|
|
| I grew up in some ways with Steve Martin and have always been a fan of his. I especially enjoyed his movie Bringing Down the House. It was good enough that it inspired me to go see Cheaper by the Dozen. While I came away with a deeper respect for family and the things that make family important, I left the theater feeling taken advantage of by the makers of the movie. |
(2003) Film Review
by MIKE FURCHES and MELINDA LEDMAN |
| This page was created on January 2, 2004
This page was last updated on
December 28, 2004
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum
Dial up modems will take a few moments |
| CREDITS |
|  Directed by Shawn Levy
Book by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Screenplay by Craig Titley, Joel Cohen, Sam Harper and Alec Sokolow
Producers
Michael Barnathan ... producer
Dustin Bernard ... line producer
Carrie Brody ... assistant producer
Ben Myron ... producer
Ira Shuman ... co-producer
Robert Simonds ... producer
Cast - in credits order
Steve Martin ... Tom Baker
Bonnie Hunt ... Kate Baker
Piper Perabo ... Nora Baker
Tom Welling ... Charlie Baker
Hilary Duff ... Lorraine Baker
Kevin G. Schmidt¹ ... 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
Steven Anthony Lawrence ... Dylan Shenk
Alan Ruck ... Bill Shenk
Richard Jenkins ... Shake
Holmes Osborne ... Nick Gerhard
Vanessa Bell Calloway ... Diana Philips
Rex Linn ... Coach Bricker
Original Music by Christophe Beck"
Cinematography by Jonathan Brown
Edited by George Folsey Jr.
Rated
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG |
| TRAILERS AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers, Photos |
| BOOK |
Cheaper by the Dozen
by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Frank B. Gilbreth
What do you get when you mix a blunt-talking, famous efficiency-expert father and a brilliant, compassionate psychologist mother with twelve rambunctious offspring of various sizes? You get one of America's all-time best- loved memoirs! The hilarious story of growing up Gilbreth has already delighted generations of readers -- and it remains as joyous and exuberant as ever. Laugh along with the adventures of the large, irrepressible family unit that redefined the term -- and proved the
old adage, the more the merrier ... and scarier!
 |
| POSTER |
|
| AVAILABILITY ON VIDEO AND DVD |
CHECK AVAILABILITY AND PRICING OF THIS MOVIE ON VIDEO OR DVD.
Just type in movie title and click go.
Also, check out 100 Hot Videos
and the 100 Hot DVDs
|
|
| SYNOPSIS |
 In modern America, where the average family has 1.87 children, Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) have decided that life is better if not cheaper by the dozen.
The Bakers live in a small Illinois town where Tom coaches the local college football team. The family's day-to-day life is marked by equal parts love and chaos-pet-frog-landing-in-the-breakfast eggs type of chaos.
When Tom is offered his dream job coaching a squad at a large university he and Kate uproot the family, much to the displeasure of all 12 children. At the same time, Kate learns that her memoirs are about to be published. Her agent whisks her away to New York to promote the book, leaving Tom home alone to handle the increasingly unhappy and hectic household, as well as his demanding new job.
With all hell breaking loose at home, Kate on the road, and Tom's job on the line, the Baker family ultimately chooses not to have it all, but to love what they do have.
|
 Review
by
MELINDA LEDMAN BLOG
HJMLedman@yahoo.com.
Melinda
Ledman is a graduate of Baylor University with a Bachelor’s
degree in English. During college, she worked on the film Letter
From Waco (director Don Howard), which won the award for best documentary
feature in the 1997 South by Southwest Film Festival. After she
and her husband Rob had their first child in September 2002, she
began free-lance writing full time. In addition to writing reviews,
she most enjoys writing original screenplays. She gratefully serves
God after 12 years of alcoholism, and appreciates grace and freedom
on a whole new level.
|
| “Cute” was my first reaction to this movie. In fact, cute was about all I could come up with at first. But there was something else in this movie that struck an uncomfortable nerve. Underneath all of the comedy, antics, and “cute” lines, this movie addressed something that I and millions of women struggle with: bartering our unfulfilled dreams
for a commitment to family.
