‘Instructions Not Included’ is a 2013 Mexican comedy-drama film directed by and starring Eugenio Derbez. The story revolves around a Mexican playboy who unexpectedly becomes a father when a love child is left at his doorstep. To find the mother, he goes to Los Angeles and starts a new life there. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film grossed $100 million worldwide after its release in the United States, and it’s one of the highest-grossing Mexican movies in the country. ‘Instructions Not Included’ is not a work of art. It’s technically not a very good movie. It has both pacing issues and budget issues, but by the end, the message is so wholesome and heartbreaking that you will be tempted to give your kid a tight hug. Now since many people are wondering what was the point of the whole movie, we have you covered.
Valentin Bravo is not afraid of anything except commitments
The movie starts with a flashback to Valentin’s childhood, and we can see his father, Johnny Bravo, toughening him up by exposing him to various fears, such as heights, spiders, wolves, water, etc. The point of these things was for Valentin to grow up fearless and ready to face anything life throws his way, but instead, it scared Valentin, and he learned to resent both his father and grow up with many fears, including commitments.
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In the present day, Valentin is a playboy living in Acapulco. He frequently scams women into sleeping with him and has a line of one-night stands until, eventually, one of these one-night stands results in a child. Julie, an American woman, leaves a baby girl at his doorstep and asks Valentin for 10 bucks to pay for a cab. However, she never returns. Instead, she calls Valentin right before she is about to board the plane to Los Angeles to let him know that his daughter, Maggie, is staying with him for the time being. She has several issues and needs to find herself and sort herself out before she is ready to be a mother.
Valentin is messed up about it, and he refuses to take on the commitment of caring for a young child, an infant at that. Since he is broke, he starts hitchhiking to reach Los Angeles.
Valentin starts working as a stuntman and manages to raise Maggie into an admirable young girl
Once in LA, Valentin makes way toward the hotel where Julie is staying in a photo that he has of her. Since Valentin doesn’t speak English, he has trouble navigating the hotel and misunderstands that Julie is no longer working there or staying there, for that matter.
By a stroke of luck, he runs into Frank Ryan, a movie doctor who is looking for a stuntman for his project. Valentin attempts to communicate with Frank, but he leaves young Maggie on the edge of the swimming pool, and she inevitably falls in. To save her, Valentin jumps from incredible height directly into the swimming pool. Seeing that Frank hires Valentin as a stuntman, and the two eventually form a lifelong friendship.
Frank says that Valentin can’t return to Mexico with an American child since it will be suspicious, and he will most likely be arrested. Scared of this, Valentin stays in the USA for the next 6 years, raising Maggie from an infant into an admirable young girl. Valentin makes decent money, he is able to afford just about anything and everything that Maggie want’s.
Their life is scheduled more like a fantasy movie than a reality, as it’s obvious that all Valentin wants is for Maggie to be happy. Their house looks like a playground; Maggie is often allowed to skip school, and Valentin can’t seem to say no to her. He takes her to set to meet movie stars and even negotiates some of his deals since, after 6 years, he still can’t speak English.
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The most heartbreaking thing of all is that Valentin also weekly writes Maggie fake letters that are supposedly from her mother. Instead of coming clean that Julie abandoned Maggie when she was a child, Maggie is convinced that Julie is actually a superhero, a secret agent, and that she saves the world frequently.
Since Maggie lives in fantasy most of the time, this leads her to adjust poorly to the rest of the kids, and she is often mocked, which in turn means that Valentin’s strange approach to parenting is often criticized by the school’s headmistress.
Valentin and Maggie don’t have a lot of time left together
One day, at the doctor’s exam, we see a doctor giving bad news to Valentine. According to his prognosis, the treatment failed, and it’s only a matter of time before Valentin dies, supposedly. The next day, Maggie is bullied at school relentlessly and breaks down crying, wondering why her mother never visited her and if she loves her that much. Valentin and Frank organize an audition to hire a woman to play Maggie’s mother.
Once again, this is an extremely bad solution to a very real problem that some of the parents will have with their children, but Valentin continues with his atypical parenting, and at this point, we, as viewers, are judging him hardcore.
By another stroke of luck, Valentin is contacted by the real Julie. She wants to see and meet Maggie, and both are elated. They meet at the zoo, and Valentin expects Julie to look like her hippy self from six years ago, but he is surprised to find out that Julie is actually one of the most successful young lawyers in New York and that she cleaned up her life completely. Maggie is also beyond happy to meet her mother.
