Instant Family (2018)

Directed by Sean Anders 

Written by Sean Anders and John Morris 

Starring Mark Wahlberg. Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner and Octavia Spencer 

This movie has a very heartwarming story that is honestly pretty original. You see so many comedies about parents who are struggling to raise a kid or multiple kids. They're "in over their heads," the kids are terror raisers, but in the end they become this big happy family with no issues. While this movie may follow a similar path to the cliched 'raising kids comedy', it has much more of an original story.

Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife Ellie (Rose Byrne) are seeking something to fill a void in their marriage. They visit a foster care center, and begin to take the steps to fostering a child and maybe eventually even adopting one. The couple finds themselves at an adoption fair where they have a chance to meet prospective children to enter their lives. The two notice a group of teenagers and are hesitant at first about taking in such an older child, until they meet Lizzie (Isabela Moner). They express interest of adopting Lizzie, a 15 year old girl who's mother is currently in prison after setting their house on fire with her lit crack pipe. There's one catch, Lizzie comes with two much younger siblings; Juan and Lita. Pete and Ellie decide to take on the challenge of being foster parents to all three children, and prove to themselves and everyone else that they can do it.

The movie is refreshingly honest about the hard truth about children in the foster care system. Children in the system may have been abused or struggling to cope with losing a parent or having a parent incarcerated. The movie does make light of these tough situations and brings some appropriate comic relief to them as well.

While the movie has two big stars in the lead roles (Byrne and Wahlberg), the shining performance comes from Isabela Moner. Lizzie has a very volatile personality. She is a teenager going through normal teenager problems plus being in foster care and having an addict mother in prison. Moner develops all these struggles into her character very well. Her character actually has a lot of depth-- while one second she may be slamming her door in Ellie's face the next second she is extremely vulnerable and sobbing. Tig Notaro and Octavia Spencer had a lot of funny moments as the two social workers. There was also one scene in the end with Joan Cusack, who makes any thing she appears in at least remotely better.

7/10

Bridesmaids (2011)

Directed by Paul Feig 

Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo

Starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne and Melissa McCarthy 

     Kristen Wiig wears two hats in this comedy masterpiece as main actress and writer- and does a brilliant job. Despite the negative reviews this film may have gotten, I always had high hopes for it considering how much I enjoyed the Wiig and Rudolph duo on the Saturday Night Live days. My expectations were more than exceeded. Bridesmaids is genuinely funny. 

     Annie (Kristen Wiig) is living the single life, in an apartment with two adult roommates, and working as a jewelry store clerk- after the closing of her bakery, Cake Baby. It's easy to say her life is pretty "blah" at this point. Annie then gets the news that her best friend from childhood, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married, and wishes for her to be the maid of honor. Annie agrees to take on the responsibility and thus ensues the normal pre-wedding events. We then meet the fellow bridesmaids; Lillian's cousin, Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), the innocent work friend, Becca (Ellie Kemper), the eccentric sister in-law, Megan (Melissa McCarthy) and finally comes the best friend stealer- the elegant and beautiful Helen (Rose Byrne). As the days until the wedding start to countdown, Helen steals Annie's thunder any chance she gets. Wether it be coming up with a better idea for the bachelorette party, having a better speech at the engagement party, or getting the ladies into a fancy wedding dress store. At this point all that it seems Annie is capable of is getting the women sick off Brazilian food- which leads to a disgusting yet the most hilarious scene of the movie. After Annie eventually cracks under pressure, we luckily see friendship prevail in the end. 

     Aside from the humor throughout the movie, Bridesmaids also has a great storyline, a budding romance between Annie and a cop who pulls her over (sounds cliche I know, but it is cute), and a very positive message about friendship. Annie goes though a lot in this movie and gets to a point where she feels she has nothing good in her life. She is reminded that is not true however, by a friend. 

     This movie serves as a sort of comedic coming out for Melissa McCarthy. Sure, she did have some smaller roles before this film, and began the TV show, Mike and Molly before this- but this film was a real catalyst for her career. She was comedy gold in this movie. Her character was so enjoyably weird and quirky and often had me laughing out loud. She even was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in the film! Kristen Wiig led this movie with a lot of great humor as well. Her and Rudolph has a lot of funny moments between them.  The supporting roles from the other women in the bridal party were sometimes comical, but this was Wiig and McCarthy's movie. 

      For Wiig's first time writing s screenplay, Bridesmaids was very impressive. It had a lot of fresh, real humor that i'm sure many people can relate to- especially if you're a woman going through the stress of planning a wedding. McCarthy will always be a comedy favorite of mine after this movie. A definite must see. 

I give Bridesmaids a... 

9/10