Rental Family Review | Flickreel

“Crowd-pleaser” used to be a term of endearment. Now, it’s one that every cinema snob on Film Twitter views as a red flag. Rental Family is the very definition of a crowd-pleaser that’s likely to resonate with anyone looking to be put in an uplifting mood. That’s why most of us go to the movies, right? Sure, but there are plenty of cynics who will sit down with arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. While I walk a tightrope between optimism and pessimism, Rental Family caught me on a good day. The film is an undeniable charmer from director Hikari, who previously worked on the miniseries Beef. Ironically, that’s are far away from crowd-pleasing as you can get. Brendan Fraser has come back in a big way since winning Best Actor for The Whale. There was a period, though, where many questioned if he’d ever rebound from multiple career setbacks. You get the sense that Fraser draws from a personal place in Rental Family, where he plays struggling actor Phillip. A tall American living in a cramped Japanese apartment, Phillip’s most prominent role was for a toothpaste commercial. That was several years ago. With fewer acting gigs coming his way
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