Rental Family - Review
- Jack Aling
- Oct 6, 2025
- 1 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
A Specialised Performance.
Review written by Jack Aling
Rental Family is directed by Hikari and written by Hikari and Stephen Blahut.
A struggling American actor living in Tokyo takes a job at a 'rental family' agency that provides stand-in relatives for strangers in need — at funerals, school events, or for the simply lonely. He forms genuine bonds that complicate the transactional nature of his work.
Brendan Fraser's first leading role since his Oscar-winning return in The Whale takes him to Japan incidentally as an actor struggling to find work. When he lands a role at an agency that gives him the opportunity to stand in for hire in people's important life events, the lines between role and reality quickly blur.
An exploration of Japan's complex social culture; there are so many directions this could have gone but unfortunately Rental Family plays it all very safe with no real stakes or consequences despite the involvement in people's intimate lives.
HIKARI's simple directorial style doesn't translate well to cinemas which when combined with an unnecessarily rushed pace, leads to a film with so much creative potential that sadly stays safely within the lines.
It does redeem things with a slightly forced but emotional final act and solid performances, but this fish out of water story means well, but never fully finds its voice.
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