Rental Family

by Mike McGranaghan

The premise of Rental Family is so unusual that I had to Google it to see if it’s real. It is. In Japan, you can hire professional actors to accompany you to weddings and funerals, serve as platonic friends, or pretend to be a significant person in your life to achieve some kind of goal.

Phillip Vandarpleog (Brendan Fraser) is one such actor. He came to Japan to film a toothpaste commercial years ago, only to have his career hit the skids. Out of financial desperation, he accepts a job at a rental family agency where he’s assigned to pose as a groom for a woman who wants to please her traditional parents, and as a journalist interviewing a dying actor. His most significant gig comes when single mother Hitomi Kawasaki (Shino Shinozaki) hires him to be the absentee “father” of her young daughter Mia (Shannon Gorman) so the girl can get into a prestigious school. The hitch is that Hitomi doesn’t want Mia to know about the ruse, meaning Phillip must convince her that he really is the dad she’s never known.

If you guessed this leads to some very sticky complications, give yourself 1,000 bonus points.

Rental Family’s main gist is that Phillip grapples with mixed emotions about his employment. Part of him likes doing things to help people, but another part recognizes the potential for harm, especially in a case like Mia’s. The movie shows him navigating these conflicting feelings across multiple scenarios. Special attention is given to his growing bond with Mia. He comes to genuinely care about her, and, troublingly, she becomes reliant on the idea of finally having a father. Drama comes from watching Phillip confront the damage he is in danger of inflicting.

That drama is interspersed with comedic scenes, making Fraser the perfect star for this story. His comedy chops are well established thanks to George of the Jungle and Encino Man, and his Oscar-winning turn in The Whale proved his ability to mine the emotional depths of a vulnerable character. In his hands, we don’t judge Phillip, even when we feel uneasy about his actions. Fraser always makes sure we understand that this guy is operating under the best of intentions.

The story itself is more uneven. When it sticks to the Phillip/Hitomi/Mia arc, the film is emotionally satisfying. Single-named director/co-writer Hikari maintains a sincere tone and takes care to bring depth to the scenario. There’s a very human quality that instantly generates empathy for this trio of characters. When not focused on them, Rental Family stumbles. The arc involving the aging actor, for example, leads to a ridiculously contrived comedic scene designed to get Phillip out of a legal predicament. A couple other sequences are similarly absurd.

Roughly 75% of the picture is on target; only the other 25% goes astray. In other words, it could have been stronger, but it still checks the necessary boxes to be an enjoyable feel-good movie with tearjerker elements. The ending, in particular, is strong enough to earn forgiveness for the parts of Rental Family that don’t quite work.

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