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Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American family comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and stars Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. The film was released on December 25, 2003 by 20th Century Fox to poor reviews from critics, but was a box office success, ultimately grossing just over $190 million worldwide against its $40 million budget.
| Cheaper by the Dozen | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shawn Levy |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Craig Titley |
| Based on | Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. Ernestine Gilbreth Carey |
| Starring |
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| Narrated by | Bonnie Hunt |
| Music by | Christophe Beck |
| Cinematography | Jonathan Brown |
| Edited by | George Folsey, Jr. |
Production company | Robert Simonds Productions |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $190.2 million |
Screenplay
Tom Baker is a football coach at Lincoln College, a small rural college near Midland City, Illinois. He met his future wife, Kate at Illinois Poly Tech, and together, they gave birth to 12 children (Nora, Charlie, Lorraine, Henry, Sarah, Jake, Mark, fraternal twins Jessica and Kim, Mike, and identical twins Kyle and Nigel). In her narration, Kate has written her story into a book and hopes to send it to her friend to publish the book. Meanwhile, Tom unexpectedly receives an offer from his old friend and football teammate, Shake McGuire, to coach at his alma mater in his hometown of Evanston, Illinois. Tom accepts the offer, and he and Kate begin making plans on returning to Evanston. The kids find out and demand the move be put to a vote, even though Tom says it would not have any power. He loses the vote, even after he and Kate decide to join, but goes ahead with the move anyway, claiming there will be more money and that they will be a "happier and stronger family". The atmosphere at the Bakers' new house is tense and the situation at school is even worse.
Later, the Bakers meet their next-door neighbors, the Shenk family--which consists of Bill, Tina, and their son, Dylan. After a series of mishaps, Dylan invites the younger kids to his birthday party. Shortly afterwards, Kate tells Tom that she is leaving on her book tour now that her book is ready for publication, leaving Tom to take charge of the kids. Tom decides to hire the family's oldest child, Nora, and her self-absorbed boyfriend, Hank, to help him with the other children. The younger children soak Hank's boxers in meat, and unleash the family dog, Gunner, on him. After Nora storms out with Hank, Tom scolds the younger children for their prank.
Kate departs for her book tour and 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 or nanny, but nobody is willing to work with a family as large as the Bakers. The children start causing trouble at school, so Tom decides to bring the football players he coaches into the family's house for game practice while the children perform chores and their household games. When things get completely out of control, Tom grounds the children from attending Dylan's birthday party. While Tom's back is turned, the children sneak out to attend the party anyway.
At Dylan's party, Jake tells Mike to go get the football they got for Dylan so they can play with it. When he does, he knocks some of the presents over, and the Brazilian mud viper they also got for him escapes. The resulting panic causes Tom to realize the kids had disappeared, and he orders his players to round the kids up. Tom tries to remove Sarah from the bounce house, but during the chaos, a helium tank falls on the bounce house, causing it to overinflate, then explode, sending Tom and several kids flying through the air. While the football players successfully catch Sarah and the other kids, Tom accidentally lands on top of Dylan, breaking his arm and he is taken to the hospital.
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 tell Winfrey to cancel it. Mark runs away from home, prompting the Bakers to find him. During the search, Tom indulges a hunch from Nora that Mark is trying to run back to the Bakers' old home, and eventually finds Mark on an Amtrak train departing from Evanston to Midland. Reuniting with the rest of their family, the Bakers begin to address their issues with each other. Tom ultimately steps down from his position at his alma mater with Shake. The film ends when Kate narrates that family become stronger and closer together.
The parents
- Steve Martin as Tom Baker, the father
- Bonnie Hunt as Kate Baker, the mother
The children
- Piper Perabo as Nora Baker, 22
- Tom Welling as Charlie Baker, 17
- Hilary Duff as Lorraine Baker, 16
- Kevin Schmidt as Henry Baker, 12
- Alyson Stoner as Sarah Baker, 11
- Jacob Smith as Jake Baker, 10
- Forrest Landis as Mark Baker, 9
- Liliana Mumy and Morgan York as Jessica and Kim Baker, 7, fraternal twins
- Blake Woodruff as Mike Baker, 6
- Brent and Shane Kinsman as Kyle and Nigel Baker, 5, identical twins
Others
- Steven Anthony Lawrence as Dylan Shenk
- Paula Marshall and Alan Ruck as Tina and Bill Shenk
- Richard Jenkins as Shake McGuire
- Ashton Kutcher as Hank (uncredited)
- Tiffany Dupont as Beth
- Cody Linley as Quinn
- Jared Padalecki as an unnamed bully (uncredited cameo)
- Joel McCrary as Gil
- Dax Shepard as Camera Crew Member
- Regis Philbin as himself
- Kelly Ripa as herself
- Frank Welker as Gunner (voice)
- Wayne Knight as Electrician (uncredited cameo)
The film's director Shawn Levy makes a cameo as a reporter.
A sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, was released in the United States on December 21, 2005.
| "Cheaper by the Dozen" Soundtrack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performed by | Length |
| 1. | "I'm Just a Kid" | Simple Plan | Simple Plan | 1:24 |
| 2. | "Help!" | Lennon–McCartney | The Beatles | 1:12 |
| 3. | "In Too Deep" | Sum 41 | Sum 41 | 2:46 |
| 4. | "What Christmas Should Be" | Hilary Duff | Hilary Duff | 3:10 |
| 5. | "Life Is a Highway" | Tom Cochrane | Tom Cochrane | 4:26 |
| 6. | "These Are Days" | 10,000 Maniacs | 10,000 Maniacs | 3:39 |
| 7. | "Rockin' Robin" | Leon René | Michael Jackson | 2:33 |
| 8. | "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" | Johnny Marks | Brenda Lee | 2:06 |
Other compositions used in the movie are "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams and Carl Orff's "O Fortuna", among others.
Critical reception
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 24% approval rating 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." 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." 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. Ashton Kutcher was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performance in this, Just Married, and My Boss’s Daughter.
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