Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Shawn Levy

Writers (WGA):

Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. (novel) and
Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (novel) ...

Release Date:

25 December 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Tagline:

This Christmas The More... The Scarier!

Plot:

With his wife doing a book tour, a father of twelve must handle a new job and his unstable brood.

Plot Keywords:

New Job | House | Illinois | Snake | Mud Mask

Awards:

2 wins & 7 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Nov. 15	2:00 PM	TBS
Mon. Nov. 16	2:30 AM	TBS

Cast

Steve Martin	...	Tom Baker
Bonnie Hunt	...	Kate Baker
Piper Perabo	...	Nora Baker
Tom Welling	...	Charlie Baker
Hilary Duff	...	Lorraine Baker
Kevin G. Schmidt	...	Henry Baker
Alyson Stoner	...	Sarah Baker
Jacob Smith	...	Jake Baker
Liliana Mumy	...	Jessica Baker
Morgan York	...	Kim Baker
Forrest Landis	...	Mark Baker
Blake Woodruff	...	Mike Baker
Brent Kinsman	...	Nigel Baker
Shane Kinsman	...	Kyle Baker
Paula Marshall	...	Tina Shenk

MPAA:

Rated PG for language and some thematic elements.

Runtime:

98 min | Germany:94 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #40326) | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | Brazil:Livre | Portugal:M/6 | Finland:K-3 | South Korea:All | Australia:G | Germany:o.Al. | Norway:5 | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Steve Martin is a huge fan of the "Doctor Who" series, and playing a character named "Tom Baker" is the closest he'll ever get to accomplishing the goal of so many Doctor Who fans: playing The Doctor, a character who for seven years was played by actor Tom Baker.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kate opens the closet doors, she flinches before the toys fall on her.

Quotes:

Kate Baker: Like you said, twelve's a big number...

Movie Connections:

References "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" (1989)

Soundtrack:

I'm Just a Kid

Martin looks bored, Kutcher and neighbours are funny, Wayne Knight is skinny, end result is rather cliche.

From perusing the variety of ratings imdb users have given this little family flick, one might deduce that imdb users have had a mixed response to it.

Truth is, its nothing groundbreaking or essential, just a nice inoffensive piece of family fluff - lots of fun for the whole family on a Friday night.

But its not really the BEST thing you could watch on a Friday night, is it...? Its the sort of movie that when you see it its exactly how you imagined it. You feel like you may as well not have watched it because you could imagine it exactly without seeing it. No surprises, in other words - too many cliches. Father trying to cope with 12 kids while mum's away on a book tour - of course the kiddies are gonna misbehave. No matter that this doesn't really fit with the kids' characters - who don't seem to be misbehavers. They just misbehave when it suits the comedic situation to have them do so.

The comedy is quite lowbrow - perhaps because the director is the guy who made Just Married. Thus the predominance of cheap slapstick (bad slapstick is Funniest Home Video style laugh when people get injured stuff). And Steve Martin is probably the third thing that lets it down. He's just going through the motions here. He looks tired and distracted.

There are some genuinely interesting things in it, but: the juxtaposition between the multi-sibling family and the various only-child families which abound in the film; and the children's book author whose kids call while she's doing a radio interview and beg her to come home and take care of them.

And I never thought i'd say it, but Ashton Kutcher is one of the comedic highlights of this movie. He shows a willingness to poke fun at himself and play the bad guy (but we already knew that), and he steals those scenes he's in. The other highlight is the trio of annoying neighbours, Tim, Dylan and Bill Shenk.

6/10. Syruppy music and cliche situations make for an alternatively corny and nauseating movie. Its still okay for the family on a friday night though. Reasons to see it are: Ashton Kutcher, the trio of neighbours and skinny Wayne Knight: Seinfeld's Newman is about a quarter the man he used to be! Its a thing to see!