Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Instant Family

March 4, 2019

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Instant Family

Instant Family earned 81% positive reviews, but struggled at the box office. It wasn’t a bomb exactly, but it only managed just over $110 million worldwide on a $48 million budget. Did it deserve more? Or is the Tomatometer Score a little deceptive?

The Movie

We meet Pete and Ellie, two house flippers. They had just bought a new, very broken house, so they can renovate it for Ellie’s sister, who is trying to have a kid with her husband. Her sister makes an off-hand remark about how Ellie is never going to have kids, which gets her thinking about it. However, Pete thinks they are too old to have a baby and jokingly suggest adopting a five-year old, that way he won’t be too old and die of a heart attack when the kid’s 16 years old. Ellie takes this option seriously, as does Pete when he sees how many kids there are in Foster Care.

Soon Pete and Ellie are at a Foster Family meeting led by Karen and Sharon. Karen manages to scare one of the potential Foster Parents into leaving before they even get around to getting names. A training montage later and Pete and Ellie are at a family fair, a way to quickly match up families. Karen admits it is weird, but it works. After several misses, Pete decides to talk to the teenagers, as no one goes near them. One of the kids, Lizzy, hears Pete and Ellie talking and chews them out. This is the moment the pair decide to get her as their Foster Child. There is one catch, she has two younger siblings, Juan and Lita.

Pete and Ellie decide to meet with the three kids at their current Foster parents’ house. And at that meeting, spoilers happen.

If you look at Instant Family’s Tomatometer Score it’s 81% positive, but if you look at the average score review given out by individual critics, it’s just 6.55 out of 10. Like I’ve said many times in the past, this means while the vast majority of critics liked the movie, few loved. it.

(This is happening a lot recently. I think most studios are aiming for review scores of 7 out of 10 for their big releases, because this is good enough for a mainstream hit. On the other hand, aiming for much higher scores and doing something artistically daring is more likely to alienate audiences, even if critics love the film.)

Back to Instant Family... I’m on the “It’s okay.” side of the argument. There are some serious pacing issues, especially early in the movie. The back-and-forth between Pete and Ellie about whether or not to adopt a child happens ridiculously fast. There are also some tonal issues, and the more light-hearted and schmaltzy scenes are contrasted with some much darker elements. (There’s a sexual predator working at Lizzy’s school and that subject matter isn’t exactly handled well.)

On the positive side, there are some excellent performances in the movie. I especially loved Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro as the two social workers. I liked seeing Julie Hagerty, Margo Martindale, and Joan Cusack popping up. Additionally, you can really tell this film was made with heart and that shows in the final product. I just think the story needed a little more breathing room and at least one less montage to be really effective.

The Extras

Extras begin with the director / co-writer, Sean Anders, and his co-writer, John Morris. Mr. and Mrs. Fix-It is a four-minute featurette on the origin of the movie and how it is based on Sean Anders life. Kid Power is a nine-minute look at the three child actors in the movie. I Need Some Support is a five-minute featurette that focuses on some supporting roles, specifically those in the adoptive parent support group. Order in the Court is a four-minute featurette on the climatic scene of the story. The Families Behind the Fair is a nine-minute featurette on the adoption fair in the movie and how the filmmakers put out a call for real adoptive families for authenticity. Crew Inspiration is a five-minute featurette on all of the crew who have experience as foster kids, social workers, etc. The Anders Family is a seven-minute featurette of the real family that inspired the movie. Up next is three-minutes of outtakes. There’s a music video for “I’ll Stay” by Isabela Moner. There was an On Set Proposal and we get to witness that. Finally, there are five deleted scenes with a total running time of 10 minutes, including intros.

The Verdict

Instant Family is a good movie if you are looking for a heartfelt family film and are not afraid of a little schmaltz. The DVD and Blu-ray has plenty of extras and it is worth picking up.

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