Couple Pete and Ellie have reached their 40s and, despite good careers, feel as if they are missing something in their lives. They thus decide to adopt a child. At a fair where abandoned kids can meet their potential foster parents, Pete and Ellie meet the rebellious teenager Lizzy, but she has two younger siblings, Juan (11) and Lita (6). Pete and Ellie thus decide to try to adopt all three. During their probation period, the family is chaotic and often argues. However, after Juan accidentally drops a nail gun which pierces his foot, Pete and Ellie provide a valuble help into bringing him to the hospital, which bonds the family. The siblings' mother, a former drug addict, wants to have her kids back, but when she abandons them again, Pete and Ellie officially adopt Lizzy, Juan and Lita.
For all of its authentic background, considering that the director and screenwriter Sean Anders himself adopted three kids, "Instant Family" seems peculiarly forced and unnatural at many moments (in one sequence during dinner, Juan drops a glass of milk, and then the kids argue, and someone drops or overturns this or that, until the table is suddenly on fire, which is unconvincing), detached from the real world it was allegedly inspired by, yet it is still an overall honest and towards the end touching little film. Overedited and too hasty, the film lacks a real focus and a better pace to slow down and allow the viewers to simply absorb these characters, making the storyline uneven. Yet some of the jokes work and give it spark, whereas Isabela Moner sparkles again in the role of the "broken" teenager Lizzie. One of the funniest moments comes up when the potential foster parents are called to introduce themselves, so one ultra-ambitious woman stands up and says "I would like to be the single mother to an athletically gifted teen boy whom I can help reach his full division 1 scholarship potential. Preferably African-American", upon which Ellie starts laughing, claiming it is the plot from "The Blind Side". Several heavy handed moments wreck the mood (for instance, when Pete and Ellie assault a janitor who allegedly sent a photo of his penis to Lizzie's mobile phone), but the ending is back on the right track in the sequence where Ellie finally lets Lizzie read her letter ("We couldn't give her the anwser at the time. We did it because something was missing from our lives, and didn't know what it was. It was Juan, Lita and Lizzie"), which alleviates some of the flaws.
Grade:++
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