Instructions Not Included

Valentín is a bachelor living in Acapulco, enjoying a carefree life as a womanizer, until a former partner leaves a baby girl on his doorstep and disappears. The child, Maggie, is said to be his daughter. Unable to find the mother, Valentín travels with the baby to Los Angeles, where she was last known to have stayed. When the search leads nowhere, he raises Maggie on his own and earns a living as a stuntman in Hollywood.

Six years later, Valentín and Maggie have settled into a close father-daughter bond, with Maggie acting as his coach on set and the two sharing a life together. Their stability is disrupted when the mother reappears and asserts her claim as a parent.

Eugenio Derbez directed, produced and stars in this Mexican-American comedy-drama, his feature directorial debut. He wrote the screenplay with Guillermo Ríos and Leticia López Margalli. Loreto Peralta plays Maggie, with Jessica Lindsey, Daniel Raymont, Hugo Stiglitz and Arcelia Ramírez in supporting roles. The film was made for about 6 million dollars and took roughly 99 million dollars worldwide, an unusually large return for its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from over 32,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.7 from around a thousand votes. A critics' rating of 6 out of 10 from 21 reviews places it below both audience scores.