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Lee (2222 KP) rated Wild Rose (2018) in Movies
Mar 20, 2019 (Updated Mar 20, 2019)
A Star Is Born
I've talked before about how disappointed I was with 'A Star Is Born' last year. An overrated movie of two halves, with an incredible first half and a dire second half. What I wanted from that movie was the story of a girl chasing a dream, culminating in the birth of a star and an epic singing finale. That all happened in the first half though, with the second half spiraling into boring filler territory. Wild Rose tells the story of Rose-Lynn, a down on her luck, aspiring country singer with dreams of becoming a star. It more closely follows that story I was looking for than 'A Star Is Born' did and is a much better movie overall, despite remaining fairly average throughout. If you put Sheridan Smith in the lead role, this could have just as easily been shown on ITV as their latest big weeknight drama series.
Things kick off with Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) being released from a year in prison where she served time for drug charges. Before anything else, she meets up with a friend to catch up on some sex before heading over to her mums house (Julie Walters). Mum has been looking after Rose-Lynn's two young kids, aged 5 and 8, for the last year and it's clear the bond between mum and children has taken a serious hit. She doesn't exactly make any effort to reconnect with her children either, pulling on her cowboy boots and heading down to Glasgows Grand Ole Opry to try and pick up the regular singing slot she held there before winding up in jail. Rose-Lynn is a huge country music fan, and has plans to head over to Nashville in order to try and become a star.
Rose-Lynn lands a day job, cleaning for a wealthy couple in their large house. The lady of the house, Susannah (Sophie Okonedo) takes a shine to Rose-Lynn and after her children hear her belting out a song while cleaning, goes out of her way to try and help her. Using her connections to get a demo video to BBC Radio 2 legend 'Whispering' Bob Harris and even landing Rose-Lynn a gig at her 50th birthday party with a view to getting her wealthy guests to help 'crowdfund' Rose-Lynn.
Rose-Lynn is not a very likeable character for much of this movie. Selfish, annoying and with questionable life choices and actions. But that's the whole idea - to manipulate our feelings towards her. She's played wonderfully by Jessie Buckley and as her character grows and learns from life, we begin to like her that little bit more too. I was worried that if she eventually did find her way to Nashville, we'd see her become this huge star and I would have felt cheated if that were the case. Without heading too much into spoiler territory, I'll just say that things don't exactly work out that way. It's an unexpected but welcome change in direction, and leads to an incredible and emotional final number.
Things kick off with Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) being released from a year in prison where she served time for drug charges. Before anything else, she meets up with a friend to catch up on some sex before heading over to her mums house (Julie Walters). Mum has been looking after Rose-Lynn's two young kids, aged 5 and 8, for the last year and it's clear the bond between mum and children has taken a serious hit. She doesn't exactly make any effort to reconnect with her children either, pulling on her cowboy boots and heading down to Glasgows Grand Ole Opry to try and pick up the regular singing slot she held there before winding up in jail. Rose-Lynn is a huge country music fan, and has plans to head over to Nashville in order to try and become a star.
Rose-Lynn lands a day job, cleaning for a wealthy couple in their large house. The lady of the house, Susannah (Sophie Okonedo) takes a shine to Rose-Lynn and after her children hear her belting out a song while cleaning, goes out of her way to try and help her. Using her connections to get a demo video to BBC Radio 2 legend 'Whispering' Bob Harris and even landing Rose-Lynn a gig at her 50th birthday party with a view to getting her wealthy guests to help 'crowdfund' Rose-Lynn.
Rose-Lynn is not a very likeable character for much of this movie. Selfish, annoying and with questionable life choices and actions. But that's the whole idea - to manipulate our feelings towards her. She's played wonderfully by Jessie Buckley and as her character grows and learns from life, we begin to like her that little bit more too. I was worried that if she eventually did find her way to Nashville, we'd see her become this huge star and I would have felt cheated if that were the case. Without heading too much into spoiler territory, I'll just say that things don't exactly work out that way. It's an unexpected but welcome change in direction, and leads to an incredible and emotional final number.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Wild Rose (2018) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
More singing! What a great month for this!
