Rental Family [Movie Review]

Rental Family [Movie Review] | Remember Brendan Fraser? I grew up with him in George of the Jungle and The Mummy and I loved his pure and effortless charm.

Now, after a long hiatus, he’s back in an unexpected place: the Japanese drama movie. Will it be good? No idea. But it’s a quiet, intriguing choice and that alone makes it worth a look.

SYNOPSIS

Rental Family (2025) Trivia

• Starring: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman & Akira Emoto
• Director: Hikari
• Producer: Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Hikari & Shin Yamaguchi
• Production Company: Sight Unseen Productions & Domo Arigato Productions
• Distributed by: Searchlight Pictures
• Release date: November 21, 2025
• Running time: 110 minutes
• Rating: MA
• Country: United States & Japn
• Language: English & Japanese
• IMDb: 7.7/ 10
• Tomatometer: 87%
• Metascore: 64%
• Rental families have existed in Japan since the 1980s, with around 300 companies offering professional actors to pose as friends, relatives, or colleagues at events like weddings. 
• In a playful nod to the film’s theme, Brendan Fraser revealed he once rented a hedgehog for a day while filming. 
• Brendan Fraser took Japanese lessons for the role, but still learned many of his lines phonetically on set with help from his Japanese co-stars. 
• Interestingly, Japanese promotions highlighted the idea of rented relationships rather than Fraser’s comeback, positioning him as part of the ensemble—not the main attraction. 

Phillip is an American actor in Tokyo, surviving on the long shadow of a toothpaste commercial that once paid the rent and promised more than it ever delivered. Seven years later, the auditions have dried up, the roles are smaller and hope has become something he manages carefully. When he’s offered work at Rental Family, a company that hires actors to pose as relatives and companions for strangers, Phillip hesitates. The concept feels ridiculous, almost humiliating. But desperation has a way of lowering standards. He accepts, branded immediately as the company’s 'token white guy'.

His first assignment pushes him to the edge. He has to play the fiancé of Yoshie, a lesbian already married, staging a traditional wedding to appease her parents before she quietly leaves Japan for Canada with her wife. Phillip nearly walks away. Instead, he stays and discovers that pretending, when done sincerely, can carry unexpected weight.

As the jobs accumulate, two roles begin to blur the boundaries he’s been taught never to cross. One is Mia, a half-Japanese girl whose mother, Hitomi, hires Phillip to act as her estranged father in hopes of securing her a place in a prestigious private school. The other is Kikuo Hasegawa, a retired actor with dementia, whom Phillip is meant to interview under the watchful eye of Kikuo’s wary daughter. What begins as performance slowly becomes presence. Mia’s resentment softens into trust. Kikuo’s fragmented memories find brief moments of clarity.

When Phillip turns down a career-defining role to remain in Mia’s life, the illusion starts to crack. Boundaries are crossed. Warnings are ignored. A final act of kindness, Philip takes Kikuo back to his childhood home, spirals into accusations, arrest and reckoning. The job, Phillip learns, was never meant to last. These relationships were always rented - the very base of the company and the first rule is no emotion involved.

Will he ever let go of Kikuo and Mia? Or are they the only real things he’s ever had?

MY REVIEW

What I Like:  

• I love the performance of everyone. 
• The plot is beautiful - it is about family and finding what's real in life. 

What I Don't Like:

• Some might find the movie is lengthy and too much talking 

Will I Watch It Again: I don't mind watching it again.

Overall: 4.3/ 5.0

The pictures are taken from multiple sources on the Internet. Thank you.

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