10 Outstanding Adopted Movie Families

1. The Misfits

In The Misfits, a group of five people€”Roslyn, Gay, Guido, Perce, and Isabelle€”are drawn together and eventually forced to confront each other€™s deepest misgivings. The movie is in essence a series of vignettes where the characters just talk to each other about what they€™re feeling, and by the end of the movie, they journey across vast portions of the emotional spectrum. This is an adopted family that isn€™t always happy together.

The Misfits really explores these three-dimensional, very distinctly different people who don€™t fit in with society or each other€”and how they interact with each other€”to tell an unashamedly human story. What starts as a drinking trip becomes something much more profound. Roslyn decides to stay with Gay for a while, and the group eventually becomes involved in small business enterprises together. Although the characters are different, they all are in the same kind of slump in life, so they are compatriots. Since they know they are on the same level, anything they do physically is really rendered impotent. Anything they achieve must be through dialogue. Even at the characters€™ darkest moments, because of their circumstances, they stick around and listen to each other€™s feelings, about conflicts big and small, with one issue as psychologically different as the next. Even if they had some bad times in the past (and Guido has some particularly awkward moments), they€™re still comfortable enough to stand right next to each other in the scenes that follow. And even at parting, you know that even if they never see each other again (or want to), there is a really profound connection that has been created, and they are tied together for longer than just a few days away in the desert. These characters are the story, and it€™s always awesome to have a movie like that. But it€™s also awesome to have a movie that connects such seemingly discordant characters into a family, addressing how a family can just be a group of people who can€™t leave each other alone, through love, hate, or nothingness.

Conclusion

Unrelated characters becoming adopted family units is always cool to see in movies and can enrich a story in tremendously interesting ways when it€™s relevant€”I€™m looking forward to what Joss Whedon has said he will be doing in The Avengers 2. What do you think of my choices? Do you think many other movies should be included? This is an even bigger thing in TV with its long-term format. In fact, many of my favorite shows over the years have had this element€”Quantum Leap, Cowboy Bebop, Seinfeld, Men of a Certain Age, South Park, Poirot, Arrow€the list goes on.