The camera work as almost the first thing I noticed watching this film. As I've said before, I can be a terrible cinema-goer as I miss a lot of things like this unless they're either end of the spectrum. In this instance everything was intriguing and well executed, from the letterbox right at the beginning to the use of light when Rose-Lynn sings... just brilliant.
Early on you realise that Rose-Lynn is basically still a child, she throws a tantrum and sulks at the smallest thing. Responsibility has passed her by despite the fact she has two kids. It's frustrating to watch but does allow for good character development as we progress through the story.
From the trailers I knew we'd be in for a treat with the songs, but the impact of the final one is just amazing once you have the context of it. The fact that Jessie Buckley sings them herself is even more incredible.
Buckley hasn't made a great impression on me, the only thing I'd seen her in was Beast and that... well... didn't leave me wanting more, of anything. She put in a great performance here though and was only scuppered y the fact that I had a huge dislike for her character.
Supporting her was Julie Walters, she was amazing as ever and another wonder mum role to add to the list of them this year. As Rose-Lynn's relatively patient mum she is a bit of refreshing sanity in the film and she's certainly the only one thinking about those two kids through most of the film. She's stern and would have had me cowering in a place of shame if I'd been Rose-Lynn.
Mum's character does soften and she helps her daughter attempt to follow her dreams, that leads to a great piece with Rose-Lynn in Nashville. The interactions she has and the reality of her situation hit leading us nicely into the conclusion.
Wild Rose has lots to make it appealing, a solid cast, an interesting storyline and some amazing music. It will definitely find an audience with those that enjoyed A Star Is Born. I have to hope that this isn't the last we see of Jessie Buckley and her singing voice on the big screen.
What you should do
As I said above, fans of A Star Is Born are likely to enjoy this. It's probably also worth seeing it on the big screen to get some great audio.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I would love to have a band spontaneously appear when I start singing at home.
The camera work as almost the first thing I noticed watching this film. As I've said before, I can be a terrible cinema-goer as I miss a lot of things like this unless they're either end of the spectrum. In this instance everything was intriguing and well executed, from the letterbox right at the beginning to the use of light when Rose-Lynn sings... just brilliant.
Early on you realise that Rose-Lynn is basically still a child, she throws a tantrum and sulks at the smallest thing. Responsibility has passed her by despite the fact she has two kids. It's frustrating to watch but does allow for good character development as we progress through the story.
From the trailers I knew we'd be in for a treat with the songs, but the impact of the final one is just amazing once you have the context of it. The fact that Jessie Buckley sings them herself is even more incredible.
Buckley hasn't made a great impression on me, the only thing I'd seen her in was Beast and that... well... didn't leave me wanting more, of anything. She put in a great performance here though and was only scuppered y the fact that I had a huge dislike for her character.
Supporting her was Julie Walters, she was amazing as ever and another wonder mum role to add to the list of them this year. As Rose-Lynn's relatively patient mum she is a bit of refreshing sanity in the film and she's certainly the only one thinking about those two kids through most of the film. She's stern and would have had me cowering in a place of shame if I'd been Rose-Lynn.
Mum's character does soften and she helps her daughter attempt to follow her dreams, that leads to a great piece with Rose-Lynn in Nashville. The interactions she has and the reality of her situation hit leading us nicely into the conclusion.
Wild Rose has lots to make it appealing, a solid cast, an interesting storyline and some amazing music. It will definitely find an audience with those that enjoyed A Star Is Born. I have to hope that this isn't the last we see of Jessie Buckley and her singing voice on the big screen.
What you should do
As I said above, fans of A Star Is Born are likely to enjoy this. It's probably also worth seeing it on the big screen to get some great audio.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I would love to have a band spontaneously appear when I start singing at home.
Doctor Who - Series 1 (New Season - 1)
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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Wild Rose (2018) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
Three Chords and the Truth.
BAFTA named Jessie Buckley as one of their “Rising Stars” for 2019, and here she proves why.
Buckley plays Glaswegian Rose-Lynn Harlan, a decidedly wild child electronically tagged and released from the clink but straight down to some very public cowgirl sex with her erstwhile boyfriend. Only then does she have the afterthought of going round to the house of her Mum (Julie Walters) where two young children live. For Rose-Lynn is a single mum of two (#needs-to-be-more-careful-with-the-cowgirl-stuff), and the emotional damage metered out to the youngsters from her wayward life is fully evident.
