Instant Family - Movie Review

Mark Wahlberg has come a long way from his street thug and underwear model past. He has grown on me over the years. His delivery seems to be the same in every role, yet he has surprising range. I seem to enjoy his family oriented films, often comedies, as much as his action films. When I saw the first trailer for Instant Family I knew it was a film I had to see. My wife and I attended the matinee yesterday.

Pete (Wahlberg) and Ellie Wagner (Rose Byrne) are getting older. The idea of having children sort of slipped past them, maybe intentionally, as they built their small business. A discussion with siblings leads the couple to explore the possibility of adopting. After attending an eight week course on fostering, the couple attend an adoption fair. The event leads the couple to consider fostering three children with the intent to adopt. The children, Lizzy (Isabela Moner), Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz) arrive with all their earthly possessions in trash bags. Each of the children has a unique personality that brings unique challenges. Lizzy is rebellious, Juan is accident prone and Lita only eats potato chips. The family struggles to bond, only to suffer major setbacks when their biological mother enters the picture with talk of reunification.

Instant Family is based on a true family. The film explores the challenges of creating a new family, while dipping a toe in the waters of what adopting and fostering is all about. The adoption angle is not fully explored, but we get enough flavor to understand it is not like adopting a pet from the animal shelter. The film navigates a difficult topic with decent dramatic elements and some good comedy. The writing was solid, although the story felt a bit too vanilla at times. The pacing was decent, but sluggish at times as well. I enjoyed the story and was especially connected at the level of the messaging, but felt there was room for improvement.

I like Wahlberg, as stated. This was not his best work, but he was solid. I think my favorites in this film were Moner as Lizzy. I liked her in Sicario. This film solidified my opinion of her. I expect we will see much more of her. My other favorites were Tig Notaro, who played the "straight man" as an adoption social worker. I also enjoyed Margo Martindale who was larger than life as Grandma Sandy. The casting was solid. We were treated to a nice balance of talent to help give us a sense of family with all its flaws and unconditional love.

Instant Family was written as a family-oriented film. The film has very little objectionable material, easily earning a PG-13 rating from the MPAA. There was some talk about naked selfies and addiction. There were adult themes handled tactfully and contextually. There was also some talk about violence and a bit of blood (a child gets hit in the face with a basketball), as well as a few other incidents from the accident prone child in this story. Overall, typical childhood issues, complicated by issues unique to foster care and adoption. It was a heart-warming story with plenty of lighthearted fun to maintain some balance. I wouldn't put an age restriction on this film. The run time is one hour, 59 minutes.

I was honestly a little bit disappointed by this film. It is a solid film. But it had immense potential. I was hoping this film would move me. There were some touching moments in the film, but it could have had more flavor. It seemed to opt for easy laughs and surface exploration of the struggles of fostering with the goal of adoption. I think the film wanted to provide some balance. Possibly at the expense of some potentially strong dramatic elements. I think it could have gone deeper into the weeds without losing its messaging. The message is good. Kids need to be adopted. It's not easy. The foster system is flawed. But there is also a whole lot of love available from families who open their homes to foster children. The film points families toward their website for more information on the topic, so I will share it as well. Instantfamily.org. I would recommend this film. I just felt it fell short of its potential. 7.5/10.

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