INSTANT FAMILY

Out NOW / Cert 12 / 118 mins

A Mark Walhlberg comedy about adopting kids, from Sean Anders, the director of both Daddy’s Home movies. An instant appraisal of Instant Family makes it the kind of movie it’s all too easy to skip at the cinema due to looking like the kind of milquetoast, manufactured gubbins that would make you want to rip out your eyes and hurl them at the nearest usher. Never judge a movie by its poster. Or trailer. Or the people involved. Instead, Instant Family is something close to an actual delight — perhaps because it’s based on Anders’ real-life experience of trying to adopt children, and so doesn’t seem saccharine or manipulative. Instead, Wahlberg (solid) and rose Byrne (excellent) play real(ish) people trying not to come apart at the seams as their new brood test the fences, like a pack of raptors. It’s funny, not always predictable, and might even make you part company with a few salt tears. An instant watch.