Some movies fit like old sweaters that are too comfortable to throw away. That’s how I felt about Rental Family, a movie starring Brendan Fraser as an unsuccessful American actor who has been living in Japan, where he hoped to develop a career.
It's not going well. After a decade of trying, Fraser's Phillip Vandarpleog's greatest accomplishment seems to be a toothpaste commercial. Hulking and, let’s say, chubby, Fraser’s Phillips Vandarpleog stands out wherever he travels, an instant misfit.
Director Hikari (Beef) brings a novel twist to this soft-edged comedy. Unable to find work elsewhere, Vandarpleog — henceforth to be called Phillip — takes a job with a company called Rental Family.
Evidently, such companies exist in Japan, catering to folks who wish to rent mourners for funerals, hire escorts for events, or serve in other surrogate capacities. Phillip’s first assignment involves appearing as a mourner at a funeral.
Amusingly, the dearly departed isn't dead. He just wanted to bask in the glow of all the faux eulogies.
Phillip doesn't immediately realize that he's stumbled into a different kind of acting job. His new boss (Takehiro Hira) eagerly puts a positive spin on the work. It really helps people, he says.
More to the point, the agency needs a big white guy for specialty situations, one of which involves playing father to Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), an 11-year-old mixed race girl whose single mother (Shino Shinozaki) wants to get her into an elite Tokyo private school.
Much of the movie depends on Fraser, an Oscar winner for his performance in 2022's The Whale. Phillip's a bit of a sad sack, but he has a good heart, and his relationship with Gorman’s Mia gets serious when she begins to accept him as her real father. Mom never tells her daughter the truth about what she's doing.
For his part, Phillip begins to warm to his role as companion for hire, accepting jobs in which he marries a gay woman to help deceive her tradition-bound family. She plans to marry her real lover and move to Canada but doesn't want to shatter her parents.
Another episode receives more attention. To boost the ego of an aging actor (Akira Emoto), Phillip poses as an American journalist writing a definitive retrospective on the actor’s career.
All of these encounters prove reasonably amusing and full of soft-pedaled sentiment.
Phillip, of course, has his dejected moments. During such times, he confides in a co-worker (Maria Yamamoto). Is this an ethical way to make money, or is it a form of exploitative fraud? How much does the movie really care?
Fortunately, the screenplay — by Hikari and Stephen Blahut — refrains from romance. Phillip has a physically intimate relationship with a friendly "escort" with whom he talks about his life, even though she never forgets she's on the clock.
It would be misleading to say that Rental Family brims with insights about identity and role-playing, but the movie passes in easy, formulaic way: Rental Family sets up Phillip's deceptions, adds a complicating twist that threatens exposure, garnishes its story with sprinklings of Japanese culture, and resolves matters without causing too much of a stir.
In short: Enjoy it. Then go about your business.
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