LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Rental Family, in theaters Friday, dramatizes a unique service found in Japan into a story with universal relevance. As star, Brendan Fraser brings sincerity to the delicate balance of tear-jerker and morality play.
Fraser plays Phillip VanderPloeg, an actor who moved to Japan seven years ago for work. Now, he's desperate for whatever day gig is available.
Phillip ends up taking a job from Shinji (Takeshiro Hira), who runs a Rental Family service. People hire a Rental Family actor to play a particular role in their lives, so Phillip has to memorize a character and sometimes lines to perform with real people.
Phillip understandably objects at first, feeling the job is manipulating other human beings. But, Shinji convinces him that it is fulfilling a need for consenting parties.
One of Phillip's jobs is to play a husband for a bride (Misato Morita) whose parents do not approve of her actual marriage. The film does not interrogate whether the service gives homophobic parents a pass, but focuses instead on how the ruse gives the bride freedom without cutting off her family.