Rose-Lynn is a frustrated ‘country-and-weste’… no, sorry… just ‘western’ singer, and she has a talent for bringing the house down in Glasgow during a show. The desire to ‘make it big’ in Nashville is bordering on obsession, and nothing – not her mum, not her children, nothing – will get in her way.
Rose-Lynn has no idea how to make her dream come true. (And no, she doesn’t bump into Bradley Cooper at this point). But things look up when she lies her way to a cleaning job for the middle class Susannah (Sophie Okonedo) who sees the talent in her and comes up with a couple of innovative ways to move her in the right direction.
Will she get out of her Glasgow poverty trap and rise to fame and fortune as a Nashville star?
Difficult to like.
Rose-Lynn is not an easy character to like. She is borderline sociopathic and has a self-centred selfish streak a mile wide. As she tramples all over her offspring’s young lives, breaking each and every promise like clockwork, then you just want to shout at her and give her a good shaking. It’s a difficult line for the film to walk (did the ghost of Johnny Cash make me write that?) and it only barely walks it unscathed.
Memories of Birdman.
A key shout-out needs to go to director Tom Harper (“Woman in Black 2“, and the TV epic “War and Peace”) and his cinematographer of choice George Steel. Some of the angles and framed shots are exquisitely done. A fantastic dance sequence through Susannah’s house (the best since Hugh Grant‘s No. 10 “Jump” in “Love Actually”) reveals the associated imaginary musicians in various alcoves reminiscent of the drummer in “Birdman“. And there are a couple of great drone shots: one (no spoilers) showing Rose-Lynn leaving a party is particularly effective.
The turns.
The camera simply loves Jessie Buckley. She delivers real energy in the good times and real pathos in the bad. She can – assuming it’s her performing – also sing! (No surprise since she was, you might remember, runner up to Jodie Prenger in the BBC search for a “Maria” for Lloyd Webber’s “Sound of Music”). She is certainly one to watch on the acting stage.
Supporting Buckley in prime roles are national treasure Julie Walters, effecting an impressive Glaswegian accent, and Sophie Okonedo, who is one of those well-known faces from TV that you can never quite place. BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris also turns up as himself, being marvellously unconvincing as an actor!
But I don’t like country music?
Frankly neither do I. But it hardly matters. As long as you don’t ABSOLUTELY LOATHE it, I predict you’ll tolerate the tunes and enjoy the movie. Followers of this blog might remember that – against the general trend – I was highly unimpressed with “A Star is Born“. This movie I enjoyed far, far more.
Buckley plays Glaswegian Rose-Lynn Harlan, a decidedly wild child electronically tagged and released from the clink but straight down to some very public cowgirl sex with her erstwhile boyfriend. Only then does she have the afterthought of going round to the house of her Mum (Julie Walters) where two young children live. For Rose-Lynn is a single mum of two (#needs-to-be-more-careful-with-the-cowgirl-stuff), and the emotional damage metered out to the youngsters from her wayward life is fully evident.
Rose-Lynn is a frustrated ‘country-and-weste’… no, sorry… just ‘western’ singer, and she has a talent for bringing the house down in Glasgow during a show. The desire to ‘make it big’ in Nashville is bordering on obsession, and nothing – not her mum, not her children, nothing – will get in her way.
Rose-Lynn has no idea how to make her dream come true. (And no, she doesn’t bump into Bradley Cooper at this point). But things look up when she lies her way to a cleaning job for the middle class Susannah (Sophie Okonedo) who sees the talent in her and comes up with a couple of innovative ways to move her in the right direction.
Will she get out of her Glasgow poverty trap and rise to fame and fortune as a Nashville star?
Difficult to like.
Rose-Lynn is not an easy character to like. She is borderline sociopathic and has a self-centred selfish streak a mile wide. As she tramples all over her offspring’s young lives, breaking each and every promise like clockwork, then you just want to shout at her and give her a good shaking. It’s a difficult line for the film to walk (did the ghost of Johnny Cash make me write that?) and it only barely walks it unscathed.
Memories of Birdman.