Somewhere along my overachiever quest for independence and accomplishment, I decided to get married and have kids. For me, an identity crisis occurred when I discovered that I couldn’t do it all. I had to choose where my future commitments would lie. I had to choose how (more importantly, with whom) I would identify my life. Three themes in this film, loyalty, sacrifice, and the value of a support system, explore the nature of committing to family. They also correspond with the
nature of identifying with Christ.
Loyalty – When Tom and Mary Baker (the parents in the story) decide to pursue their career dreams, things unravel at home. But, their basic loyalty is to the family. The daughter, Nora, has a different perspective. She moves out of her house and in with her boyfriend, Hank. After her siblings torture Hank on several occasions, she screams, “I have my life now! My life,
not ours. My loyalty is to him now.” Each member of a family (whether physical or spiritual) must decide with whom they will cast their lots. When trials come, is it with our family members? When the world comes against us, is it with Christ?
Sacrifice – “With each child, we got further from our career dreams.” The struggle between unfulfilled dreams and commitment to family makes sacrifice a central theme of this film. At first, Tom and Mary see their career advancements as a way to benefit their family. But soon the promise that the move will make them a happier, stronger family dissolves. This movie
brings to light just how much parents give up for their kids. But, it also sheds frightening light on the effects of careers on children. It begs the question of just who should sacrifice in a family, and how much. If we were to follow Christ’s example, the sacrifice would be complete and total. It would mean putting others first at our own expense. It’s a funny dynamic because God seems to use our sacrifices to open up new avenues for us to accomplish great things.
Support System – There’s nothing like a visual image to stay with you. I will never forget one scene in this movie: thirteen people pouring out of the house with flashlights and search paraphernalia to find their lost little brother, Mark. It immediately made me think of how a family is like a sports team. They are all on the same side, not competing with each other,
but supporting one another. Having not grown up in a large family, the network of Christians at my local church is as close to I’ll come to understanding this phenomenon. In this movie, the family had assembly lines for making lunches and cooking breakfast, and everyone ate together. The family worked as a unit, although its members had distinct personalities, talents and interests. Sound like Christ’s model of a healthy church?
Family is one of God’s favorite ways to illustrate the relationships we share with Him and others. There is God the Father and Christ the Son. We have been called the Bride, and Christ the Bridegroom. We are also called children of God, making us brothers and sisters to each other in Christ. These illustrations abound in the Bible. Why? Because God chooses to identify Himself with us! Christ cast his lot with us when he sacrificed unto death. The relationship and
commitment between God and man really is the same as a family. It requires loyalty and sacrifice from all parties, and provides a support system that is beyond our comprehension.
|
 Review by MIKE FURCHES
mike@furches.org
Web sitewww.furches.org
Mike is the Senior Pastor at United at the Cross Community Church in Wichita Kansas. United at the Cross is a church made up of individuals not often accepted in other churches. The church consists of former gang members, drug addicts, prostitutes and others. Mike also speaks nationally on various topics and is a freelance writer. To learn more about Mike and his ministry link onto www.furches.org.
In the arts Mike has worked with top music artists such as Steppenwolf, Marshall Tucker Band, Kansas and has an active interest in film. |
 Movie remakes are often a dime a dozen and I hadn't really expected much from this particular movie. I was reminded though of how often times a good story can come through despite poor performances and poor movie making.
I grew up in some ways with Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live and have always been a fan of his, not a huge fan but a fan. I especially enjoyed his movie Bringing Down the House. It was good enough that it inspired me to go see Cheaper by the Dozen. While I came away with a deeper respect for family and the things that make family important, I left the theater feeling taken advantage of by the makers of the movie.
Tom Baker played by Steve Martin is the coach of a small college football team in small town America. He is unique in that he and his wife, Kate, played by Bonnie Hunt have twelve children, with only one set of twins in the bunch. One of the daughters, Nora played by Piper Perabo is off on her own and living with her boyfriend, Hank played by uncredited actor Ashton Kutcher. Tom Baker has always dreamed of coaching his alma mater in football and when given the opportunity decides to
jump at it along with his wife who is also becoming a published author at the same time. What happens next, while playing on comedy soon turns to tragedy in more ways than one.
