Checked out the new family adoption comedy Instant Family… and it’s one of the best movies of the year? It sounds weird, but I can’t argue how emotionally invested I was in the film and the tears – real ones – on my face in the emotional catharsis ending.
Instant Family stars Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne as a happily married couple who has never really thought about having kids. But they decide to maybe adopt an at-risk kid so they join a support group, take the necessary courses to become foster parents, and go to an adoption meet-and-greet. To their surprise, they are instantly attracted to a brassy teenager played by Isabella Moner (who also starred with Wahlberg in Transformers 5!?). They look into adopting her and her two surprise younger siblings.
I really wanted to hug this movie. It’ so sweet and charming, so full of heart, so full of earned emotional beats. There’s honesty to the film – it’s not cheaply emotionally maudlin. These aren’t perfect adults and these aren’t perfect kids. The adoption / foster care process is not held up as inviolate… they fully acknowledge the reality that these kids might be emotionally scared, they may have grown up around drug users and dealers… but also that a good, caring family can save them… but it won’t be easy.
And, yes, this is a comedy. It manages to mine some good laughs out of what could have been an emotionally brutal film. Some times it walks a very fine line but usually falls on the side of fun and funny without mocking a touchy subject. I laughed a lot in the film but I was more moved and charmed.
It’s all down to acting. Wahlberg and Byrne walk that fine line and sometimes they are kind but they also say some bad things. They make mistakes, but always find their way back to being likable. Isabella Moner – the 15 year old adoptee – is the emotional heart of the film and she’s really, really good. She also walks a fine line of challenging these rich white people to make sure they don’t hurt her or her siblings. Her emotional rollercoaster involving these new parents, her birth mother, and what she and her siblings need is really strong.
To anyone out there who loves a heart-warming, funny family picture and to those of you cold-hearted bastards who roll your eyes at them, I say go see this movie. I was genuinely surprised how invested I was into the honesty of this make-shift family… I was genuinely surprised by the tears welling in my eyes at some very well earned emotionally raw moments. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a movie starring Mark Wahlberg… but true is true. Very, very good flick.
Score: 89