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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Dad, don't hide in the closet! Take it like a man!", December 23, 2003
Okay, so it's not as good as the book. And actually, other than the title and the fact that it involves a family with twelve kids, it bears no resemblance to the book at all. But "Cheaper by the Dozen", which stars Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt as the parents of a REALLY big family, is sweet and sorta funny and carries a nice message about spending time with your kids. And in the end that was good enough for me. The Bakers never set out to have twelve children, it just sort of happened, and as the movie opens they are living in chaotic but harmonious discord in a rambling old house in the country. But then Dad gets the job of a lifetime, and the whole brood moves into the city/suburbs, where the kids don't fit in and are miserable and the parents begin to fight and everything starts to fall apart. And them Mom goes on a book tour. Craziness ensues. If you are a pre-teen, teen, or, like me, twenty-three and sad, you will recognize almost every kid in this movie from Disney and WB shows. Tween fave Hilary Duff isn't given much to do and is wasted, but "Smallville"'s Tom Welling is affecting as the oldest son, even if his plot line is a little ridiculous. (I mean, there is no high school, anywhere in America, where a guy as impossibly gorgeous as Welling would be an outcast. We know a hottie when we see one.) "Cheaper by the Dozen" doesn't have any really big laughs, but many small ones, and you may get teary-eyed at the end. A pretty good family flick and recommended for a Saturday matinee at the movies.<P(...)
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Dozen Points, April 24, 2004
This is a family movie, so you can buy (or rent it) without really flinching about dirty words or inappropriate behavior. Here are a dozen reasons why it's OK and not so OK. 1) (Good) Steve Martin is perfect for these kind of roles. He remains the personification of the unflappable leading man that he's portrayed in films like "Parenthood" and "Father Of The Bride." 2) (Bad) Bonnie Hunt is wasted. She comes off well, but ultimately the kids and Martin have to carry the film. 3) (Good) The kids are likable, and, at times, very touching (Especially Mark/Fed Ex). None of them utter curse words or make smutty jokes. 4) (Bad) That the kids frequently flagrantly disobey house rules without any kind of discipline. (Although the pants and meat gag is the film's best joke.) They plot and scheme sadistic traps ala "Home Alone" lite, and spend a fair amount of time saying how badly the parents' work is interfering with their lives, never minding the fact that Dad's new job is putting them into a higher standard of living then they've ever known before. (Tom Welling in particular.) 5) (Good) Nice to see parents who are willing to try to live their dreams, not shut everything else out of their lives and do so without resentment towards each other. 6) (Bad) Does anyone really believe you could practice a College football team in a back yard? 7) (Good) Despite having twelve kids on screen (OK, so Nora, the oldest, is living on her own), each kid gets some time to chew the scenery and does so without getting overtly cute or sugary. 8) (Bad) The DVD sports a serious lack of extras. Fox couldn't fit a trailer on the disc but found space to promote the upcoming "Garfield?" Boo and hiss. 9) (Good) Ashton Kutcher playing right into type as Nora's narcissistic boyfriend. 10) (Bad) I am getting really tired of all things Hillary Duff. 11) (Good) Any soundtrack that features 10,000 Maniacs and Fountains of Wayne is all right by me. 12) (Ultimate Good) The final messgae is that families can ultimately be happiest if they stay honest to themselves. Even in a movie as slight as "Cheaper By The Dozen," it is a message that is usally ignored or, even worse, mocked by most current Hollywood fare, here it is movie's strongest core statement. That alone makes "Cheaper By The Dozen" worth at least a viewing.
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18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Funny Movie!, January 19, 2004
Steve Martin movies are usually very good. "Bringing Down the House," was great, as was "Novocaine," but now he is starting to go to family movies in "Cheaper by the Dozen." "Cheaper by the Dozen," is a remake of a much older movie that was based on a book. The reason I liked this movie was that it was funny, smart, and it was not just an hour and a half of children screaming. Steve Martin was funny in it, very much like he usually is, and I could see them making a sequal out of it, especially since it's already made over a hundred million dollars since Christmas Day. The movie is about Tom and Kate Baker who live in the small town of Midland with their kids. They have twelve of them. Tom is a collage football couch, and his wife is writing a book on her family which is actually called Cheaper by the Dozen. Their oldest daughter Nora has moved out of the house and is living with her model/actor boyfriend Hank. When Tom gets a job offer to couch another football team they move to a new city, much to the dismay of their children, who find out wuickly that they do not fit in the new city. Their next oldest children next to Nora is Charlie, who has made it pretty clear that he does not really like his father, and Lorraine, who is always obsessing about what the family wears, how they look, etc etc. The rest of the children also always make fun of Mark, who is so unlike everybody else in the family, that the kids call him "Fedex," as if he was delivered to them. They are just settling into their new home, and their new life, when Kate gets her book published and she has to go away for two weeks to promote it. Tom states that he could handle the kids for those two weeks, and be able to go to work, so Kate goes. Problems start right away when Nora and Hank come and the kids make it their personal mission to annoy Hank in any way that they can. Take this one scene where they soak his underwear in meat so that the dog would chase after him. It's clever, especially since it was thought up by ten year olds. More problems arise from Kate leaving, and that's pretty much the story to "Cheaper by the Dozen." If Tom was played by anybody else then Steve Martin, the movie might not have complety worked. I also don't like the way people always state that they shouldn't make a remake of a classic. I don't compare remakes to the oringal. The remake is a new movie. It's a seprate movie and I think about it, as if the first movie was never made. The same with book adaptations. I see the movie as if the book was never made. That's what you have to do with "Cheaper by the Dozen." It's an hour and a half long, and it's funny, with some good acting, and some very funny moments and very funny scenes. ENJOY! Rated PG for language and some thematic elements.
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