Father Knows Best

Instructions Not Included

I will never know what it is like to be a single parent. The ups and downs that that a single parent goes through on a daily basis is phenomenal to me. Films have tried to show the hardships of being a single parent, mostly from a mother’s point of view. But what about those single dads out there? I could only imagine that their lives are not any easier. This subject is the basis for a 2013 Spanish-language film appropriately titled Instructions Not Included.

Valentin Bravo (Eugenio Derbez Jack and Jill) loves is bachelor life in Acapulco. However, his bachelor living ceases to exist when a forgotten ‘love’ comes knocking on his door. Holding a baby girl in one hand, Julie (Jessica Lindsey Now You See Me) stammers out the words that little Maggie is his, hands him the little baby, asks for $10 to pay the cab, and is gone. Just like that Valentin is a new dad. By pure dumb luck, Valentin finds out that Julie is headed to Los Angeles and so decides to deliver little Maggie back to her mother. However, when Valentin finds the last place that she worked, Valentin learns that she is no longer there leaving the trail cold. Valentin must now figure out how to live in America, work in America, and all the while trying to raise a little girl that has been thrust upon him.

This was a sweet little movie about a father and his daughter. The chemistry that Derbez and Loreto Peralta (six year old Maggie) have was amazing. The two of them play off each other very well in both the fun scenes and the touching scenes. Given that this is Peralta’s first film, I was pleased with her acting ability. Especially when asked to cry on queue was pretty impressive. There were a lot of humorous scenes throughout the film, but watching Derbez and the little baby, I believe, were the best comedic scenes.

Derbez is also the director of this foreign film. I have not had the pleasure of watching his other films, but I can say that I will try after watching this film. Derbez has good clean comedic timing and was able to bring all the emotions out of his actors when he needed them. Being able to shift gears in a film like this is tough, going from happy/laughing to serious/tearful, but Derbez makes it look simple.

With all of that said I am going to warn you that this is another film that I have recently watched that isn’t very original. Taking some elements of Three Men and a Baby, Instructions doesn’t really cover any new ground when it comes to this subject matter.

Forgiving the film for not being original, I did enjoy the film immensely and found it to be a cute movie that, despite the PG-13 rating, you can sit and enjoy with your own kids.

The Verdict: Check Out on Netflix (Watched this one there too)