Cheaper by the Dozen 2 Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)December 23rd, 2005
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2, the sequel to 2003's CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, which itself was the remake of a 1950 film ..., well, you get the idea. The studio tries to go to the same well again and again in the hopes of finding easy money. But it gets worse. Soon after this movie about two large and equally fake families starts you realize that you've just seen it. A few weeks ago this movie was called YOURS, MINE AND OURS -- yet another remake -- and was just as awful. The only real difference between the two is that there is no pet pig in this month's film about two large families.
Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt again star as Dad and Mom, a.k.a. Tom and Kate Baker. The rest of Baker's dozen appears to be the same, but maybe there are some child actor switches, not that you'll care. The other family, with a brood of only eight kids, is led by Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy). Jimmy is a wealthy, boastful guy with a brand new trophy wife (Carmen Electra).
Hilary Duff, as the Baker's second daughter, is the best known of the younger actors. Her face looks particularly gaunt and her make-up appears especially harsh, so don't be surprised if you don't even recognize her. One supposes that she must be attempting a more adult look, but, instead, she just makes you feel sort of sorry for her. This eighteen-year-old actress used to have a charming innocence, but now she already appears over the hill.
Running a painfully long one hundred minutes, the movie is made up of a series of predicable, slapstick moments. Explosions blacken faces, people fall into water, and everyone falls down, right on their faces. The premise has the Baker and the Murtaugh families in heavy competition while on vacation at a lake. Typical of the failed comedy attempts is a loud singing contest across the lake. The Bakers sing a silly, old camp ditty, while the Murtaughs drown them out with a much more sophisticated song.
There is one and only one thing I liked about CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2. It came in the form of a line that got no laughs from our audience, but I found it funny since it hit home with me. "Every dad is entitled to one idiot shirt and one horrible sweater -- it's part of the dad code," Tom tells Kate in one of the few genuine lines in this purely plastic picture.
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 runs 1:40. It is rated PG for "some crude humor and mild language" and would be acceptable for all ages.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
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