A surprisingly heart-felt and informative look at adoption.

While the issue of adoption has bubbled away on cinema’s backburner since the days of Cary Grant and Room for One More, it’s rarely been engaged with adequately. Of course, Annie-esque tales of lovable, scruffy orphans have been a Hollywood staple since forever, yet it’s never quite felt sufficient.

Long since considered taboo, there have been great cinematic strides of late to positively engage with adoption in all its forms. From Lion and Juno to Philomena and Despicable Me; encouraging steps have recently been taken to open things up and get the conversation flowing; sadly, however, misconceptions within society remain prevalent.

Considering the paucity of adoption coverage out there in the wider media landscape (particularly of the positive variety) it’s no wonder people’s opinions can so often be way off the mark, but it finally feels like we have a breakthrough…and it comes from the most unlikely of sources. Against all the odds (and the film’s own marketing department) Instant Family is that rare beast of a movie that engages and informs while being wholly accessible, one that could finally open a once off-limits issue up to the masses.

After years of taunting due to their lack of children, Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) Wagner decide to explore the idea of adoption. Initially semi-serious, the couple eventually take the plunge before throwing themselves into the deep end when they take on three siblings, including rebellious teenager Lizzy (Isabela Moner). Finding themselves with a family overnight, Pete and Ellie must quickly learn the ropes of instant parenthood and forge a relationship with their newly adopted children while battling the pain, challenges, and unfair prejudices that come with the territory.

On the face of it, Instant Family feels like the very worst example of mawkish, throwaway comedy but, while it certainly has its moments, nothing could be further from the truth. Many of these preconceptions spring from a marketing campaign seemingly hell-bent on selling the film short as something it patently wasn’t and despite everything pointing towards a comedy car crash, Instant Family is a prime example of not judging a movie by its trailer.

Broad, accessible, heart-warming and admirably informative, Instant Family is one of the biggest pleasant surprises of the year and while a Marky Mark-starring adoption comedy from the director of Daddy’s Home might sound like a recipe for disaster, the film succeeds despite all this. Sure, there are goofy, slapstick moments galore as the comedy stylings of Anders’ previous efforts seeps through, yet they never undermine the film’s overarching message.

Instant Family is a curveball in the best possible sense. Setting itself up as a by-the-numbers, throwaway comedy - good for a Valentine’s date night and not much more - the film quickly reveals itself as a refreshingly honest and poignant attempt to engage with a subject frequently underserved by the mainstream media.

Above all else, what makes Instant Family tick is just how refreshingly intimate and utterly personal it is - something that counts for an awful lot in an industry not necessarily renowned for its relatability.

Derived from Sean Anders’ own first-hand experiences with adoption, Instant Family glows with the kind of personality that many comedies would kill for, and this carries the film through even its wobbliest moments. Having gone through the exact same process as Pete and Ellie, Anders’ writing clearly comes from the heart and a place of knowledge that shines through in every scene.

Openly encouraging audience engagement with its subject, the film itself is unafraid to meet with adoption head-on and, while its honesty and sincerity may take some unawares, the boldness must be applauded. Yet, more important than any of this is the accessibility of the end product.

You can have all the well-intentioned, worthy Oscar-bait you want, yet sometimes the best way to change minds on a broader scale is by casting the widest net possible. Sure, a heavy-hitting, tear-jerking drama about adoption may win a few Academy votes, but to really win the hearts of a general populace, going broad is often the wisest option (see Black Panther).

To this end, both the film’s comedy and drama are as broad as they come. Easy going and noticeably mainstream, the humour especially makes the film’s hefty premise that much easier to consume and, while Instant Family never looks to dig too deep under the skin of its central issue, just the fact that it’s raising the matter in the first place is progress enough.

Taken on comedy terms, Instant Family is pretty hit and miss. The humour derived from Pete and Ellie awkwardly tiptoeing their way around parenthood works well, however, many other jokes appear flat and undercooked. Unfortunately, while the family dynamic is the glue that holds the film together, the parts around it don’t work quite so well.

In particular, the comedy that comes from the foster parents support group often feels off the pace and, while Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro work well as the odd couple social workers helping the newbie parents through the adoption process, the rest of the humour in these scenes never really connects in the way its intended.

Far more successful in execution, however, are the film’s emotional beats. While Anders struggles to strike the right tonal balance at times, the film’s heart remains in the right place throughout.

For the opening thirty minutes, things appear to roll out just as one might imagine, with a standard Hollywood setup followed by the kind of uninspired comedy beats we’ve all seen a million times before. However, things really start cooking the minute Lizzy, Juan, and Lita introduce themselves.

Led wonderfully by a standout performance from Isabela Moner, the three prospective adoptees really ramp up the energy and emotional heft when they arrive on the scene, as they (often quite literally) bounce off both one another and their foster parents with an engaging, natural charm. While the scenes around them can be a little inconsistent, the chemistry between the three kids is simultaneously heart-warming and heart-breaking, and it’s this element that really lifts Instant Family to the next level.

Doing much of the film’s emotional heavy lifting, Moner continues to showcase her impressive range with a role that goes far beyond the surly teenager caricature it could’ve easily been. To play the link between the two younger children and the parents is no easy task but Moner rises to the challenge with a performance of depth and complexity that capitalises on her impressive role in Sicario 2 to further cement her as one to watch in the years to come.

While it certainly has its fair share of fluff, Instant Family has a far harder edge than some may be expecting. So, despite the incredible cuteness of the younger children, they are portrayed as being anything but easy to care for and, opposite them, Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne do an admirable job in selling the immense difficulties of life as adopting parents.

Wahlberg and Byrne both work to their individual strengths as a couple thrown in at the adoption deep end and while neither particularly push things with their performance, they are perfectly adequate for the task at hand. Much maligned, Wahlberg in particular does well as the kind of lovable, blue-collar everyman he can (and sometimes does) play in his sleep.

Clichés are undeniably Instant Family’s stock-in-trade and, as we move further and further into the film, it’s hard to ignore just how high it stacks them; yet, despite all the cheese and cutesy nonsense piling up, it largely works. Although it threatens to drown under all the schmaltz at any moment, Instant Family succeeds precisely because it knows what it’s doing and has the confidence to follow through with it.

The plot is straight forward and unfussy, throwing us in with admirably little sentimentality and, thanks to the first-hand knowledge of Sean Anders, there’s a commendable desire to pull us through the entire adoption process - warts and all. Despite the comedy at hand to cushion the blow somewhat, it’s not always an easy watch and it’s precisely this approach that allows Instant Family to hit as hard as it does.

The road to and through adoption and is far from easy and Instant Family makes sure to keep it that way in its portrayal. We work as hard as Pete and Ellie do for the affections of their three adopted children as they live out the same insecurities and painful questions many of us would in their shoes. Conversely, we’re made to experience the anxieties, pain, and fear of Lizzy, Juan, and Lita as they heartbreakingly battle to be both loved and to love in return.

As clichéd as they come and often awkward in tone, Instant Family is nonetheless a low-key triumph of committed, heartfelt storytelling that, while frequently flirting in ‘Movie of the Week’ territory, keeps you emotionally engaged throughout. While the concept of adoption is far from a new one for cinema, this is one of the rare occasions that the process has been presented in such an overt and informative manner. Held together by director Sean Anders’ clear passion for the issue and helped along by engaging performances – topped by the wonderful Isabela Moner – Instant Family breaks free from the constraints of its misleadingly formulaic setup and rubbish marketing campaign to steal your heart and, hopefully, open your mind.