A key shout-out needs to go to director Tom Harper (“Woman in Black 2“, and the TV epic “War and Peace”) and his cinematographer of choice George Steel. Some of the angles and framed shots are exquisitely done. A fantastic dance sequence through Susannah’s house (the best since Hugh Grant‘s No. 10 “Jump” in “Love Actually”) reveals the associated imaginary musicians in various alcoves reminiscent of the drummer in “Birdman“. And there are a couple of great drone shots: one (no spoilers) showing Rose-Lynn leaving a party is particularly effective.
The turns.
The camera simply loves Jessie Buckley. She delivers real energy in the good times and real pathos in the bad. She can – assuming it’s her performing – also sing! (No surprise since she was, you might remember, runner up to Jodie Prenger in the BBC search for a “Maria” for Lloyd Webber’s “Sound of Music”). She is certainly one to watch on the acting stage.
Supporting Buckley in prime roles are national treasure Julie Walters, effecting an impressive Glaswegian accent, and Sophie Okonedo, who is one of those well-known faces from TV that you can never quite place. BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris also turns up as himself, being marvellously unconvincing as an actor!
But I don’t like country music?
Frankly neither do I. But it hardly matters. As long as you don’t ABSOLUTELY LOATHE it, I predict you’ll tolerate the tunes and enjoy the movie. Followers of this blog might remember that – against the general trend – I was highly unimpressed with “A Star is Born“. This movie I enjoyed far, far more.
Australia Burns (Show Australia Some Love #1)
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Stories in this collection are contributed by authors who care about Australia and the relief...
Mystery Thriller
Molly J (Cover To Cover Cafe) (106 KP) rated A Heart Revealed (Winds of Change, #2) in Books
Feb 27, 2019
*This review is from my blog and originally published in 2011*
Okay. Let me take just one moment to reflect on this book. *Reflecting* Okay. That’s better. WOW. I don’t even know where to begin. There is so much to say about this novel. Let me start off by saying if you’ve never read a Julie Lessman novel, stop what you are doing right now, and grab a copy. You won’t be sorry. The first novel I read by her was last September, entitled A Hope Undaunted, book 1 in this Winds Of Change series. I couldn’t believe how much I fell in love with her work! I was then lucky enough to win all three novels in her first series, The Daughters of Boston. Though they are still sitting on my shelf to be read, they are definitely calling my name and I can’t wait to go back and read them.
Now, on to the rest. In the first book in this series, I fell in love with Luke McGee. In this novel, I think I love Sean O’Connor even more. I really enjoy Snickers bars, so see, Julie? You could send SEAN my way, and I’d be forever blissfully happy. I LOVED his character. He was great in his role in A Hope Undaunted , but reading his story with the focus on him, was absolutely amazing. His past wasn’t perfect, and there were times when he went wild with anger, but he overcame that. There was one thing from his past that he holds inside though. No one, not even his nosy sisters, know. That is until, he finds himself drawn to his best friend Emma in a way that he couldn’t imagine. He opens up to her….with everything.
Emma Malloy. Bless her soul. She was a wonderful character, flawed and sweet, and wanting everyone close to her to be happy. Including Sean. When she finds her self falling in love with him, when she’s still married to the man who beat her 11 years ago, she’s determined to push him off on Rose Kelly…the woman who loves him. Trouble is, something happened to Sean and he won’t try with Rose.
Oh, I so want to go on and on….but I’m SO close to giving away the plot! I DO NOT want to do that! I want you to devour the book like I did and take the time to reflect on the wonderfulness of this novel. It’s stunning. It’s breath taking. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, from happiness, to sadness, to anger, to pride, to passion. It has a WHOPPER of a twist and an ending that will leave you smiling and tears running down your face. Not to mention I LOVED Casey Herringshaw and Michelle Tuller’s characters 😉 *grins*!
I highly suggest that you grab a copy of this novel NOW. It’s 5 Books worthy, two thumbs up, hats off, a home run, a winner, a best seller……what ever you want to call it’s that. Julie Lessman really has a way to make ME feel a part of the heart of the story. She speaks to me through the words of her characters, and really brings me closer to God each time. She is by far my absolute FAVORITE Christian novelist and I will NEVER part with her books. They are forever on myself for me to read and reread, and reflect on each time. I am looking forward to book three in this series, Steven O’Connor’s story. Sweet angels in Heaven, though, Julie, do you have to make us wait a whole YEAR!?!? *Sigh* Oh well. All the more for me to savor that one upon it’s release.
