Rental Family Comedy Movie, Rented Families with Brendan Fraser

Rental Family, the Plot of the Movie

Rental Familyis an upcoming comedy and drama movie. The plot is set in Tokyo, where American actor Phillip Vandarploeug (Brendan Fraser) lives. Phillip struggles to find purpose until he receives an unusual assignment: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing surrogate roles for strangers.

Phillip immerses himself in his clients’ world and begins forming authentic connections that blur the boundaries between performance and reality.

“We play roles in clients’ lives. Parents, siblings, boyfriends, girlfriends, best friends,” Shinji (Takehiro Hira) tells Phillip in the released trailer. “Hello Mia, I’m your father,” Phillip says to a little girl after accepting the job; “I hate you,” the girl shouts back.

“These people look at you as if they’ve been waiting for you their entire lives,” says Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), an agency employee, to Phillip.

Rental Family, the Plot of the Movie

Brendan Fraserwon an Oscar for his performance in The Whale, where he portrayed an obese man who refuses to leave his home: he’s the first Canadian actor to win in this category.

Takehiro Hira has appeared inThe AmateurandCaptain America: Brave New World. Mari Yamamoto was featured inKate.

The movie is directed by Mitsuyo Miyazaki - known as Hikari - who worked on37 Seconds Where WeandBegin. The screenplay is hers and Stephen Blahut’s. “I think she could talk to anyone on the planet: that’s her superpower,” says Fraser about the director. “She’s a creator with a strong intuition about the human condition and has the talent to extract performances from actors you wouldn’t otherwise think were actors: children, elderly people, vulnerable individuals.”

Rental Family, the Filming and Release of the Movie

Production is by Sight Unseen and Searchlight Pictures, with filming taking place in spring 2024 in Japan. Searchlight Pictures won Oscars for Nomadland, The Shape of Water, and Birdman.Rental Familywill be released in U.S. theaters on November 21, 2025.

Rental Family, Critical Reviews

The movie was presented at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, where it received positive reviews. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Fraser’s performance is nuanced and expressive, proving fundamental to the movie’s power, and he is well supported by excellent supporting actors.”

IndieWire states, “It’s the kind of movie that shines brighter than a dental office, with a soundtrack by the Sigur Rós vocalist (alongside Alex Somers) and aims for a touching conclusion about empathy, isolation, and the power we all have to impact others’ lives.”

The Guardian notes, “Hikari and company mostly skim over the tension in a movie seemingly built out of highlight reels and lacking connective tissue.”