Instructions Not Included is this years sleeper movie. Right off let me say that out of 10 we gave it an 11. Several reasons for that high a mark. It did something very few movies can do with me..surprised me. I read a LOT and see a lot of movies. So plots are something I can figure out pretty quick. It does not mean I then do not enjoy the movie it just means I can guess where it is going and how it will end. It starts off in Mexico with a free living ,free loving guy who has no plans to ever be anything else. We learn how and why he got that way. But one day his door bell rings and he is handed a baby and asked for 10.00 to pay the cabbie by the mother, who does not come back to collect the baby. He learns the old girlfriend has gone to Los Angeles and he takes off after her to give the baby back. Well, things do not go as he plans...at all. He ends up raising her and taking a stunt job to care for her. This movie is very funny and sweet and caring. But it is heart breaking when mom shows up after 6 years to collect her daughter. The father, played by Mexican actor Eugenio Derbezhas, to fight for her in court and the daughter played by Jessica Lindsey is in awe of having a mother so the fight is a hard one. But there is a twist that I will not even hint at because it makes this movie what it is..a heart breaker and a box of tissues kind. The people we passed as we left were all talking about how much they had liked it. My friend said she had to fight not to start sobbing and I agreed. This is a movie I could go right back tomorrow and watch again even though I know the ending, which believe me, is not what you think. So make the time to go see this movie which is of course in both Spanish (with sub-titles) and in English. The sub-titles were nice in that they are big enough to read easily. I will long remember this one.
Cat Says:
Living where we do we don't get a lot of "Indies" much less foreign films. I'm one of those who don't mind subtitles and a great deal of this movie is in subtitles but takes place in California. The story is a sweet, if contrived, story of a playboy who gets saddled with a baby and ends up trying to raise her himself. Of course the mother returns to muck things up a bit but by the end of the movie that is resolved.
Now let me tell you what is good about this movie. I loved the message of it. The idea that you may not be ready to be a parent and it's an on the job training situation but that you can be a great parent if you commit yourself to it. 99% of the movie is fun, hysterically funny, touching, sweet and wonderful. It's the 1% that will mean I will never watch it again. Up till the very last 2 minutes of the movie I was all set to give this a 9. But the last 2 minutes dropped it to a 7. If you don't mind bad endings, sad endings, truly downer endings then this movie is very much worth watching. If not then skip this one or watch it when you are already in a heartbreaking mood and needing a good cry.
SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ FARTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE END!
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You go on this wonderful journey with this man from the dropping of the baby on his doorstep to his daughters mother coming back and wanting a relationship, his court battle to keep his daughter only to have her die in the last 2 minutes. That's right...they kill of the child! Apparently she had an issue in her brain that meant she could slip into a coma or die at any moment. The idea is that they are adding the message that no matter how short of a time you have someone you love in your life that it is worth the loving. This is supposed to be the "real life" touch for a movie that was anything but real life based. For me, personally, I have enough real life and real life loss...I don't need to go to the movies to see that.
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