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) (as Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.), Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (novel)

Stars:

Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff

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 14, 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:

child vomiting | child answering the telephone | flip phone | telephone call | frog in pocket | 

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Taglines:

Growing pains? They've got twelve of them!

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language and some thematic elements

Did You Know?

Trivia

The house in Evanston, which is huge, would cost upwards of $2 million. The land alone would be worth a million.

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Goofs

For some reason Sarah and Henry are never shown going to school when the family moves to Chicago, even though there are scenes with the twins, Jake, Mark, and Mike going to the elementary school/junior high, and Charlie and Lorraine going to high school.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Kate: [voiceover] I guess you could say that when Tom and I left Midland we had a mess of theories about how to raise children. We still have a mess of children, but no theories. Sure, 12 is still our number. It's the number of months my book was on the bestseller list. It's the number of job offers Tom turned down before we found one close to home. And each day it's the number of times I'm thankful there's such a thing as family.

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Crazy Credits

Ashton Kutcher as Hank appears during the outtakes in the credits, but has no credit of his own.

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Connections

Version of Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)

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Soundtracks

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: 'O Fortuna' from Carmina Burana
Written by Carl Orff
Performed by Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (as Orchestre symphonique de Montreal)
Courtesy of Decca Music Group Ltd.
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

It's pleasant enough.

This movie was pretty good. There were some funny moments and some okay acting. However, there were a couple of parts that were a little iffy. First of all, I think the twins (I think they were twins) were supposed to be super smart readers or something, but I totally missed that. I only sort of noticed when one of them started saying pretty long words. Second of all, I thought that Hilary Duff's role was not needed, except to make it twelve kids. I found her lines and character stupid and useless. Nothing against the girl herself, but I thought it was pointless. All of the character you got out of her was that she cared a whole lot about clothes and shopping and the like. Yet, there were plenty of moments in the movie that makes it better. Personally, I adored 'Mark' (I think. It was the redheaded one!) and a lot of the acting was great. I enjoyed watching Steve Martin and everyone else. All in all, this was a pretty good movie, but nothing too wonderful.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cheaper by the Dozen

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$27,557,647, 28 December 2003

Gross USA:

$138,614,544

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$190,538,630

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Robert Simonds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min 94 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

DTS (DTS HD Master Audio 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) Dolby Digital (Dolby Digital 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 (D-Cinema prints) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1