Storyline
When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15 year old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Mark Wahlberg, Margo Martindale, Rose Byrne, Joan Cusack, Valente Rodriguez, Octavia Spencer, Eve Harlow, Jody Thompson, Maureen Brennan, John McConnell, Charlie McDermott, Julie Hagerty, Michael O'Keefe, Andrea Anders, Kelly Tippens, Gustavo Quiroz Jr., Gary Weeks, Tig Notaro, Erika Bierman, Allyn Rachel, Randall P. Havens, Andrene Ward-Hammond, Allen Zwolle, Denitra Isler, Isabela Moner, Hampton Fluker, Carson Holmes, Kenneth Israel, Joy Jacobson, Julianna Gamiz, Tom Segura, Britt Rentschler, Iliza Shlesinger, Connor Jones, Jaiden Byrd, James Arthur Sims, Rosemary Dominguez, Javier Ronceros, Nicholas Logan, Joselin Reyes, Sarah Kirkpatrick, Layla Felder, Stella Doyle, Remy Ortiz, William J. Simmons, Maria Wilson
Trailer
Reviews
82
Instant Family is a decent, involving, endearing story, with funny performances and heartfelt, entirely earned dramatic crescendoes.
80
IGN
Successfully walking the line between sharp comedy and thoughtful dramedy, Instant Family delivers, warming the heart and generating plenty of belly laughs. When it’s funny, as it often is, it’s damn funny. One of the superior comedies of the year, it’s not a classic, but it’s rich, smart and emotionally satisfying and an accomplished step forward for director Sean Anders.
75
At its heart (and it’s a big corny heart, for sure), the film’s message is one of unconditional love and embracing family wherever you find it. It’s hard to argue with. Especially when it’s served up with such spiky laughter-through-tears sweetness.
70
It redefines family craziness as normal in a way that those who seek it out will gratefully relate to.
70
While the film commits errors of taste and tact, and is generally all over the place from start to finish, those issues come off here as byproducts of a certain generosity — a sense that Anders wants to convey a full range of experience, including the messy stuff in between the usual formulaic notes and beats.
