Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne build an Instant Family in a comedy more touching than funny
Film Reviews Movie Review
Two moments prominently featured in the Instant Family trailer attempt to wring laughs from the image of an anxious foster kid getting violently smacked in the face with a ball. They speak to the worst impulses of writer-director Sean Anders, whose tendency to go for broad slapstick and cheap gags has carried across films like the Daddy’s Home series and Horrible Bosses 2. Yet a scene in which that same kid is hurt and the film takes his injury incredibly seriously speaks to the best impulses of Instant Family. Loosely inspired by the experience that Anders and his wife had when they decided to foster and eventually adopt three older kids, Instant Family balances its sitcom tone with some real, unexpected heart. It’s an old-fashioned “message movie,” one that wants its audience to leave with a better understanding of the foster care system and the firm belief that no foster kid is beyond help, no matter their age or life experiences.
Anders’ adoption journey is reimagined as the story of Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne), two successful house flippers who suddenly realize they’ve left the question of whether or not to have kids until a little late in life. Pete offhandedly jokes that if they adopt a 5-year-old it’ll be like they got a head start on the whole parenting thing. Soon Ellie is researching the adoption process, and the impossibly adorable faces of kids in need of a home leads them to take a crash course on fostering that culminates in a big “foster fair”—a sort of speed-dating event for potential foster families where the little kids get all the attention and the teenagers are treated like pariahs. Pete and Ellie are unexpectedly won over by the sarcastic attitude of 15-year-old Lizzy (Isabela Moner), who’s moving through the system with her anxious younger brother, Juan (Gustavo Quiroz), and their temperamental 5-year-old sister, Lita (Julianna Gamiz). Adopting three kids at once, let alone a rebellious teenager, is more than Pete and Ellie initially bargained for, but surely their skills at flipping houses make them well suited for rehabbing some troubled kids, right?
If that metaphor makes you uneasy, don’t worry, the film is way ahead of you and willing to call out its characters each time they put a foot in their mouth. Early on, Pete himself raises the question of whether he and Ellie are becoming “white saviors,” which is at least a brief acknowledgment of the racial dynamics at play (their foster kids are Latinx), even if that likely won’t completely satisfy all concerns about that issue. To provide even more balance, the film also includes a bunch of other foster families as recurring supporting characters to ensure that Pete and Ellie’s story isn’t the only one being told. Although Instant Family keeps things relatively light in its main storyline, it acknowledges the harshest realities facing many kids who end up in the system—from physical and sexual abuse to struggles with addiction. Instant Family makes adoption look worthwhile, but never sugarcoats how difficult it is either.
As has been the recent trend in comedies like Neighbors and Game Night, Pete and Ellie are presented as comedic equals in their foibles (a step up from Linda Cardellini’s thankless role in the Daddy’s Home series). At one point, they only half-jokingly concoct a plan to send the kids back into the system and come up with a lie that makes them look like the real victims. The hit-to-miss ratio of the jokes is skewed in the wrong direction, but the film at least offers a wide range of comedic tones as it aims for “telling it like it is” truths about the challenges of parenting. Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro make a delightfully deadpan comedic duo as the two social workers guiding Pete and Ellie through the adoption process. Meanwhile, Margo Martindale all but steals the movie as Pete’s brassy mom, who sees in her new grandchildren much of Pete’s own youthful rebellious streak.
Most modern studio comedies feel obliged to shoehorn a self-actualization message into their third act. Here, it’s the meat, not the digestif. Playing the most emotionally rich character in the film, Moner beautifully coveys the way Lizzy is both a young woman who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and a teenager who can’t always see the bigger picture. She’s the only one of her siblings old enough to remember actually living with their mother, and Lizzy’s therefore the one most desperate to get back to her once Mom’s been released from a stint in prison. The film takes seriously the idea that reunification is often the primary goal of the foster care system, and Pete and Ellie wind up proving themselves as parents not just in how well they provide for their foster kids but in how empathetically they put their kids’ emotions first. By the time it’s traded in intermittent laughs for tearjerking sequences, Instant Family has become a hybrid movie worthy of its blended family.
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directors can quit trying to make “Funny Girl Rose Byrne” happen…
Isn’t her career path odd? She seemed prime to be the next Keira Knightly, instead she takes… these roles. I assume roles she wants to takes! She doesn’t owe me any justification for her career choices. But I find them odd just the same!
Range opens more doors. Jeff Daniels took “Dumb & Dumber” in part because if it was a hit, he’d get to work a lot more instead of waiting for just the dramatic scripts to come by.
She was freaking hilarious in Get Him to the Greek as that Lady Gagaesque pop singer, Jackie Q
Correction: Directors should quit under-utilizing funny woman Rose Byrne.
It already happened.
But she’s funny!
I will not see any movie starring Mark Wahlberg.
Much as I love Will Ferrell, those Daddy’s Home movies are dreck.
It’s baffling how this guy is still a star while other far superior actors from his generation who are far more affable have faded away.
What? Just because he’s committed racists hate crimes more than once and never really atoned for them?Because that’s my reason for not seeing any movie he stars in.
Yes to that and because he also reminds me of every douchebag who tortured me in high school for being an ugly, uppity women.
