Review of RENTAL FAMILY: Hearts for Hire

January 22, 2026

Phillip (Brendan Fraser) was an American actor who now lived in Japan. He had a successful toothpaste commercial there, but unfortunately since then, the acting jobs have been few. One day, Phillip was recruited by a company called Rental Family, who provided actors who act as surrogates for people in need of family or friends. After resisting at first, Phillip agreed to become their "token white guy" for customers with that particular unusual requirement. 

His first job was to act as the groom for a lesbian (Misato Morita) for a wedding ceremony that her parents dreamed of. He was then hired by a single mother (Shino Shinozaki) to act as the father of a biracial girl Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) to fulfill an application requirement for an exclusive school. He was then hired by a daughter (Sei Matobu) to act as a reporter interested to interview her father, retired film director Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto). 

Hikaru is the professional name of the female Japanese-American filmmaker who co-wrote (with Stephen Blahut) and directed this dramatic film, only her second feature film as director. Prior to this, her last high-profile job was directing three episodes of the acclaimed Netflix series "Beef" (2023). Hikaru's storytelling style was gentle and full of heart, enhanced by beautiful cinematography of Japanese landscapes by Takurô Ishizaka as backdrop.

The topic is very uniquely Japanese. The idea of hiring people to pretend to be temporary family or friend will likely not fly in any other culture in the world, but, if we were to believe this movie, perfectly acceptable for the Japanese, as long as there is a higher purpose to achieve. As a foreigner, Phillip did not immediately accept the job, and even wanted to back out of his first one at the last minute. However, he eventually understood and became good at it.

The agency owner Shinji (Takehiro Hira) and his fellow employee Aiko (Mari Yamamoto) have fully and passionately embraced the noble aims of their company, and do not find anything wrong about living these elaborate lies. However, they would eventually also learn from Phillip's experiences as he tended to develop genuine empathy with his clients. However, cutting ties and apologies are very difficult to do after each job is done.   

The inherent kindness in Brendan Fraser's face makes his Phillip easy to like and relate to. He had genuine chemistry with both Gorman and Emoto, so that his scenes with them, particularly the goodbyes, are quite heartrending. Thankfully, director Hikaru never went into any hysterical melodrama in these scenes replete with Japanese aesthetics and restraint all the way through. Despite the underlying deception depicted, warmth still radiates through. 8/10