Cheaper By The Dozen

What's the Plot?

Tom and Kate Baker (Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt) are not your "everyday, normal parents." The average family has 1.87 children, but the Bakers have 12! Tom coaches the local college football team and Kate is still awaiting her memoirs to be published whilst they manage to bring up nearly a dozen kids: ranging from eldest son Charlie (Tom Welling) who just wants to be with his girlfriend, Lorraine (Hilary Duff) who's fed up with hand-me-downs, down to the 5 year old mischievous twins. The eldest, Nora (Piper Perabo) , has flown the nest and is trying to make it on her own, with her commercial-starring boyfriend in tow whilst avoiding being sucked back into the Baker-life of chaos and mishaps. Then Tom is offered his dream job coaching a football team at a large university which, after talking with Kate, he takes, much to the displeasure of the children who don't want to be uprooted. At the same time, Kate learns that her book is to be published, but she needs to go on the road to promote it. Heading off to New York, Kate leaves Tom alone to handle the increasingly unhappy and hectic household, as well as his demanding new job. Can the family survive their biggest challenge and remain together, or will it be the end of the Baker's dozen?

The Review

Remember the "old-school" Steve Martin ? The "wild and crazy guy" who delivered The Jerk and The Man With Two Brains? Well, his best combination of serious & silly was Parenthood and Cheaper By The Dozen, although not in the same league as that, at least tries to continue it in spirit, if not in content. Indeed, there seems to be nods' to it throughout the film's running time: one of Martin's kids runs around with a bucket on heir head; the "boyfriend" is hated by the parent (although this time there is no redemption or redeeming features for the boyfriend); a kids' birthday party goes awry leaving Martin's character to try and resolve it in an unorthodox fashion and the whole family pulls together to save the day in a sugar-coated but heart-warming none-the-less finale.

Martin goes through the motions well enough, but it still does smell a bit of auto-pilot, which grates because you know that, like Robin Williams who has recently slipped into below-average fare, both were -and are - shining stars and deserve, and should choose, better. Martin and Hunt appear comfortable together, but their performances are upstaged by the children's antics - their tactic against "the boyfriend" involving soaking his underwear in meat and setting the dog, Gunner, loose; one child getting sick, then another slipping in it and getting sick as well, once realising what they've slipped in.

These sparks are very welcome but that's the problem, they're only sparks. The rest is predictable which is a shame - the left-out kid runs away for the whole family to pull together; the next door neighbour is OTT, posh and appalled at the Baker's arrival; people realise that, no matter what, your family is always there for you etc. So, overall, Cheaper By The Dozen is a bit like Martin's career: some great moments in an otherwise average outing. Please, oh please, Martin, let loose your "wild an' crazy guy" again!

STEVE'S SCORE