The plot is fairly simple plot. A couple, Pete and Ellie Wagner (Mark Wahlberg and Rose Bryne) who has launched their own successful house flipping business decide that they do want children after all, after years of putting the subject on the back burner. So they become certified foster parents to the mixed reviews from Ellie's family so they go through with it anyway.
They end up getting a set of three siblings, Lizzie (Isabella Moner), Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and little Lita (Julianna Gamiz) to mixed results. Things start off great but turn ugly quickly. Lizzie is resentful and longs for reunification with her birth mother while Juan is accident-prone (though not all are his fault) and careless with his actions while Lita throws temper tantrums like many kids her age.
While Juan and Lita adjust, Lizzie still longs for her mother and jumps at the chance to go back and live with her while Juan and Lita go reluctantly.
Things come to a head when Pete and Ellie discover that the adult janitor sent a picture of his penis to Lizzie which was such a dumb move on his part. They beat him up and all three are arrested. The kids are placed back with their mother but that also falls through. The bio mom has relapsed and is not ready to take the kids. Turns out that Lizzie filled out all the paperwork for her mom.
Lizzie once again sacrifices herself, urging them to adopt the younger two while she re-enters the system though Pete and Ellie don't give up on her and the film ends happily with the kids getting adopted by the Wagners.
While this film deals with a serious topic, it still deals with the major issues, getting a child addicted on drugs, sexual molestation of a minor and fear of abandonment among others though it still is too polished. For a more gritty, realistic film on the topic, try 2012's Short Term 12.
However, this film is not to be missed. Wahlberg and Bryne have great chemistry and truly do seem like a real couple and the supporting cast is great from Julie Hagerty and Michael O'Keefe as Ellie's parents to Margo Martindale as Pete's overbearing but loving mother to Tig Notaro and Octavia Spencer as the odd couple social workers who guide Pete and Ellie through the process. The other foster parents are also a bunch of interesting characters including one woman, for reasons never explained, she wants to adopt a athletic teenage boy so he can win a scholarship to a Division I college and that's only one of them, the rest are probably more realistic. Keep an eye out for Charlie McDermott and Joan Cusack cameos.
I certainly had some problems with the film. It is never explained why some described Pete as damaged goods but overall, it is great. Pete and Ellie get Ellie's sister, Kim (Allyn Rachel from the short-lived series Selfie) to get off her high horse of only having a blood child and it shows that there is no such thing as a perfect parent but with enough love and attention, mountains can be moved nevertheless. Grade: B+
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