Instant Family: Movie Review

Mark Wahlberg teams up once again with “Daddy’s Home” director Sean Anders for the family comedy, “Instant Family”, which is based on a true story.  If you are looking for something at the multiplex around Thanksgiving that is perfectly fine for the whole family, but not in the mood for something animated, “Instant Family” is the film for you.

Pete (Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) are a seemingly happy couple that flip houses for a living. After purchasing a five-bedroom fixer-upper, Ellie’s sister makes a crack about Ellie and Pete never having children of their own. This sparks something in the couple and they look-into adoption. Pete is hesitant at first, but then he gets pumped up about it, thinking it will be just like fixing up a house. He looks at it as a challenge. Ellie doesn’t believe it will be that easy and she is right.

When Pete and Ellie meet 15-year-old Lizzy (Isabela Moner), they know right away that she is the kid they want. They even agree to take in her two younger siblings, Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz), as they are a package deal.  Things start out pretty good, but it doesn’t take long before the kids become way more than the couple bargained for.  Lita refuses to eat anything but potato chips, Juan is accident prone and super sensitive, and Lizzy is strong willed and very intelligent. Pete and Ellie can’t get anything passed Lizzy who has been parenting her younger siblings since he mother went to jail.

“Instant Family” is totally predictable and will tug at your heart strings from time-to-time. Moner is really-good as Lizzy and many of the film’s best moments come from her. I loved Tig Notaro and Octavia Spencer as the women who run the foster program. However, it is Iliza Shesinger who delivers the biggest laughs as October, a single woman who wants to adopt a specific type of child, inspired by “The Blind Side”. Her character is ridiculous but oh-so funny. “Instant Family” is simply a nice film with a good message and though it does lack the drama needed to make it more believable, I am glad they decided to keep it as a comedy or it might have felt uneven.

By: Marc Ferman