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Instant Family Review

By Bryan Weatherall | January 6, 2019

Instant Family is a film which comes directed by Sean Anders who some may know as the director of Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) or Daddy’s Home (2015). The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner, Gustavo Quiroz, Julianna Gamiz and Octavia Spencer.

Instant Family is a comedy/drama film about a young couple who get in over their heads when they adopt three children into their family and for the first time become parents.

When first seeing the trailer for Instant Family, I was interested in it because I do like films from both Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne as those two are often very good actors and seem to pick very good films to star in. But the story of Instant Family and the type of film that it was, being a family comedy/drama film isn’t necessarily something I would usually rush to the cinema to see and would often leave these types of films for their home release a few months later. But you know what, I went and saw this one at the cinema and enjoyed this film so much that I have it in my top 10 films I loved in 2018. I know it releases here in Australia on January 10, but I saw it at an early preview screening late last year that Paramount held. So I guess I will have to put it in my current top 10 films for 2019 right now.

The premise of the film is fairly easy to follow, both Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) are both accomplished individuals and as a couple they are pretty great. They have a home, a solid career as property flippers and are doing very well for themselves. But the problem is, they have no kids of their own and eventually stumble on the path of becoming foster parents. Then we slowly meet the kids, Lizzy (Isabela Moner), Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz) and this is the part where the complications start as Ellie and Pete struggle to keep up with all the demands and responsibilities that 3 children will bring.

The film’s plot opens up quite a bit of space for the comedy side of things and I thought that this one was rather funny and enjoyed all of the jokes all the way throughout it. The crowd in the session I was in seemed to be enjoying it as well and there were a lot of people heard laughing during the film.

The drama side of the film does build up to be quite an emotional one as the characters are well developed and I found myself really caring for the kids in the family by end of the film. Lizzy in particular, who is the oldest of the children was a very interesting character to get to know and the character taught me a lot about the struggles of orphan children and children in the system waiting to be adopted and what they go through. It’s all very tough to do when you don’t have a parent to help you in life and are stuck in the process. The Lizzy character struggles with all of this the most and by the end things got very tense and emotional. I really thought this side of the film was well done and the film’s writers Sean Anders (also directed) and John Morris did a great job with this.

The acting is all quite good. Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne were both as entertaining as ever and the two worked well together in this film opposite each other in the two lead roles. But, Isabela Moner who played Lizzy really did an outstanding job with her character. I’ve also seen the actress in another of 2018’s films Sicario: Day of the Soldado and I think she’s quite good. I hope there are more roles for this young actress in the future.

Overall Instant Family is a very good comedy/drama film about a young couple starting to become parents. The character development for the parents, but also for the kids, especially Lizzy is very good and I did feel for the characters by the end of the film. As both a comedy and a drama it works well and Sean Anders did a great job directing this one. The actors in this are excellent, with Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne delivering good performances, but Isabela Moner was very impressive in this film. Definitely go and see this one if you’re looking for a comedy this week or a family drama.