It sounds rather like a mixed compliment to say of an actor that he\u2019s persuasive at playing, well, a mediocre actor.<\/p>\n
But then, this is Brendan Fraser we\u2019re talking about. The man seems to become more emphatically human with each role, each passing year, each new wrinkle. And what\u2019s more human, or at least more vulnerable and relatable, than mediocrity?<\/p>\n
It is this essential vulnerability that keeps Fraser’s latest venture, filmmaker Hikari\u2019s Tokyo-set \u201cRental Family,\u201d from inching over that thin line between heartwarming and totally sappy.<\/p>\n
Certainly the film has a fascinating premise, one that would have worked well enough were it totally fictional \u2014 but works better with the knowledge that it\u2019s based on fact. There are, indeed, companies in Japan like the one at the center of Hikari\u2019s film \u2014 businesses that \u201crent out\u201d actors to play roles in people\u2019s everyday lives.<\/p>\n
In \u201cRental Family,\u201d these actors play lovers, parents, friends, admirers, people to cry at a funeral or cheer at a karaoke bar \u2014 whatever a client needs to address whatever they\u2019re missing. There are scenarios that raise definite moral questions. But these companies do offer something basic and essential: human connection.<\/p>\n
Fraser\u2019s Phillip Vandarpleog, too, is looking for connection, not to mention gainful employment. This middle-aged \u2014 and middling \u2014 actor originally came to Tokyo to star in a big toothpaste commercial. But that was seven years ago, and acting gigs have dried up.<\/p>\n
As good as Fraser is at radiating humanity, he\u2019s maybe even better at projecting discomfort \u2014 within his own skin, and within his large frame. And that\u2019s what\u2019s striking as we first meet Phillip, rushing to catch the subway, looking and feeling so different from everyone else. <\/p>\n This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Brendan Fraser, left, and Akira Emoto in a scene from “Rental Family.” Credit: AP\/James Lisle<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n After yet another fruitless audition, he makes his way home to a dark apartment where he eats takeout and gazes out into other apartments where people are living their lives, together.<\/p>\n Soon his agent calls with a quick gig: he needs a dark suit, and the role is \u201csad American.\u201d He finds himself not at a shoot but at a funeral. That\u2019s strange enough, even before the man in the coffin lifts his head and reacts to one of the loving eulogies.<\/p>\n Turns out everyone\u2019s an actor, hired by the man to remind him his existence is worthwhile. The head of the rental company, Shinji (Takehiro Hira) tells Phillip to come by the office. There, he explains what they do. \u201cYou sell people!\u201d Phillip exclaims. \u201cWe sell emotion,\u201d Shinji counters. He further explains that mental health issues are stigmatized in Japan, and therapy thus not always a viable option.<\/p>\n A reluctant Phillip takes on a new assignment: In an elaborate wedding (beautifully rendered by director Hikari), he plays a groom, fooling the bride\u2019s parents and family. At first he almost botches the job by hiding in the bathroom, mortified.<\/p>\n This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Brendan Fraser in a scene from “Rental Family.” Credit: AP\/James Lisle<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Soon, though, he\u2019s a regular. There\u2019s even a cute montage of his various \u201crental\u201d gigs. In these transactional relationships, everyone seems to be getting what they want. But then two new jobs come up that will expose the moral complications of this line of work.<\/p>\n One involves an aging movie star (Akira Emoto, poignant) who\u2019s fast losing his memory. His daughter hires Phillip to pose as a journalist and document his life. Things get dicey when the man begs Phillip to travel secretly with him to another town on an unexplained mission \u2014 expressly against the daughter\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Mia. The young girl\u2019s single mother hires Phillip to pose as Mia\u2019s long-absent father during the admissions process for an exclusive school, so they can present as a two-parent family.<\/p>\n The catch: Mia needs to believe the story to act truthful, so she can\u2019t know Phillip is an actor. They will need to spend some bonding time together.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not difficult to see where this is going. Of course, Mia (charming 11-year-old newcomer Shannin Mahina Gorman), initially reticent, will come to love the dad she didn\u2019t know she had. Of course, Phillip will develop feelings as well. Their bonding scenes, in art class and at a street carnival, pop with gorgeous color; Phillip\u2019s life is literally becoming brighter. (Hikari, who co-wrote with Stephen Blahut, excels at these beautiful urban scenes, which may have many checking airfares to Tokyo.) <\/p>\n But the ruse strains credulity. Honestly, is this a way anyone with a brain would treat a young girl? Trick her into thinking she has a father, only to cause pain when she learns he’s not?<\/p>\n The film will try to put a neat bow on this subplot by the end, along with a few other twists and turns along the way.<\/p>\n Some of these moments land more successfully than others. It\u2019s not clear, though, exactly how we\u2019re supposed to feel about the whole \u201crental family\u201d phenomenon. In some ways, people get what they want and nobody gets hurt \u2014 like that bride at the beginning, who can now go off and live with the love of her life, her girlfriend.<\/p>\n But other scenarios are fuzzier, and the broader message may simply be that genuine connection, that holy grail we all crave, can sometimes be found in the oddest of places \u2014 even in a bizarre no man’s land between fake relationships and real ones.<\/p>\n \u201cRental Family,\u201d a Searchlight Pictures release, has been rated PG-13 \u201cfor thematic elements, some strong language, and suggestive material.\u201d Running time: 103 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It sounds rather like a mixed compliment to say of an actor that he\u2019s persuasive at playing, well, a mediocre actor. But then, this is Brendan Fraser we\u2019re talking about. The man seems to become more emphatically human with each role, each passing year, each new wrinkle. And what\u2019s more human, or at least more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2168563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[21751,21741,21912,350701,307696],"class_list":["post-2168562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-weddings","tag-wires-bot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Movie-Review-Brendan-Fraser-is-a-middling-actor-with-a.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2168562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168564,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168562\/revisions\/2168564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2168562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2168562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2168562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsday.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AYmRkYWEyMjItNGZhNC00%3AOGIzZGY4MmYtYTA4Zi00%2Fcopy-of-film-review-rental-family.jpeg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D768%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80\"\/)