Instant Family

This review may contain spoilers!

This film feels less like the comedy it was marketed to be and more like a government-funded ad about the American adoption system. I would give Instant Family a 3/10.

Instant Family follows Pete and Ellie who desire to start a family of their own and venture into the adoption system, bringing Lizzy, Juan and Lita into their family. From there the story follows the trials and tribulations of becoming a family while also shining a light on the moments of joy too. This film is strongest when it depicts some of the intense dramatic moments some of these characters experience; Lizzy and Ellie bonding over the hairbrush or the final moment in which Pete and Ellie's testimony is read aloud marks some of the truly heartfelt moments in the feature.

Mark Wahlberg, who played Pete, makes for a great leading role who is very open about his insecurities around being a father; Wahlberg shows a lot of heart and compassion in all the right places for this role. Rose Byrne, who played Ellie, wears the stress of her character rather well; this is a role who feels like she has to take the full brunt of responsibility while desperately craving the love of her children. Isabela Moner, who played Lizzy, has this really tough streak that makes her perpetually disconnected from her new family; Moner is incredible at showing her character's small moments of vulnerability and growing connection with her new Mum and Dad. Julianna Gamiz, who played Lita, is a really charming young performer who steals the show constantly; Gamiz manages to her employ a rather innocent outlook of the world to generate some fun humour. Valente Rodriguez, who played Judge Rivas, was this very kind, genuine figure who really made the third act a little brighter; the way he presented and controlled the family court scenes was very sweet and well-handled.

However, the best performance came from Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro, who played Karen and Sharon respectively. These two have some very strong chemistry with one another onscreen and can play rather contrasting characters well. Throughout Spencer is the more spirited, informal adoption agency worker; her humour is constantly coming and it's a very side-splitting character. Notaro plays her role in a very grounded way, which has the effect of her comedy come across rather straight and deliberate. The pair really just know when to land the cues just right or exactly how to play off one another. Yet what I really admired was how they could set that ability to the side and bring a scene to a very dramatic and serious focus in an emotionally powerful way.

This film was marketed and presented constantly as a comedy film and I believe heading into it that is what a lot of audiences would have experienced, but it is not what we got at all. The ultimate product was what resembled a slice of life film in which the adoption system in the US was completely examined and unpacked so that the audience had an understanding of what it would be like to live in that circumstance or adopt for themselves. Constantly things like the narrative direction or moments of comedy were abandoned to present and explain what felt like an advertisement for adoption in the States. The effect makes you feel a lot less interested in the film and so the power of their message is completely lost; a film that had focused upon an engaging narrative or characters who had actually been fleshed out for this great cast to perform would have been a much more effective method of delivery. The cinematography is exceedingly dull, the same stock-standard shots are repeated from scene to scene and there's no effort made to make this film look unique. The pacing was achingly slow and the editing didn't aid this at all, setting a sluggish pace throughout. The soundtrack is almost immediately forgettable, scenes feel completely toneless at times and the backing score does nothing to lift this up.

Gustavo Quiroz, who played Juan, is the sort of over the top idiotic kid role that does not work in comedies; the type of role that is always getting hit in the head or falling down isn't particularly funny or well done. Margo Martindale, who played Grandma Sandy, just pushes her over the top role way too far in every scene; Martindale has been doing this for a lot of her roles for a very long time now and I just sort of expect it at this point. Julie Hagerty, who played Jan, is just an odd performance that makes little to no sense; bad enough Hagerty's character seems to just make humour stemming from racism but the actress herself does not feel naturally suited to comedy. Joan Cusack, who played Mrs Howard. is this neighbourly role who awkwardly is inserted somewhere in the third act for no reason; Cusack takes this nice genuine scene that could have really made the film and tears it apart. Joselin Reyes, who played Carla, is such a bland performance that is really just there to further the plot more than anything; Reyes' role barely seems present and it is hard to picture her in any way a mother to the children characters. John McConnell and Maureen Brennan, who played Mr Muskie and Mrs Muskie respectively, just seem like the butt of some easy jokes in this film; these roles are just gross and set a pretty low bar for the feature. Nicholas Logan, who played Jacob, is quite the generic bad boy role who is immediately scummy upon introduction; Logan plays the role right to the stereotype and doesn't set out to actually achieve anything better.