Instant Family (12A.)
Directed by Sean Anders.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner, Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro, Julie Hagerty and Margo Martindale. 118 mins.
Being a responsible film goer I snuck in my own sick bag to this screening under the very sound assumption that when affluent couple Wahlberg and Byrne decide to adopt and end up with three Latino kids – two cute young ones and a difficult teenager (Moner) – copious amounts of vomit would ensue. But Instant Family is a very confusing and perplexing experience – a ghastly, smaltzy sentimental Hollywood family comedy that is sincere, genuinely funny and bears resemblance to recognizable human behaviour.
And I don't think this is just a matter of it not being as bad as you'd expect. Rather than glide us over harsher realities, humour is (mostly) used here to deal honestly with the ups and downs of adoption. The cast is really top notch* but it is Wahlberg and Byrne that really make it work, finely balancing the need to entertain and be real. In the last 20 odd minutes, the milking machine is brought out to pummel our emotions and the script takes shortcuts and makes contrivances but it entertains and if it gets tears then they have been honestly earned. You may not believe it, but Instant Family is gonna get ya.
* Spoiler, late on Joan Cusack pops up for an inexplicable cameo and is uneasily believable as a mad old bat with no friends.
Directed by Sean Anders.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner, Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro, Julie Hagerty and Margo Martindale. 118 mins.
Being a responsible film goer I snuck in my own sick bag to this screening under the very sound assumption that when affluent couple Wahlberg and Byrne decide to adopt and end up with three Latino kids – two cute young ones and a difficult teenager (Moner) – copious amounts of vomit would ensue. But Instant Family is a very confusing and perplexing experience – a ghastly, smaltzy sentimental Hollywood family comedy that is sincere, genuinely funny and bears resemblance to recognizable human behaviour.
And I don't think this is just a matter of it not being as bad as you'd expect. Rather than glide us over harsher realities, humour is (mostly) used here to deal honestly with the ups and downs of adoption. The cast is really top notch* but it is Wahlberg and Byrne that really make it work, finely balancing the need to entertain and be real. In the last 20 odd minutes, the milking machine is brought out to pummel our emotions and the script takes shortcuts and makes contrivances but it entertains and if it gets tears then they have been honestly earned. You may not believe it, but Instant Family is gonna get ya.
* Spoiler, late on Joan Cusack pops up for an inexplicable cameo and is uneasily believable as a mad old bat with no friends.
