I am not sure why, but I had been wanting to see this movie ever since I saw the commercials for it. It stars Mark Wahlberg and a cast of mostly unknowns, to me. He and his wife end up talking themselves into wanting kids after having life way too easy for way too long. We then get to see the ins and outs of what it takes to adopt kids from foster care. I liked the line he tells his wife that "people that foster kids are really special, they volunteer when it's not even a holiday. We don't even volunteer on a holiday." I even chuckle at people who volunteer, I hate the idea of doing something for nothing, but that is neither here nor there.
The movie takes a little while to develop, Tom Segura comes out as a brother in law and has some funny lines. The two ladies running the foster care agency also are funny in a traditional straight/goofy partnership. After they go through the program and get certified, we finally see the kids that will change their lives. I am assuming the movie was trying to "keep it real" by showing a range of couples trying to adopt, including gay, ultra religious, the single power mom, and then some regular couples. It must have taken a lot to carefully write this with humor because the whole foster care and adoption systems seems like such a harrowing process. There were equal parts laughter and tearing up al through the movie
I remember growing up my mom saying she would probably be a foster parent as she got older and we all moved out. Of course, that idea was cut at the head by my brother and sister who really don't even like sharing "their" mother with us. I guess they keep her plenty busy because they set up camp right next door, one lives next door and the other lives behind her, so mom always at least has the grandkids around.
Once the kids show up in the movie, we see some real drama and pain as we have to understand what the poor kids go through. The boy has a trash bag full of teddy bears which the new mom thinks is cute until the older sister explains they get a new bear each time they go to court, innocent kids shouldn't see a courtroom, much less have bags filled with reminders of how many times they go. Eventually, after the new parents have made a lot of headway with the kids, they have to meet with the real mom who the older girl has been waiting and hoping to come and save them. The girl doesn't have the knowledge that once a person becomes a junkie, their drug of choice is more important than the "love" of some kids. The junkie mom does what junkies do and in the end, the new parents put themselves out on the edge and reach out and "save" the kids.
I have thought about fostering kids at times, we always seem to have the house full of kids and I enjoy the energy and enthusiasm they bring, but the flip side of the coin as the movie showed, is the kids bring baggage from their previous lives and I don't think I want to handle that. This movie did a great job of showing the importance of people stepping up and participating, mixed with the complexity of one minute everything seems great and the next the kids lives are in free fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment