Rental Family(2025)

Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor living in Japan. He struggles to find decent work and is usually lonely. Phillip gets hired by the Rental Family agency, which employs actors to fill roles in the lives of strangers, such as for friendship or being a pretend fiance to keep up appearances for the client’s family.

Phillip’s two main jobs involve being a fake father to a little girl named Mia since her mother Hitomi needs a father figure to help Mia get enrolled into a prestigious school, as well as pretending to be a reporter interviewing an aging actor named Kikuo Hasegawa. Phillip forms genuine bonds with Mia and Kikuo, even though Hitomi, plus Kikuo’s daughter Masami, try to establish boundaries. After a successful interview, Hitomi makes Phillip cut ties with Mia. He later takes Kikuo, who suffers from dementia, from his home to visit his childhood home, but after Kikuo suffers a fall, Phillip is taken into custody for kidnapping. Two fellow Rental Agency actors, Aiko and Kota, pretend to be lawyers to help bail Phillip out.

Kikuo later passes away, and Phillip goes to pay his respects. He is also given permission by Hitomi to continue being Mia’s friend, even though she now knows who he really is. Phillip continues to work for Rental Family with a newfound lease on life.