Cheaper By The Dozen Movie Review:


"Cheaper by the Dozen" is a remake of Walter Lang’s 1950 film of the same name about a family containing two parents and their twelve siblings. This remake in contrast has hardly anything similar to the original with the family themes being altered drastically. Though the film seems to be reaching at
times and lacks depth, it is still a cute film for the whole family to relish with.

Tom (Steve Martin) and Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt) have sacrificed both of their careers to give focus to their family, which is composed of twelve
siblings. Tom is a local division III football coach, who has turned down more generous coaching offers, and Kate has left behind her career in journalism, for novel writing to donate more time at home with the kids. The only child that
does not live with the family in countryside of Midlands is Nora (Piper Perabo), who is an aspiring advertising consultant in nearby Chicago. The family includes high school football star Charlie (Tom Welling) and materialist teenager
Lorraine (Hilary Duff), as well as a younger set of twins (Shane and Brent Kinsman), the mischievous Sarah (Alyson Stoner), and the family outcast Mark
(Forrest Landis). When an old football buddy (Richard Jenkins) of Tom’s offers him the head-coaching job at the prominent Lincoln University, unambitously the whole family has to leave Midlands to move to Chicago. To make matters
worse, Kate’s new book is being published and she has to be away on a two-week promotional tour. Tom has never been left alone with the kids, but believes he can handle it. As every obstacle and gag tests the family, Tom’s patience is
worn, but he eventually reflects that the most important purpose is what he has at home.

Director Shawn Levy maintains a charming atmosphere from beginning to end in "Cheaper by the Dozen." There are numerous laughs throughout and the drama aspects of family are effective as well. However, there are moments where
the film seems to be searching for ideas and relies on repetitiveness to gain a laugh. An example is the continuos chandelier incidents and one of the child
character’s longing bad habits. The script by Sam Harper and Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow delivers what is needed for the film to work, but there is no
question it could have been more contrite. As usual with family films involving so many characters, not all of the twelve children are given their due, but the
film would probably drag if each of the siblings were focused on significantly.

Steve Martin fares well in the role as Tom, delivering his usual comedic sarcasm, but also has more physical comedic moments in this film than he did
earlier this year in "Bringing Down the House." Bonnie Hunt is a beautiful and likeable actress, and she delivers the usual goods in her role as the family mom, Kate. Ashton Kutcher arises in a supporting role as the oldest daughter
Nora’s model/actor boyfriend Hank, and steals many moments, especially in the gag reel at the end of the film. Teen icon Hilary Duff is suitable in her role as the fashion guru teenager of the family, Lorraine, and Smallville’s Tom Welling is also notable as Charlie, though there should have been more of him involved.

"Cheaper by the Dozen" is an enjoyable film for the whole family, though the kids are destructive in the film, it comes nowhere close to being too violent. Though the dramatic elements of family are present, the film is more of a crowd-pleasing comedy, even if the film contains many obvious flaws.

Grade: B-

Joseph Tucker

To say Tom (Martin) and Kate Baker (Hunt) have a large family is an understatement. They are the proud parents of twelve kids aged between twenty-two and four years old. When Tom lands his dream job of coaching his college American Football team, The Stallions, he relocates his family from the sleepy town of Midland to the suburbs of Chicago. The kids don’t take too well to this however as they have to leave their schools, friends and in eldest son Charlie’s (Welling) case, girlfriend behind.

Steve Martin has family troubles. Kids running wild, teenage angst and daughter boyfriend trouble. Haven’t we heard this all before?

Cheaper by the Dozen is a lesser version of the far superior Parenthood, which Martin made with director Ron Howard in 1989. The movie itself is actually a remake of a 1950s film, which was based on the true story of the Gilbreth family from Rhode Island but its themes are so similar to Parenthood that you have the feeling that you’ve seen this all before.

The cast are good however but due to the scope of the story and the sheer number of characters, many of the kids tend to fall more into minor supporting roles. With twelve kids you can’t expect them all to have an equal share of screen time but some of them have hardly anytime at all. Hillary Duff is one example. She is an up and coming star that is mainly used as the dizzy, Barbie doll member of the family who has really little to say or do other than look beautiful and give fashion tips. Tom Welling is also underused as the family’s disgruntled eldest son Charlie, as all he has to do is look moody and angst ridden. Piper Perabo has hardly any screen time as earliest daughter Nora but her scenes with Ashton Kutcher are some of the funniest in the movie. The younger children have little chance to shine with Alyson Stoner as Sarah and the twins Brent and Shane Kinsman as Nigel and Kyle been the highlights of the younger siblings.

The movie is all about Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt’s characters trying to regain the dreams they sacrificed to bring up their children. Martin’s Tom Baker is basically the same as Gil Buckman from Parenthood, the steadfast, reliable Dad who thinks he can cope when his wife isn’t around to help. This is Steve Martin on autopilot and it seems like we will never get to see that wild and crazy guy that made him famous. Bonnie Hunt is as good as ever however and is the shining light of the movie. She has great comic timing and some of her one-line comebacks are very funny indeed, especially when witnessing her eldest daughter and her boyfriend kissing in front of her.

“Cheaper by the Dozen” adds nothing new to the family comedy genre. The cast are good but with this many characters their screen time is limited, leading to many of them being underdeveloped. This is inoffensive, feel good nonsense that does just enough to entertain but not enough to really make you care. One thing it does succeed in however is putting you off having a lot of kids.

Star Rating = * *

Jamie Kelwick

Here's another sunny remake of a classic 1950s family film starring Steve Martin as the frenzied patriarch. While the film does keep adults and kids relatively entertained, it also drifts into both lame slapstick and sappy sentimentality. Tom and Kate Baker (Martin and Hunt) always wanted a large family, but even for them 12 kids were a bit much. At least while living in the Illinois countryside there was plenty of space! Now their eldest (Perabo) has moved in with her vain actor boyfriend (Kutcher) in Chicago, and both Mom and Dad get their chance to pursue long-held dreams: Tom's offered a job in Chicago; Kate finally gets a book publishing deal. So they pack up the family and move to the city, then Mom heads for New York to work on her book, which of course puts strain on Dad's new job and the kids' adjustment from rural to urban life. Hilarious hijinks and Important Life Lessons ensue.

The film does well to focus on the more grown-up conflicts, leaving the younger kids' plots and antics to explode from time to time in well-staged set pieces. Some of this is quite hilarious (mostly the scenes where Kutcher is the butt of the joke), and the film only strains when it tries too hard to be heartwarming or meaningful. Martin is wonderful when he plays it straight--bringing out the wry wit in the dialog--but he's terrible at the broad physical comedy. Hunt is excellent as usual, providing the film's sharper moments. And the older children get decent characters (Perabo's independent young woman, Welling's brooding jock, Duff's fashion-obsessed teen), while the younger ones blend into a gelatinous mass with a few standouts here and there. Really, the main problem is a script that exists in a fantasyland where the worst thing a child ever does is to let his frog loose at breakfast time. Reality would be a whole lot grittier than this soft, silly movie. And perhaps a nod in that direction--along with a slight avoidance of so much sloppy syrup--would have helped.

Rich Cline

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