 Soon Tom, Kate, and the clan are living in Chicago, the same city his eldest daughter Nora lives. While the family has enough to get used to it soon becomes obvious that those they come into contact with outside
of the family have to also get used to them. The pressures of adjusting to a new school, new community, and new jobs soon turn into a lesson of the things that are important in life. Things get so bad that one of the children, often called Fed Ex because his siblings tease him that he was left by the Fed Ex man has only his pet frog Bean that he can confide in. This once loving family quickly becomes so self-absorbed that the joy experienced by such a full house is lost in the individual
selfishness of each character. Unfortunately, what follows is that we see things in each character that are not enjoyable when we see their focus on themselves as opposed to their family.
 Those lessons of loving and caring for others can be quite worthwhile and are often times quite thought provoking during the movie. Unfortunately, there are characters that we never care about, and others that we never get to know. Frankly, the skills that some of these actors perform are also quite miserable.
I don't like making personal slams on one's acting ability but frankly if Ashton Kutcher had never been in this movie I would have enjoyed it more. There are often reasons actors go as being uncredited in a movie, it doesn't take long to figure out why in this particular case. There is so little character development among the children with the exception of Fed Ex that we never get to know them and in some ways they become more of a distraction than they actually compliment to the movie.
That is not all of my complaints regarding this movie though. When I watch a movie and see poorly framed stills and scenes I know that I as an audience participant have been taken advantage of. At some point, an editor, Director of Photography (DP) or someone has put out an inferior product in order to make a quick buck. I counted no less than 9 poorly framed scenes in the movie where the boom microphone was hanging down in the scene during the making of the movie. Were the makers of
this movie so blind that they did not see that prior to release, and if they did see it, why did they not reframe the movie. I would hope that this would quickly be corrected in the release of the movie to DVD or VHS format. It is a shame though because on the surface the things addressed in this movie are vitally important in today's society.
 I for one appreciated the effort to have a focus on a family that is accustomed to having the mother stay at home and then the realization of the chaos that occurs when both parents are out of the house. The
truth is, that at least in this movie, that the father does not have the skills nor is he accustomed to doing the things that the mother can do. The children see their parents in wonderful and unique ways, yet when their surroundings are changed and they need their parents the most, the parents become self focused and don't realize the role and responsibility they had. Instead of playing games with their children, or giving advice in important areas, they simply focus on themselves and
their individual worlds collectively fall apart. It is only when threatened with the reality of loosing something that means the most to them that they come to an understanding of the consequences of their selfishness. Unfortunately, the journey along the way to get the audience to this point, while presenting a few laughs gets us to the point of boredom and even wanting bad things to happen to some of the characters. We loose respect for the father and mother, and unfortunately, never
have it for some of the children. Thankfully, the family realizes the error of their ways and things eventually return to normal. Unfortunately, along the way we loose a little bit of the joy and appreciation for the family as well. From that perspective, we can all learn lessons that loving the ones closest to us is in reality what will bring pleasure and happiness. While the Baker family seems to have somewhat of an understanding as to who Jesus is, (even though they get the resurrection
and birth mixed up) they obviously should have focused on him more, maybe if they had they would not have had their opinions so skewed.
As remakes go, they can be horrible or they can be great. I personally liked the most resent remake of Miracle on 34th Street. As to Cheaper by the Dozen, forget this one until it hits the discount racks at the video store and enjoy the original. While there are a few laughs the unfortunate truth is that I simply felt that I had been taken advantage of by a group of people who were more interested in getting my $7 than they were in telling a good story.
On a scale of 1 - 10 for the number of times I saw microphones in the screen plus the good things I liked about the movie - (Lets see 10 - 8 + 2 = A disappointing 4. |
| Continue: |
|
| COMMENT ON THIS FILM |
| BULLETIN BOARD (Rules)
Post your thoughts in the forum
View or post comments -click here.
Your Private Comments.
I will not post these comments. What are your personal thoughts? I also welcome your spiritual concerns and prayer needs. I will correspond with you, usually within two weeks. Click here |
OFFICIAL SITE
Publicity information and images © 2003 20th Century Fox. All Rights Reserved.
No other uses are permitted without the prior written consent of owner. Use of the material in violation of the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Credits and dates are subject to change. For more information, please visit their official site.
Hollywood Jesus News Letter
Receive the Hollywood Jesus Newsletter FREE.
Sign up here
|
| | |
|
|
