Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

With his wife doing a book tour, a father of twelve must handle a new job and his unstable brood.

Director:

Shawn Levy

Writers:

Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. (novel), Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (novel),

Stars:

Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Piper Perabo

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Martin	...	Tom Baker
Bonnie Hunt	...	Kate Baker
Piper Perabo	...	Nora Baker
Tom Welling	...	Charlie Baker
Hilary Duff	...	Lorraine Baker
Kevin G. Schmidt	...	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

Storyline

The Bakers, a family of 12, move from small-town Illinois to the big city after Tom Baker gets his dream job to coach his alma mater's football team. Meanwhile, his wife also gets her dream of getting her book published. While she's away promoting the book, Tom has a hard time keeping the house in order while at the same time coaching his football team, as the once happy family starts falling apart.

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Plot Keywords:

house | illinois | new job | hiding in a closet | interview | 

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Taglines:

This Christmas The More... The Scarier!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [de]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Im Dutzend billiger

Filming Locations:

357 S. Lorraine Blvd., Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$752,096 (France) (16 April 2004)

Gross:

$138,614,544 (USA) (4 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Robert Simonds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min 94 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the beginning of the movie, Kate reveals the title of her new book to be "Cheaper By The Dozen". Although this movie is loosely based on a book by that title about a real-life family, the book was written by one of the sons, Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., along with his sister, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. Although this film is based on that same book that inspired the 1950 film (Cheaper by the Dozen), the only element it retains from the original is the idea of there being 12 children in one family. Even the names of the characters are changed.

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Goofs

When the neighbors come to their house, Jake throws one shoe at the dad and in the next shot we see that he has both shoes.

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Quotes

Kate: Okay, I'll stay a few extra days, but call me if anything's wrong. The house blows up, the kids stage a coup, I'm home.

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Crazy Credits

Over the first part of the credits, we see outtakes.

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Connections

Referenced in Yours, Mine and Ours (2005)

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Soundtracks

"In Too Deep"
Written and Performed by Sum 41
Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group/Aquarius Records
Under license from Universal Music Group

User Reviews

Amusing family comedy

A fairly amusing family comedy, with almost no relation to the book or the earlier film with this title. Steve Martin plays the father of the group of 12 kids who uproots them all to move to the big city where a football coaching job awaits.. suddenly the mom (an amusingly bemused Bonnie Hunt) gets called away on a book tour and dad has to raise all the kids himself. Interesting casting has Piper Perabo (star of the gloriously underrated "Coyote Ugly") as the oldest daughter, Hillary Duff as the teenage daughter, Tom Welling (of TV's "Smallville") as the oldest son and Ashton Kutcher taking an unbilled role as Piper's live-in boyfriend.. and poking fun at himself in the process. The rest of the kids are mostly of the unknown but cute variety,... and the kids get most of the laughs with their various schemes and screw ups along with Martin's reactions to it all. The ending drags a bit as things start to get serious and the family is on the verge of falling apart, but as long as it sticks to the pratfalls the film can be very amusing. GRADE: B