Okay. Let me take just one moment to reflect on this book. *Reflecting* Okay. That’s better. WOW. I don’t even know where to begin. There is so much to say about this novel. Let me start off by saying if you’ve never read a Julie Lessman novel, stop what you are doing right now, and grab a copy. You won’t be sorry. The first novel I read by her was last September, entitled A Hope Undaunted, book 1 in this Winds Of Change series. I couldn’t believe how much I fell in love with her work! I was then lucky enough to win all three novels in her first series, The Daughters of Boston. Though they are still sitting on my shelf to be read, they are definitely calling my name and I can’t wait to go back and read them.
Now, on to the rest. In the first book in this series, I fell in love with Luke McGee. In this novel, I think I love Sean O’Connor even more. I really enjoy Snickers bars, so see, Julie? You could send SEAN my way, and I’d be forever blissfully happy. I LOVED his character. He was great in his role in A Hope Undaunted , but reading his story with the focus on him, was absolutely amazing. His past wasn’t perfect, and there were times when he went wild with anger, but he overcame that. There was one thing from his past that he holds inside though. No one, not even his nosy sisters, know. That is until, he finds himself drawn to his best friend Emma in a way that he couldn’t imagine. He opens up to her….with everything.
Emma Malloy. Bless her soul. She was a wonderful character, flawed and sweet, and wanting everyone close to her to be happy. Including Sean. When she finds her self falling in love with him, when she’s still married to the man who beat her 11 years ago, she’s determined to push him off on Rose Kelly…the woman who loves him. Trouble is, something happened to Sean and he won’t try with Rose.
Oh, I so want to go on and on….but I’m SO close to giving away the plot! I DO NOT want to do that! I want you to devour the book like I did and take the time to reflect on the wonderfulness of this novel. It’s stunning. It’s breath taking. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, from happiness, to sadness, to anger, to pride, to passion. It has a WHOPPER of a twist and an ending that will leave you smiling and tears running down your face. Not to mention I LOVED Casey Herringshaw and Michelle Tuller’s characters 😉 *grins*!
I highly suggest that you grab a copy of this novel NOW. It’s 5 Books worthy, two thumbs up, hats off, a home run, a winner, a best seller……what ever you want to call it’s that. Julie Lessman really has a way to make ME feel a part of the heart of the story. She speaks to me through the words of her characters, and really brings me closer to God each time. She is by far my absolute FAVORITE Christian novelist and I will NEVER part with her books. They are forever on myself for me to read and reread, and reflect on each time. I am looking forward to book three in this series, Steven O’Connor’s story. Sweet angels in Heaven, though, Julie, do you have to make us wait a whole YEAR!?!? *Sigh* Oh well. All the more for me to savor that one upon it’s release.
125 Best Chocolate Chip Recipes: Quick, Easy, Fun Ideas
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125 Best Chocolate Chip Recipes features creative recipes for everything from cakes, pies, breads,...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Instant Family (2019) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
Enjoyable and harmless comedy laced with a degree of sentimentality.
The Plot
Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) are focused and business-oriented home designers. They’ve talked about having kids “sometime in the future” but the years – as years are want to do – are motoring away from them. Pete is concerned that if they have their own kids now then he will end up being an “old dad” (cue very funny, black-comedy, flashback). This leads them into contact with the State’s fostering service – led by Karen (Octavia Spencer) and Sharon (Tig Notaro) – and they progress into foster training. This introduces into their ‘perfect adult lives’ 15-year old Lizzy (Isabela Moner) and her younger siblings Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz). As these guys come from a troubled background Pete and Ellie find they have their work cut out. Who will crack first?
