Rental Family (2025) is directed by Hikari, who also wrote the screenplay alongside Stephen Blahut. It stars Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, Akira Emoto, Shino Shinozaki, Sei Matobu, Kimura Bun, and Misato Morita. The film follows Phillip Vanderploeg (Fraser), a down-on-his-luck American actor living in Tokyo, who, by happenstance, lands a gig with an atypical kind of acting agency. In this job, Phillip is hired by strangers to be a stand-in for various people in their lives. Throughout his time playing the roles of a young girl’s previously absent father and a journalist hired to interview an aging actor (Emoto), Phillip begins to rediscover himself, finally opening his eyes to the beauty of human connection. 

This kind of positive, emotionally touching material is right up Brendan Fraser’s alley. His heartfelt persona is genuine and vulnerable in a way that’s easy for the average Joe to connect with. His imperfections and anxiety sell his identity as a struggling actor, but his natural kindness makes him believable as someone whom strangers would easily accept in these various roles. 

Fraser is great here, but the supporting cast carries their fair share of the work. Akira Emoto as aging actor Kikuo Hasegawa is a standout, delivering some of the film’s most charming and emotionally devastating moments. Shannon Mahina Gorman gives a strong performance for her age, finding an authentic balance between a typical child’s emotional vulnerability and their ability to persevere/recover. Even Phillip’s co-workers, played by Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto, come across as likable, three-dimensional characters. 

The film’s fish-out-of-water, American-in-Tokyo setup is nothing new, but it’s not something the film relies on. The real focus here is on how a nation like Japan stigmatizes mental health issues, forcing its citizens to seek atypical forms of treatment/therapy, such as “rental family” agencies. This succeeds in giving the audience (American ones, at least) a look at something they’ve most likely never seen before. It adds that certain element of freshness that all great movie experiences have, despite its overall tone being that of a typical feel-good family tear-jerker.  

The inevitably tragic implications of pretending to a little girl’s dad, for example, never quite come to fruition, which feels a tad unrealistic. The film often views Japan’s epically flawed approach to mental health through rose-tinted glasses, which is odd considering that the potential issues seem to massively outweigh the potential benefits. I could’ve used more criticism of this culture, but I do appreciate that it highlights Americans’ tendency to ignore a more soulful, human approach to mental health treatment. I just needed the criticisms of both sides to be a bit more fair/balanced.       

Overall, this is an engaging and well-acted crowd-pleaser that explores a unique aspect of Japanese culture and uses it to challenge typical American perspectives on mental health. It’s the kind of ultimately feel-good storytelling, like Green Book (2018), that we see a handful of times every year, but it’s effective nonetheless. If anything, see it for Brendan Fraser. If you like the guy, his presence is irresistible. B