Instant Family

It's embarrassing to watch Tig Notaro, Octavia Spencer, Julie Hagerty, and Joan Cusack struggle to find footing in this abyss.

Anders and his wife are parents to three adopted children, and there's a sense of verisimilitude and attention to detail regarding both the joys and the travails of foster care.

I was surprisingly taken by it.

The ending is hardly revolutionary, but there are some satisfying twists along the way and a cast of characters whose fate you find yourself caring about.

If it can't entirely banish the spectre of 12A-rated blandness from its doorstep, Instant Family retains the obvious appeal of watching basically nice people attempt a fundamentally decent thing for a few hours.

Moving, endearing and entertaining. This is a far more thoughtful and accomplished family comedy than expected.

The right amount of heart is definitely in the screenplay, and the characters are fleshed out well enough that we find ourselves laughing at the funny moments and empathising with the dramatic moments.

A real surprise when it came out, a film as full of laughs as it is heart.

Instant Family is a heartfelt mainstream comedy without the gross-out gags, yet is still funny and surprisingly moving.

Super funny... [but] because it's so lighthearted, people who actually have a relationship with the foster system might respond of two ways: like it's a little bit romanticized.