Personal touch lends uneven tale credibility
It’s refreshing to see Mark Wahlberg back on form following his woeful turns in the awful Mile 22 and Transformers: The Last Knight
The Boston-born star reteams with his Daddy’s Home 1 and 2 director Sean Anders for a comedy-drama based on the latter’s real-life background in fostering.
Wahlberg (Pete) and Rose Byrne (Ellie) play a couple whose lives are transformed when they adopt three children; Lizzy (Isabela Moner), Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz).
Anders and his wife became foster parents to three kids of their own back in 2012, so if ever a writer-director was ideally suited to their subject matter it’s here.
And that ‘insider knowledge’ lends the film credibility and realism; none more so than in its depiction of the children and difficulties of forming a family unit.
Anders turned to his Daddy’s Home scribe John Morris to copen the script and it wisely stays clear of tugging at the heartstrings with an overabundance of sugar.
However, the pair can’t seem to decide what kind of movie they want to present; one minute we’re in Daddy’s Home-style black comedy territory and the next it maturely tackles important issues like racism.
Thankfully, the terrific cast help us wade through the choppy tonal shifts.
Wahlberg and Byrne are a believable couple taken on a bumpy emotional ride; Moner proves her eye-catching performance in Sicario 2 was no fluke as she steals every scene she’s in; and Octavia Spencer is a delight as social worker Karen.
The arrival of Joselin Reyes as the kids’ real mum Carla is sensitively handled but feels a little shoe-horned in.
Though far from perfect, Instant Family is Anders’ finest flick thus far, proving that a personal touch can work wonders for a filmmaker.