Thursday, October 17, 2013

Movie Review: "Instructions Not Included" (2013)

Movie: "Instructions Not Included"
Director: Eugenio Derbez
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 2 minutes
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A perpetual playboy named Valentin (Eugenio Derbez) lives in Acapulco without a care in the world, sleeping in all the time, and sleeping with any and as many women as he can. When former lover Julie (Jessica Lindsey) shows up at his doorstep with his 10-month old daughter, then disappears after going to pay the cab, Valentin is left to care for the girl. After acquiring a job as a stunt man in Hollywood, he turns from playboy to father-of-the-year, doing everything he can to make life for his now 7-year old daughter Maggie (Loreto Peralta) fun and worthwhile. Julie shows back up again, wanting to rekindle her relationship with her daughter, while simultaneously threatening to bring Valentin's world crashing all around him.

We absolutely loved this film. The thing about foreign movies in theaters here in America is that we tend to get the best of the best from different countries. If it gets a wide release, chances are, it's golden. Movies like this are the reason we go to the theater: this film is a hidden gem, a movie you heard about, still didn't really want to watch and found a way to love every minute of it because it was just that good.

The movie opens with lots of silly comedy and segways into a sappy tearjerker (yes, we BOTH cried). The type of emotion this movie is able to convey is one you didn't see coming, and it's cathartic for audiences to watch...at least it was for us. Who knows, maybe we just saw this at the right place and the right time, but it definitely made small waterfalls come out of my eye holes. Let it take all of your money, you won't even care once it's over.

"Instructions Not Included" has managed to make millions of dollars in America, without a lot of marketing, and it definitely deserves all the recognition it's being given. Critics who don't like this movie basically have no soul and/or have never known what it's like to truly love someone, whether it be a spouse/partner or a child.

My Rating: 10/10
BigJ's Rating: 10/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 53%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

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