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overthinking entertainment

Movie: Rental Family

An American actor in Tokyo (Brendan Fraser) struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.
This is only in theaters at the time of posting, and has just gone into national release. Directed by Hikari
posted by EmpressCallipygos on Nov 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM

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So the actual movie is NOWHERE near as corny as that last sentence makes this sound. I saw this last night and it was lovely; there's also a few moments here and there that suggest that our actor is also trying to figure out his OWN shit a little, and there's a moment right at the very end that somehow felt RIGHT in a way that I can't quite figure out how to explain. (If you go see it - it's the moment when Philip finally discovers what's inside that temple he visited earlier.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:51 PM

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How does it compare to Werner Herzog's 2019 Japanese Drama, Family Romance, LLC?
posted by growabrain at 1:28 AM

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They share an inspiration - they're both about "rental family" agencies and an actor working in them, but Herzog's film sounds like more of a tragedy (at least from what I've read) where the lead kind of loses himself in the work. The same happens a bit in Rental Family but Fraser's character has been sort of self-isolating at the start of the film, and the "losing himself in the work" is driven more by his realizing that he's reconnecting to others and hey, that's a good thing, so he rights the ship.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM

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Oh, and for the record this is an actual thing - companies that will rent out actors to people who need a stand-in for a relative, friend, family member, etc. at funerals, weddings, or other social events - or sometimes NOT social events. One of Fraser's regular clients is an older film actor with Alzheimer's, being cared for by his grown daughter, and she's hired Fraser to play a reporter who's "doing an article about you" to come and talk to the guy regularly to help keep his memory engaged.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:47 AM

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this sounds wonderful and I'm going to seek it out. thanks, EC!
posted by martin q blank at 5:57 PM

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Bob Mondello at NPR wrote that it's manipulative, but I still want to see it.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:18 PM

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Just read Mondello's review; and yeah, I'm sure some people might find it a little overly-sentimental because of the whole "lonely guy finds himself through helping others reconnect" vibe.

...but....is contemplating how we can connect with each other really a bad thing?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:10 PM

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I plan to see this, but I'm kind of puzzled by the allegation that a filmmaker is manipulating the films' viewers. Isn't that 100% what films are supposed to do? Or was the error here, it was just too transparent for the reviewer's tastes?
posted by Atreides at 6:49 AM

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Bob Mondello sounds a little blackpilled.
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:56 AM

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This film was beautifully shot; in addition to the plot and characters I just enjoyed sitting and looking at it on the big screen
posted by olopua at 8:28 PM

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Not to be confused with the Joe Frank Rent-a-Family.
posted by Rash at 8:52 PM

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Bob Mondelo sounds a little blackpilled.
.
Whatever happened to his brother Larry?
posted by y2karl at 4:49 PM

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Great film, glad I saw it. But I think certain practicalities of his situation were glossed over.

How does a man engaged in such sketchy employment manage to stay in Japan for seven years? That unseen agent of his, who informs him of the Korean possibility - somebody like that can arrange a work visa?
posted by Rash at 3:53 PM

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Whatever happened to his brother Larry?

The Beav managed to upgrade to the more interesting (and way more cool) Gilbert, Richard and Whitey. But actually, according to his Wikipedia page, Larry
...was written out because of his overly ambitious stage mother causing grief with the producers.
posted by Rash at 3:58 PM

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A fate which Thora Birch, I am sure, could well appreciate.
posted by y2karl at 11:47 AM

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