Rental Family review

RENTAL FAMILY: 

BRENDAN FRASER CHARMS IN THIS DELIGHTFUL COMEDY-DRAMA! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, and Bun Kimura in Rental Family

 

            Brendan Fraser (George of the Jungle, The Mummy trilogy, The Whale) travels to Japan to act as a father in Rental Family, the second feature film from Japanese filmmaker, Hikari (37 Seconds) and Fraser’s much anticipated follow-up to his Oscar-winning performance in 2022’s The Whale. We’ve gotten to a point now where Brendan Fraser movies have become a top priority for me when it comes to film reviews partially because I met him once at a Comic Con, but I also think he’s an exciting actor, equal parts charismatic and endearing. 

            Whether he’s charming as the leading man like with George in George of the Jungle or Rick O’Connell in The Mummy, a tragic and sentimental figure like in The Whale, or…a parody of himself in Looney Tunes: Back in Action(Which I’m one of the few people who acknowledge his performance in that), Fraser is almost always a delight to watch whenever he’s onscreen…this being no exception. Rental Family is absolutely fantastic and I already thought the movie looked good when I saw the trailer, but this exceeded my expectations. 

            This is an incredibly funny and touching film with surprisingly beautiful cinematography and a deeply sweet storyline. It’s a movie that made me laugh hard and felt legit emotion for the characters and whatever conflicts they had. 

            The film follows Phillip Vandarploeug (Fraser), an American actor living in Tokyo who struggles to find a solid acting job until he lands an unusual gig; working for a Japanese “rental family” business playing stand-in roles for strangers. This leads Phillip to single mother, Hitoni (Shino Shinozaki) and her daughter, Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) whom the former hires him to be her husband and Mia’s father and his perception on performance and reality begins to blur as Phillip forms strong bonds with Hitoni and Mia. 

            The film also stars Takehiro Hira (Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Gran Turismo, Captain America: Brave New World) as Phillips boss and Rental Family owner Shinji, Mari Yamamoto (Allure, Kate, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as Aiko, Bun Kimura as Kota, and Akira Emoto (Godzilla VS Spacegodzilla, Shin Godzilla) as retired actor and Rental Family client Kikuo Hasegawa. 

            Overall, Rental Family adds another high quality film to this new renaissance of Brendan Fraser movies and is a delightful and delicate look at family and human relationships. What makes the film work is Fraser himself who once again gives a truly spellbinding performance as a man who essentially has to use multiple personalities in order to satisfy clients while also questioning how much good he actually is doing with his work. 

            Fraser is extremely charismatic in this and delivers on both laughs and drama, but what really makes his performance shine are his uses of very subtle facial expressions to convey the necessary emotions for the scene. Yes, there is still plenty of dialogue from him, but honestly, his facial acting is the driving point for his performance because I got so much out of his expressions. 

            The supporting cast isn’t focused on that much outside of brief interactions, but over the course of the movie, I became very invested in them too particularly with Takehiro Hira as the Rental Family business owner who gives one of the greatest plot twists I’ve seen in a while, I’ll leave it at that. 

            While the film is a comedy-drama, the plot and execution are very melancholy with some genuinely hard-hitting and gut-wrenching scenes. It’s a movie about a man lying to a little girl about being her father and there’s a beautiful albeit sad subplot involving a retired actor that Fraser’s character befriends, but you can kind of piece together what’s eventually going to happen to this character by the end. 

            The movie is also gorgeous in terms of the cinematography with large shots of bustling cities and the Japanese countrysides, it honestly makes me want to travel to Japan because of how beautiful this film made it look. In this time where the new Wicked movie is seen as the absolute must watch on the big screen which I’m sure will look and sound amazing, but I was relishing at these scenes of Japan from Rental Family in the theater. 

            Rental Family is a funny, wholesome, and hard-hitting movie with an incredible Brendan Fraser performance and equally amazing cinematography that should be seen in theaters. Even if you’re not well-versed in Brendan Fraser, see one of the best films of 2025 anyway because this film made me laugh, cry, and warmed my heart all at the same time.