Reviews
Rental Family
Reviewed by Vaughan Ames
Last week an almost full house watched Brendan Fraser play Phillip, an out-of-work actor living in Tokyo who takes the unusual job of pretending to be a friend or relative in an agency called 'Rental Family'. These agencies really exist in Japan, charging people to hire wedding guests, or even funeral relatives, and have become big business in a country where honour is more important than here.
Phillip finds it hard to begin with (his first real job is to play the groom at a wedding!), thinking he is lying to the clients, but he becomes convinced that they want him (in this case, the bride is actually going to run off to Canada with her female partner and just wants to convince her family that all is well). Things get harder for him when he takes on pretending to be Mia's (a young girl) father, as they genuinely bond.
This is billed as a comedy, and there is some good laugh-out-loud humour from time to time, although overall it is much more a thoughtful drama. Is it right that he starts to enjoy being the girl's father? Is it right that he gives her his phone number so that she can text him and stop him from being lonely (her idea)? He also goes above-and-beyond to take Kikuo, an old man with dementia, back to where he was born against the instructions of Kikuo's daughter, resulting in him being accused of kidnapping. This does lead to the funniest part of the film which I wont spoil for you if you can catch it on Prime or Apple TV.
A thought-provoking, funny film, then, which our audience loved.
Phillip finds it hard to begin with (his first real job is to play the groom at a wedding!), thinking he is lying to the clients, but he becomes convinced that they want him (in this case, the bride is actually going to run off to Canada with her female partner and just wants to convince her family that all is well). Things get harder for him when he takes on pretending to be Mia's (a young girl) father, as they genuinely bond.
This is billed as a comedy, and there is some good laugh-out-loud humour from time to time, although overall it is much more a thoughtful drama. Is it right that he starts to enjoy being the girl's father? Is it right that he gives her his phone number so that she can text him and stop him from being lonely (her idea)? He also goes above-and-beyond to take Kikuo, an old man with dementia, back to where he was born against the instructions of Kikuo's daughter, resulting in him being accused of kidnapping. This does lead to the funniest part of the film which I wont spoil for you if you can catch it on Prime or Apple TV.
A thought-provoking, funny film, then, which our audience loved.