The turns
You’ve got to admire Mark Wahlberg as an actor. In the same vein as Steve Carell, he seems to be able to flex from dramatic (in his case, tough-guy action roles) to comedy without a blink. He’s nowhere near the calibre of actor as Carell, but he brings to all his roles a sense of menace – derived no doubt from his torrid criminal background in younger days. (His wiki page makes your eyes water: there’s a great biopic screenplay waiting to be written there! ) It must have made the kid actor who plays Charlie (Carson Holmes) actually soil himself at a key point in the film!
Wahlberg and the excellent Rose Byrne make a believable driven-couple, and Byrne has such a range of expressive faces that she can’t help but make you laugh.
Of the child actors, Nickelodeon star Isabella Moner shines with genuine brilliance, both in terms of her acting as the fiercely loyal Lizzy but also in terms of her musical ability (she sings the impressive end-title song). With Hollywood in ‘post-La-La-Showman: Here we go again’ mode, this is a talented young lady I predict might be in big demand over the next few years.
Top of my list of the most stupid “where the hell have I seen her before bang-my-head-against-the-cinema-wall” moments is the actress playing Ellie’s mother Jan. She is OF COURSE Julie Hagerty, air-hostess supreme from “Airplane!”.
Also good value, and topping my list of “I know her from lots of films but don’t know her name” is Margo Martindale* as Pete’s exuberant and easily bought mother Sandy. (*Must write this out 100 times before her picture appears in the Picturehouse Harbour Lights film quiz!).
A well-crafty script with some wayward characters
The script by director Sean (“Daddy’s Home”) Anders and John Morris zips along at a fine pace, albeit in a wholly predictable direction. It helps that I struggle the think of many films about the adoption process itself. Sure there have been lots of movies about children that have been adopted – Manchester By The Sea and Lion being two recent examples – but the only film I can immediately think of (and not in a good way) with foster care at its heart was the Katherine Heigl comedy from a few years ago “Life as we know it”. So this is good movie territory to mine.
There are some fine running jokes, notably young Juan’s penchant for constantly getting injured. However, the script also lapses as did Anders’ “Daddy’s Home 2” from last year – into moments of slushy sentimentality. (My dear departed Dad always used to affect an exaggerated snore at such points, and I could hear him in my head at regular intervals during the film!). I would have preferred a harder and blacker edge to the comedy: something that last year’s excellent “Game Night” pulled off so well.
There are also a couple of characters in the film that were poorly scripted and which just didn’t work. While Octavia Spencer was fine (channelling an almost identical version of her wisecracking and sardonic character from “The Shape of Water“), I just had no idea what her colleague Sharon (Tig Notaro) was supposed to be. The tone was all over the place. Similarly, who should pop up on a balcony in an unexpected cameo but the great Joan Cusack. And very funny she is too for the 10 second interruption. But the writers having got her there just couldn’t leave alone and we get a plain embarrassing extended interruption that strikes a duff note in the flow of the film.
Summary
The film is amusing and harmless without taxing many brain cells. Most notably unlike many so-called American ‘comedies’ it did actually make me laugh at multiple points. I should also point out that my wife absolutely loved it, rating it a strong 4* going on 5*.
But the really cute thing is that…
…the film is “inspired by a true family”: namely Anders’ own. He and his wife fostered three kids out of the US foster service, so the script is undoubtedly loosely based on their own experiences, which give it an extra impact for some of Peter and Ellie’s lines. In an essay for TIME (source: bustle.com) Anders wrote:
My wife Beth and I had been talking for years about whether we should have kids,” he wrote. “For the longest time we just felt like we couldn’t afford it. Then I sold a couple of scripts and was feeling like I might have a career, but we were in our 40s and worried we had left it too long. We knew kids would make our life bigger, so one day I joked, ‘Why don’t we just adopt a five-year-old and it will be like we got started five years ago?'”
It gives you a completely different perspective on the film knowing this. My wife after the film was saying “I’m not sure how accurately it portrays the fostering process”. But it clearly does.
Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) are focused and business-oriented home designers. They’ve talked about having kids “sometime in the future” but the years – as years are want to do – are motoring away from them. Pete is concerned that if they have their own kids now then he will end up being an “old dad” (cue very funny, black-comedy, flashback). This leads them into contact with the State’s fostering service – led by Karen (Octavia Spencer) and Sharon (Tig Notaro) – and they progress into foster training. This introduces into their ‘perfect adult lives’ 15-year old Lizzy (Isabela Moner) and her younger siblings Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz). As these guys come from a troubled background Pete and Ellie find they have their work cut out. Who will crack first?
