American actor Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser) lives in Japan, where he constantly searches for a solid acting job following his success in a toothpaste commercial. He is stuck doing minor roles until he is hired by Rental Family, a company owned by Shinji (Takehiro Hira) that provides actors to play stand in family member, friends and other roles for strangers. While reluctant due to its strange premise, Phillip, desperate for funds, takes the job as the company’s “token white guy.”
This is definitely a case of the execution not matching up to the idea, though it starts quite well. Phillip’s first two jobs are to be a mourner at a fake funeral and a fake groom at a wedding. Those are both handled humorously and with a light touch. But from then on, that invention and playfulness is replaced by over earnest failed attempts at poignancy. We briefly see other engagements but the focus is on him playing a little girl’s father to help her get into a fancy school and a reporter for an aged and forgotten actor. Those stories play out in a predictable way at a very deliberate pace.
As well as a sluggish screenplay by director Hikari and Stephen Blahut, the film is further hampered by the presence of Fraser. He is a very limited actor and is a weak point amongst an otherwise fine cast.
Rating: 4 out of 10