Movie Review: Instant Family

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland









Michael's Movie Grade: B+


Review: This is a feel good movie that legitimately makes you feel good coming out of it. You may complain about a few moments being forced or corny, but when a movie does just what it sets out to do, there is no doubt it is a good movie.

This movie works because the characters are so believable. It is true most of the side characters are nothing but excuses for humor (though some of it is honestly quite funny), but the family that this movie focuses on feel 100% real. All of them are good hearted and want what they simply think is best. Even with this each has their own moments of doubt when they wonder if they are wrong about everything. Even more important than these characters feeling real is that their relationship feels real. You can feel them over the course of the movie grow to become a real family little by little in a completely believable way. This makes any scene that threatens this feel heartbreaking and every scene that reaffirms this feel heartwarming. Even in the most forced and cliché plot points (such as the scene with the hairbrush), there is a humanity beneath them that keeps you emotionally connected. This is especially true of the scenes between Lizzy (Isabella Moner) and her foster parents (Mark Wahlberg and Rose Bryne). Deep down she loves them but she is attached to her drug addicted birth mother and believes that her new foster parents simply take pity on her and don't really love her. The foster parents interrupt this as her hating them. This is real emotion and it works very well.

This may not be a perfect movie, but again it does what it sets out to do (make you feel good and uplifted) and does it marvelously. I came out of the film not thinking about any of these faults, but feeling genuinely uplifted by what I saw.

-Michael J. Ruhland