The turns
You’ve got to admire Mark Wahlberg as an actor. In the same vein as Steve Carell, he seems to be able to flex from dramatic (in his case, tough-guy action roles) to comedy without a blink. He’s nowhere near the calibre of actor as Carell, but he brings to all his roles a sense of menace – derived no doubt from his torrid criminal background in younger days. (His wiki page makes your eyes water: there’s a great biopic screenplay waiting to be written there! ) It must have made the kid actor who plays Charlie (Carson Holmes) actually soil himself at a key point in the film!
Wahlberg and the excellent Rose Byrne make a believable driven-couple, and Byrne has such a range of expressive faces that she can’t help but make you laugh.
Of the child actors, Nickelodeon star Isabella Moner shines with genuine brilliance, both in terms of her acting as the fiercely loyal Lizzy but also in terms of her musical ability (she sings the impressive end-title song). With Hollywood in ‘post-La-La-Showman: Here we go again’ mode, this is a talented young lady I predict might be in big demand over the next few years.
Top of my list of the most stupid “where the hell have I seen her before bang-my-head-against-the-cinema-wall” moments is the actress playing Ellie’s mother Jan. She is OF COURSE Julie Hagerty, air-hostess supreme from “Airplane!”.
Also good value, and topping my list of “I know her from lots of films but don’t know her name” is Margo Martindale* as Pete’s exuberant and easily bought mother Sandy. (*Must write this out 100 times before her picture appears in the Picturehouse Harbour Lights film quiz!).
A well-crafty script with some wayward characters
The script by director Sean (“Daddy’s Home”) Anders and John Morris zips along at a fine pace, albeit in a wholly predictable direction. It helps that I struggle the think of many films about the adoption process itself. Sure there have been lots of movies about children that have been adopted – Manchester By The Sea and Lion being two recent examples – but the only film I can immediately think of (and not in a good way) with foster care at its heart was the Katherine Heigl comedy from a few years ago “Life as we know it”. So this is good movie territory to mine.
There are some fine running jokes, notably young Juan’s penchant for constantly getting injured. However, the script also lapses as did Anders’ “Daddy’s Home 2” from last year – into moments of slushy sentimentality. (My dear departed Dad always used to affect an exaggerated snore at such points, and I could hear him in my head at regular intervals during the film!). I would have preferred a harder and blacker edge to the comedy: something that last year’s excellent “Game Night” pulled off so well.
There are also a couple of characters in the film that were poorly scripted and which just didn’t work. While Octavia Spencer was fine (channelling an almost identical version of her wisecracking and sardonic character from “The Shape of Water“), I just had no idea what her colleague Sharon (Tig Notaro) was supposed to be. The tone was all over the place. Similarly, who should pop up on a balcony in an unexpected cameo but the great Joan Cusack. And very funny she is too for the 10 second interruption. But the writers having got her there just couldn’t leave alone and we get a plain embarrassing extended interruption that strikes a duff note in the flow of the film.
Summary
The film is amusing and harmless without taxing many brain cells. Most notably unlike many so-called American ‘comedies’ it did actually make me laugh at multiple points. I should also point out that my wife absolutely loved it, rating it a strong 4* going on 5*.
But the really cute thing is that…
…the film is “inspired by a true family”: namely Anders’ own. He and his wife fostered three kids out of the US foster service, so the script is undoubtedly loosely based on their own experiences, which give it an extra impact for some of Peter and Ellie’s lines. In an essay for TIME (source: bustle.com) Anders wrote:
My wife Beth and I had been talking for years about whether we should have kids,” he wrote. “For the longest time we just felt like we couldn’t afford it. Then I sold a couple of scripts and was feeling like I might have a career, but we were in our 40s and worried we had left it too long. We knew kids would make our life bigger, so one day I joked, ‘Why don’t we just adopt a five-year-old and it will be like we got started five years ago?'”
It gives you a completely different perspective on the film knowing this. My wife after the film was saying “I’m not sure how accurately it portrays the fostering process”. But it clearly does.