A couple find themselves in over their heads when they foster three children.A couple find themselves in over their heads when they foster three children.A couple find themselves in over their heads when they foster three children.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 5 nominations
Videos4
Britt Rentschler
- Lindaas Linda
- (as Brittney Rentschler)
Gary Weeks
- Dirkas Dirk
- (as Edson Gary Weeks)
- Director
- Writers
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
Married couple Pete and Ellie Wagner, feeling a void in the marriage, visit a foster care center. Two social workers, Karen and Sharon, guide the hopeful parents on the steps to getting into becoming adoptive parents. The couples are brought to a fair where they have the chance to go up to kids that they are interested in adopting. Pete and Ellie walk by the teenagers, although Ellie shows hesitance over raising a teen, one of the teens, Lizzie, informs Ellie that they all know no one wants to adopt the teens. Pete and Ellie talk to Karen and Sharon over potentially taking in Lizzie. The social workers inform the couple that Lizzie's mother is a drug addict who is currently in jail, and she set their home on fire because she left the crack pipe lit. They also find that Lizzie has two younger siblings, Juan and Lita. Although this seems like more of a challenge for Pete and Ellie, they agree to meet the siblings. Pete and Ellie have Thanksgiving dinner with Ellie's family, where they all make comments about never having confidence in the Wagners adopting kids. Ellie has enough and decides that they will go through with the foster care to prove that they can be good parents.
- Taglines
- Just add chaos laughter awkwardness mistakes love.
- Genres
- Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual material, language and some drug references
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaWhile drawing pictures of their dream children, October draws a football player with the number 74, which was Michael Oher's jersey number in the film The Blind Side (2009). The film is a recurring joke about her character, who tries to emulate Leigh Anne Tuohy.
- GoofsDuring the Thanksgiving dinner, Ellie has a red necklace appear and disappear multiple times.
- Quotes
Grandma Sandy: You get reminded what a sack of shit you are five times a day, after a while, you can't believe *anyone* could ever love you.
- Crazy creditsPhotos of real life foster families are seen throughout the end credits, interspersed with footage of Isabela Moner performing the end credits song, 'Stay with you'.
- Alternate versionsFor the film's Australian release, the distributor chose to remove a single use of strong language in order to obtain a PG classification. This edited version of the film was later used for its DVD/Video release. An uncut M classification was available.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Good Morning Britain: Episode dated 14 February 2019 (2019)
- SoundtracksInsane in the Brain
Written by Jerry Corbitt, B-Real (as Louis Freeze), Deejay Muggs (as Larry Muggerud) & Sen D.O.G. (as Senen Reyes)
Performed by Cypress Hill
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
Top review
Better than 10 stars
First, let me say that my wife and I go to the movies every Friday. We see a LOT of movies. We usually agree about how good or bad a film was, and we both agreed on Instant Family. It's fantastic. I wish I could give it more than 10 stars because the current score of 7.3 is really not doing this film justice. It's simply a perfect movie. My wife and I cried a lot, laughed a lot, and left the theater happy. Based on a true story...they did a wonderful job of re-telling it for the screen. Reminds me of Wonder, which was also underrated. If I could vote for the Oscar's, it would've been Wonder last year and Instant Family this year. I don't even need to see the other contenders. Wish movies like this would get an Oscar nom... but it's usually the serious dramas that get them. Wahlberg should be very proud. He produced it and co-starred in it. Very happy for him. Hope this means more films like this and less violence in the future. Please go see it and give it your review here. It will help get the word out.
helpful•37179
- danielchannels
- Nov 17, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Con Nuôi Bất Đắc Dĩ
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $48,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $67,363,237
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $14,504,315
- Nov 18, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $120,556,201
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1

‘Red Right Hand’: Mo McRae, Brian Geraghty & More Round Out Cast Of Ian And Eshom Nelms’ Action-Thriller
Apr 25Deadline Film + TV

Michael Patrick Jann To Direct Western Horror Film ‘Organ Trail’ For Paramount Pictures; Zoé De Grand Maison, Olivia Applegate, Clé Bennett, Sam Trammell & More To Star
Mar 16Deadline Film + TV
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content

Recently viewed
Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.