Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)

Cheaper by the Dozen

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Shawn Levy
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by Craig Titley
Based on Cheaper by the Dozen
by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr.
Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Starring
Narrated by Bonnie Hunt
Music by Christophe Beck
Cinematography Jonathan Brown
Edited by George Folsey, Jr.
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • December 25, 2003 (2003-12-25) (United States)
Running time
 98 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $40 million
Box office $190.2 million[1]

Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American family comedy film which takes its title from the autobiographical book of the same name by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, but despite the title and the concept of a family with twelve children, the film bears no resemblance to the book nor its original film adaptation, although it is mentioned that the mother's maiden name is Gilbreth. The film was directed by Shawn Levy, narrated by Bonnie Hunt, and starring Steve Martin. The film was released on December 25, 2003 by 20th Century Fox, ultimately grossing just over $190 million worldwide.[1]

Plot

Tom Baker is a football coach at a small rural college in Midland, Indiana, where he raised twelve children, and his wife, Kate, has written her story in a book and hopes to send it to her friend to publish the book. Tom unexpectedly receives an offer from his old friend and football teammate, to coach at his alma mater in his hometown of Evanston, Illinois. Tom accepts the offer, and demands all the children vote on moving. Despite losing the vote, Tom has the entire family return to Evanston for a better home and space. The atmosphere at the Bakers' new house is tense and the situation at school is even worse.

When her book is ready to pick up for publication, Kate is required to do a national book tour to promote it. Tom thinks that he can handle everything in the family's household while Kate is away, so he decides to hire the family's oldest child, Nora, and her self-absorbed boyfriend, Hank, to manage the children. When Nora and Hank arrive, the children plan to make Hank the target of their prank by soaking his underwear in meat and assisting the Bakers' pet dog, Gunner, to attack him by chewing his bottom, prompting him to refuse to assist in babysitting. As a result, Nora drives off with Hank, while Tom lectures them for their prank. After Kate departs for her book tour, Tom realizes that he cannot handle the children on his own after a chaotic night. In reply to this revelation, Tom tries to hire a housekeeper, but nobody is willing to work with a family as large as the Bakers, so Tom decides to bring the football players from work into the family's house for game practicing in the living room to prepare for the Saturday night football game as the children perform chores and their household games. However, the children start causing trouble at school. Kate overhears from the children about the chaos and cancels the book tour to take charge of the situation. Kate's publisher decides to create an additional promotion for her book by inviting Oprah Winfrey to tape a segment about the Bakers in their home instead.

Despite much coaching from Kate, the Bakers are not able to demonstrate the loving, strongly bonded family that Kate described in her book. When Mark becomes upset that his pet frog has died, a heated fight erupts moments before the segment starts, leading the cameramen to call Winfrey to cancel it. Mark runs away from home, prompting the Bakers to find him. Tom indulges a hunch that Mark is trying to run back to the Bakers' old home, and eventually finds Mark on an Amtrak train departing from Chicago to Midland. Reuniting with the rest of their family, the Bakers begin to address their issues with each other, and Tom ultimately resigns from his position at his alma mater with Shake.

Cast

The Bakers

Others

Sequel

A sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, was released in the United States on December 21, 2005.

Soundtrack

"Cheaper by the Dozen" Soundtrack
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "I'm Just a Kid"  Simple Plan 1:24
2. "Help!"    1:12
3. "In Too Deep"  Sum 41 2:46
4. "What Christmas Should Be"    3:10
5. "Life Is a Highway"    4:26
6. "These Are Days"  10,000 Maniacs 3:39
7. "Rockin' Robin"    2:33
8. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"    2:06

Other compositions used in the movie are "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams and Carl Orff's "O Fortuna", among others.

Reception

Critical reception

The film received generally mixed to negative reviews. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film gained a score of 24% based on reviews from 118 critics, with an average score of 4.5 out of 10, and the site's consensus reading: "In this family of twelve children, much chaos ensues, but little hilarity."[2] On Metacritic, which determines a normalized rating from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 46 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[3] Despite initial reactions, the film was given "Two Thumbs Up" from Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper on their television show, and became a box office hit. The film opened at #2 ranking in US$27,557,647 in its first opening weekend and, despite being kept from the top spot by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, went on to gross $190,212,113 worldwide.[1] Ashton Kutcher was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performance in this, and two other films.[4]

Awards and nominations

Association Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Kid's Choice Awards Favorite Male Movie Star Ashton Kutcher Nominated [5]
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Blush Hilary Duff Nominated
Choice Breakout Movie Star – Male Tom Welling Nominated
Choice Movie Liplock Piper Perabo & Ashton Kutcher Nominated
Young Artist Awards Best Young Ensemble Cast Cast (under 18) Won
Best Young Actor Age Ten or Younger Forrest Landis Won
Best Young Actress Age Ten or Younger Alyson Stoner Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor Ashton Kutcher Nominated [4]

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on April 6, 2004.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  2. ↑ "Cheaper by the Dozen". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  3. ↑ "Cheaper by the Dozen Reviews - Metacritic".
  4. 1 2 "2003 RAZZIE Nominees & "Winners" - The Official RAZZIE Forum - Page 1". Razzies.com. 2011-11-13. Archived from the original on 2014-03-16. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
  5. ↑ "Awards won". IMDB. Retrieved 2007-05-12.

External links

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