j* Movie Reviews 2019

Instant Family (2019)

It's an emotional rollercoaster that just keeps on rolling.

So I went for the comedy and the Wahlberg/Moner, but people are right, this thing has a lot of heart. I didn't sob, but there was definitely welling-up and occasional trickle over tears. This film pulled me through it, up and down and a little bit sideways. There are these joyous hilarious peaks, moments of great kid chaos and slapstick, then these are tempered by the great underlying sadness, then brought out of that through the goodness of humanity. It's quite a ride.

The "instant family" is all really well cast, and Isabela Moner continues to delight me, not just putting in an awesome job in film, but singing the outro-credits too. Mark Wahlberg is, as he often is, crazy believable. He's in, and then deeper in, then totally in to this instant Dad type role, swinging from super-caring to wild easily. Rose Byre is pretty awesome. The kid actors are great.

But we need to really shout out to Sharon (Tig Notaro) and Karen (Octavia Spencer)... representing the voices of reason and heart respectively. I really dug this comedic duo of adoption-wrangling intermediaries. The way these two bounce off each other about the right and wrong ways to do things, and yet maintain that excellent working camaraderie was so fun.

The story is super simple... rich-ish couple decide to foster-to-adopt, foster three kids, chaos ensues. But, as the endless photos of the real adoption families in the end-credits reminds us, that is an experience many have, and that has a happy (but still chaotic) ending. So it's much more ride than story, but I found it a very immersive and touching ride.

J* gives it 4 stars.