Cheaper By The Dozen film review

certificate_PG

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN

According to the old maxim 'the more the merrier', the exploits of a family of twelve kids should be very merry indeed. Unfortunately Cheaper By The Dozen is the exception that proves the rule. Watching a bunch of ungracious and charmless kids run amok soon loses its appeal despite the tireless efforts of Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt in the role of beleaguered parents.

Director Shawn Levy (Just Married) might have been better off adopting the 'Less is more' tenet instead of assuming that pandemonium equals comedy. Being caught in the domestic maelstrom of a dysfunctional family is as exhausting to watch as it surely is to endure. The relentless mayhem of Cheaper By The Dozen is akin to an adolescent version of the equally manic Daddy Day Care.

One ironic feature is that for a film based on a real life family, there is almost nothing that rings true. The idea that a parent would continually forget the name of their offspring is as unfunny as it is unlikely. In addition, by trying to establish twelve distinctive personalities and maintain their different stories, the writers have undertaken the literary equivalent of a plate-spinning act, with the result that there is a lot of broken crockery.

Cheaper By The Dozen is a remake of the 1950 film based on Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth's book about growing up in a large family. In the new version the names along with the many of the major elements have been changed. One significant difference is that the father's career has switched from the potentially more amusing one of a scientist who involves his kids in his experiments to that of a college football coach who has no time to spend with them.

In their 23 years of married life Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) have become "experts at managing chaos". When Tom is offered his dream job coaching his old alma mater, against the kids' wishes, the family move from their relatively harmonious existence in a small Illinois town to the big city life of Chicago. One advantage is the move brings them closer to eldest daughter Nora (Piper Perabo) who has moved in with narcissistic actor boyfriend Hank (Ashton Kutcher), who the younger Bakers revel in making the victim of their mischievous pranks.