Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor who travelled to Japan seven years ago to star in a toothpaste commercial. With no other real direction or pull to do anything else, he finds himself still there with no purpose. Can the unusual gig of working for a “Rental Family” company give him that purpose? 

The service of a “Rental Family” is a real phenomenon in Japan, but it is worth pointing out that this story is completely fictional. The purpose of the service is to allow someone to hire actors to pose as family members for specific social situations. 

Here we see Phillip perform two major roles amongst a number of smaller jobs. The first is to act as a father to a young girl (Shannon Mahina Gorman) who is being interviewed to attend a prestigious school. The second is to pretend to be a journalist who wants to write a story about an ageing film star (Akira Emoto) who is suffering from dementia. Of course, Phillip begins to emotionally connect for real with these clients as both a surrogate father and surrogate son. 

The outcome is intriguing. Emotionally, it packs a punch thanks to the connections made between the lead characters. Fraser is rather good as a gentle giant character seeking connection, and it feels like the main purpose of the story is to underline the importance of human relationships. Where it struggles is in the ethical grey areas. Phillip’s job is to deceive. And his main customers are a young girl and an ill old man who have no control over the illusion that their family members are foisting upon them. Whilst the film opens up the difficulties of those questions, it never really has the courage to focus on them for too long. There are even allusions to Phillip paying for sexual services, so why should he not be able to provide emotional services? But it ignores the question of consent. 

The result is peculiar. I found myself emotionally moved but also robbed of any real assessment of the ethics of the actions of the practices depicted. In this specific scenario, it seems like Phillip is the main beneficiary of the service he provides. 

Rental Family is an intriguing story that will entertain, emotionally uplift, and enrage in equal measure.