Brendan Fraser is cementing his leading man comeback with Family Rental, as the beating and bleeding heart of a film that’s gently feelgood without plumbing emotional depths. Director and co-writer Hikari’s sophomore film attempts to elucidate the phenomenon of rental family services in Japan, where clients hire actors to play anything from a wedding guest to a parent.
Phillip Vandarpleog (Fraser) is a washed-up actor, his 15 minutes of fame from a goofy Japanese toothpaste commercial all but a distant memory. After long days of just missing famously punctual Tokyo public transport and auditioning, he retires to his depression pit of a tiny apartment to do a wistful Rear Window re-enactment, except all his neighbours seem genuinely happy and there’s no Grace Kelly. Then a last-minute booking to play an unsuspecting mourner at a funeral shakes him out of his funk, not least because it’s a living funeral where the corpse breaks character to better enjoy his eulogy.
