Instant Family DVD review

Isabela Moner shines brightly in this compelling, family comedy that'll instantly grab you with it's comedic and sensitive depictions of foster care's hardships

Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner and Mark Wahlberg in 'Instant Family' (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

by Jack Linsdell

Celebrating the DVD release of Sean-Anders' Instant Family on June 10th, I wanted to do a review considering I didn't do one when I saw it at a screening back in January this year because it's one of 2019's best films that I guarantee most of you missed. 

This American adoption drama-comedy follows the Wagner family, in which married couple Pete (Mark Wahlberg; The Departed, Ted and the Transformers franchise) and his wife Ellie (Rose Byrne; The Internship, X-Men: First Class & Apocalypse) are receiving stick from their friends who bet they'll never have kids, decide to adopt foster children with a little help from social worker Karen (Octavia Spencer). Deciding to adopt teenagers due to the more mature age and the perceived less amount of "work" required, Pete and Ellie find teenager Lizzy and her younger siblings Juan and Lita at an adoption event and decide to take them under their wing. However, as the true nature of looking after moody, horny and rebellious teenagers comes to the forefront for the Wagner's and conflicts arise with the appearance of the children's birth mother from prison, Instant Family develops into a poignant, emotional character study along the themes of love, family and identity with characters making mistakes and everyone falling victim to not giving everyone else a true chance. 

Sean Anders' screenplay (co-penned with producer John Morris) is partly based on his own experiences of adoption and therefore becomes immensely relatable, compelling and from the heart, whilst offering a multitude of viewpoints surrounding the crisis and problems in modern day foster care. However, despite acting as an eye-opening examination of the foster care system and containing some truly moving and dramatic scenes, Anders and Morris' screenplay always keeps itself light, loveable and humorous, making fun of the conflicting situations characters find themselves in, particularly when we get those children vs. foster parents scenes (including a well-staged food fight scene). Slight spoiler alert, but when Juan knocks in the door of a posh car when exiting the Wagner's vehicle at a foster convention, the matter-of-fact observations/amused reactions by their friends watching on create true "from the gut" laughter as it's not afraid to have a laugh when bad things are going on. This isn't a case of comedy with a lot of dramatic/emotional depth, but a drama that is done in such a light and comedic tone with loveable characters and relatable events that it becomes more richly entertaining than had Ander's and friends just created a serious and depressing drama. 

The performances are outstanding here, with Wahlberg earning his pay check as an actor of calibre and not just a blockbuster movie star and Byrne brings her excellent comedic sensibilities and timings, whilst seemingly nailing the "anxious to love her new foster children" narrative strand. As ever, acting royalty of Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures, The Shape of Water and Ma - now in cinemas) has a supporting role but brings her dramatic talent and enthuastic personality to a relatively non-descript role. However, the standout here is the three foster kids, in particular upcoming acting talent Isabela Moner. I've talked about her in odds and ends throughout the past year, but she's truly such a talent that she really is one to look out for. Her debut album Stopping Time is amazing, with her song writing abilities lending itself to the song I'll Stay which she co-wrote for the film and performs during Instant Family's end credits. But, after impressing me with roles in Transformers: The Last Knight (reuniting her with co-star Wahlberg) and the superior sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Moner adds so much to this one. She's one of these rare expressionist actors whose versatility really captures the emotionally-vulnerable state of adolescence but also the unstable, confused and untrusting personality to which most foster kids like Lizzy understandably develop, and her chemistry with everyone is outstanding. Soon to be seen in Paramount's Dora The Explorer movie, keep your eyes on Isabela Moner folks. 

Also worth a mention is Anders' direction, whose proven his filmmaking talents with this after comedies like Daddy's Home and it's sequel, by showing that he can nail comedy but through crafting loveable characters, compelling and dramatic scenes and exploring relatively underrepresented subject matter (foster adoption), he's shown he can make a wholly entertaining and deeply-rich film. It's the sort of film that normally goes under the radar, except this one did well at the box office amassing $120 million on a $48 million budget, except I'm betting many of you missed this one. Well, it's arrival on VOD/DVD/Blu-ray is your chance folks, so grab a digital or physical copy and treat yourself, your friends and family to this delight on a Friday night. It's very funny, and with well-sketched character arcs, loveable characters, relatable themes, exploration of an important subject matter (adoption) and standout performances, this one is entertaining and emotionally fulfilling. It'll instantly impress your family. And you. 

5/5 STARS