young girl’s father, he is helping her get into a better school while also giving her the fatherly wisdom she has been missing. Each person Phillip helps is unique, and each interaction allows Phillip to gain the connection he has been longing for while also enabling him to help other lonely people like himself.
Fraser has perfect chemistry with everyone he works with. Fraser’s kind face and engaged eyes make it easy to see why all these characters would open up to Phillip. The most effective connection is between Fraser and Shannon Mahina Gorman, who plays the young girl Phillip connects with as her absent father. The scenes between the two of them are heartwarming and emotional, especially when you realize Phillip’s contract with her is almost up. Fraser makes Phillip a sponge of empathy and emotion, never judging anyone and always listening, learning, and helping.
Hikari photographs Japan beautifully and utilizes Fraser’s frame to showcase how he stands out like a sore thumb, yet isn’t attached to anyone. The powerful message about connection, loneliness, and what it means to care is as relevant now as it has ever been. Led by Fraser’s brilliant performance, Rental Family has the perfect amount of schmaltz, humor, and humanity to be one of my favorite movies of the year.
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