Julie eventually introduces Valentin and Maggie to her life partner, who happens to be a woman, Renée, and beyond the initial shock, all 4 of them get along quite nicely. Valentin never had the chance to break the news about the illness to Julie, and he decides he won’t mention it all. It’s time for Julie and Renée to leave for New York once again and Maggie is heartbroken despite Julie promising that they will see each other next holidays.
Julie wants custody of Maggie
Soon after Renée and Julie left, Valentin received a court summons. It looks like Julie wants full custody of Maggie. She has every right to ask for one despite being a shitty mother in the past. Both Valentin and Julie lawyer up, and Frank urges Valentin to tell the judge and Julie the truth about the illness since no judge will separate the two of them under such extreme circumstances. The court proceedings are underway, and plenty of Julie’s witnesses are pointing out that, yes, Valentin is a caring father, but he really doesn’t know how to say “no” to Julie and spoils her rotten. The biggest objection, however, is the fact that he works as a stuntman, which is a high-risk job, and the judge and his lawyer urge him to find another job.
Frank pulls some strings and find him a different job, he is working as a carer for an older rich lady but as it turns out, that job was many times more dangerous that being a stuntman ever was. In any case, after a short trial, Valentin is permanently awarded custody of Maggie, and the two won’t be separated, at least for the time being. But the judge says to Valentin he can no longer work as a stuntman, and he needs to learn English and make sure that Maggie doesn’t skip school any longer.
Maggie is supposed to go with Julie, but Valentin won’t give her up
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While leaving the court, Renée points out to Julie that Maggie probably isn’t even his and this gives Julie a completely new idea. She orders a paternity test for Maggie, and it really does turn out that Maggie and Valentin aren’t biologically related, and as such, she has full custody rights over her. On the day that Maggie is supposed to leave for New York to live with Julie and Renée, Valentin “kidnaps her” and runs away to Acapulco with her.
Julie and Renée are looking for Maggie and Valentin anywhere, even threatening Frank that he will get into legal trouble because Valentin technically kidnapped Maggie and crossed the border with her. Frank says that even if he knew where Valentin was, he wouldn’t tell me; he also reveals the truth about the illness and that Maggie and Valentin have a limited time together.
It was Maggie that was sick all along, not Valentin
In Acapulco, Maggie and Valentin are having the best time ever, and Valentin finally takes her cliff-jumping, something that Maggie has wanted to do ever since she heard about her paternal grandfather, Johnny Bravo. Valentin also learns that his father is dead and starts making peace with him as he is visiting his grave.
One day, Valentin and Maggie see Julie walking toward them on the beach, and Valentin’s first thought is that Julie is here to take Maggie away, but no, she is here to have fun with them and spend some quality time together now that she knows that their time is truly limited. For two weeks, they frolicked on the beach and enjoyed Acapulco, seeing and doing just about anything they could. Then, one day, while lying on the beach, as Valentin is holding Maggie in his arms, we learn that it wasn’t Valentin who was about to die; it was Maggie.
Maggie was born with some kind of heart defect that was getting worse the older she got, and seemingly no treatments worked. The doctor warned Valentin that one day, Maggie wouldn’t wake up at all, and that’s what happened; Maggie fell asleep on the beach 2 weeks after jumping from cliffs, and she never woke up.
So what was the point of all of it?
Well, with the last twist in the movie, finally, it started to make sense why Valentin spoiled her rotten. It finally made sense why he allowed her to skip school, why he bought every single possible toy for her, and why he couldn’t seemingly say no to her; he knew that his time with Maggie was limited and that, ultimately, “tough parenting” wouldn’t make sense when it comes to her specific circumstances. When you know that you have limited time with your child and that your child doesn’t really have a future, you’re willing to disregard every single parenting rule in the book there is.
I know I would. Valentin did the opposite thing from his father; Johnny Bravo tried to prepare him for losses, fears, pain, and other hardships of life because he knew that Valentin had a bright future ahead of him. Ironically, when Maggie died, Valentin ultimately made peace with his father’s philosophies and realized that his father wasn’t cruel; he wasn’t messing with him or intentionally wanted to scar him for life. Johnny wanted to prepare Valentin for exactly this moment in which he losses everything, the person he cared about the most in the world. This is what fearless and strong means: facing adversity and difficult moments with grace.
Valentin ultimately decided to stay in Acapulco as he is seen walking the dog on the beach after Maggie died. There’s also a brief scene showing Maggie in heaven, playing with her grandfather.
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Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
