Instant Family

THE GIST: Pete and Ellie Wagner have a happy marriage, but a couple isn't a family and so they start considering foster care. When visiting a fair of kids in need of a home, they meet Lizzy, a teenage girl, who tells them kids her age know no one wants to take them in. Feeling up for the challenge, they decide to foster her, together with her two younger siblings. Then, trouble begins.

Instant Family is a pretty funny comedy with a few well paced dramatic moments.

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne star, along with Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro, Margo Martindale, and Joan Cusack.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Not a memorable movie but not a dud either. Good for a couple hours of entertainment, and the topic might even generate some conversations about fostering and adoption and raising teenagers.

Grade: 7