I assume there’s a scene at the foster fair where the couple are introduced to some kids of Asian descent, Marky Mark says “Hard pass,” then looks into the camera and says “You know why.”
What a failure of filmmaking. Clearly they should show, not tell, by having Wahlberg simply beat up the Asian kids.
“Well, that’s just great, Mark. Now little Joey can’t see out of his right eye!”
“Hey, that’s not my fault – he was blind when I got here!”
[Everybody laughs. Mark Wahlberg is handed a check for $20 million on camera.]
edit.
Even after he almost prevented 9/11?
This is the thanks an almost-hero gets.
He keeps applying for a pardon for his said crime and every governor (of Massachusetts) has said, “Uh, no.”
Me either, he’s just terrible. Like, objectively. He’s not even a good actor.
The Other Guys was pretty good
I wish this was about those two trying to adopt kids.
I like him.
There’s a Mark Wahlberg movie well worth seeing, though: Three Kings. He’s not the star, but he’s in it, and gets shot, in one of the most brutal depictions of bullet damage in cinema. So it’s good in many ways.
i never saw three kings but years ago someone described the forensic of this shot and led me to wonder if the movie’s depiction was the inspiration of the csi formula of showing the internal damage of various traumas.
we have the same allergy.
Not even the awesomeness of Rose Byrne can wash away the stain of Marky Mark. He occupies that same spot as Eric Roberts does in my mind- his mere presence renders a movie unwatchable.
Hey you, that’s Beloved Character Actress Margo Martindale! She deserves her full title.
Loosely inspired by the experience that Anders and his wife had when they decided to foster and eventually adopt three older kids…They didn’t adopt the older kids. Anders explained in an interview that that group of siblings’ adoption fell through because the oldest daughter was convinced their mom would come back and so refused the adoption. He and his wife eventually adopted a younger set of siblings. This is kind of a “what if” type story.
I can’t stand Wahlberg, but a movie that looks at the foster system, the realities of kids who are about age out of the system, the difficulties of multi-kid families, etc…I may have to break down and actually see this.
The TV show “The Fosters” with Teri Polo was an excellent look at this topic as well
I have an irrational hatred for that show as it’s what started in the immediate aftermath of Bunheads being canceled. I’ll have to rectify that.
Walhberg once said he regrets appearing in “Boogie Nights” because he’s not only a devout Catholic, but a huge, practicing douche.
Not like those douches who only practice douchery once a year on Douchemas.
We need more Rose Byrne.
Agreed!
judging by the header photo, she seems to have now entered the “frumpy grumpy middle-aged woman” phase of her hollywood career, now that she’s achieved the advanced age of *check notes* …38…ffs hollywood…
she’s oddly been there for a while now and I absolutely don’t get it.
it’s ridiculous: she’s one of the most beautiful and talented women, but because she’s not 22, she’s now cast as “suburban wife”. I’d hoped that the success of movies with mature female characters would kill off this trope, but nope, here we are. I wonder how many actors Amy Adams had to beat to get the role on Sharp Objects? Byrne would have killed in that, as would – off the top of my head – Carla Gugino, Jennifer Connely, Naomi Watts etc etc. (And now that Americans is over, Keri Russell is going to be out there for those parts too!)
I don’t get the “white savior” line. Is having two white people adopting them worse than them not being adopted? I get that is likely a more meta commentary but why would anyone say that between themselves?
Because it’s the cool thing to say?
Naturally an AV Club review must factor the race of the children and the wokeness of the white people.
Speaking of cool things to say…Latinx!
It’s not worse but I liked the inclusion of the line as it shows that the couple is aware that the children’s ethnicity and culture should be something they are attuned to and incorporate into their lives. Though granted, I’m reading a lot into the line but well meaning people who think they’re “saving” kids from the system are a very real thing and can lead to problems, trouble and disappointments.
there’s a typo in “Latino”
This is not the kind of movie I would ever have watched normally, but I was staying at a Red Cross shelter (evacuated due to the California wildfires) and Paramount Pictures moved their premiere there and donated the food as well. (Let me tell you, eating steak tartare while wearing donated socks was a frickin’ trip.) The movie was unbelievably predictable, but it had some pretty funny moments and it was touching, plus it took our minds off things for a couple of hours, which is really what entertainment is all about.Also, some of the stars of the movie were at our dinner too, including Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro. I didn’t get anywhere near Octavia, but I blurted out “I LOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOU!” to Tig Notaro and then had to hide in the bathroom from embarrassment.
I heard the director on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Came off like a really nice guy. He addressed the white savior thing (his kids are Latino like in the movie) I’m sure the kids dont mind they just want a loving family like all foster kids want and looks like that’s what happened. This doesnt seem like a movie I’d watch in the theater but I’ll watch it eventually.
Can we all refer to Marky Mark as Marky Mark? I hear he loves that.
*Mahky Mahk
I saw this movie last night in a preview screening and this review is pretty spot on. It’s only sometimes funny, but as a foster parent I would say that it hits a lot of pretty accurate notes on what the foster care system is like and the struggles that foster parents and kids face. Wahlberg aside, I recommend it.
Word I learned today: “digestif”
Word I learned today: Latinx
I laughed and cried loads during the trailer, not sure how I would manage a whole movie of it.