Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)

2003 film by Shawn Levy

Cheaper by the Dozen

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Shawn Levy
Screenplay by|

* Sam Harper
* Joel Cohen
* Alec Sokolow

Story by| Craig Titley
Based on|

Cheaper by the Dozen
1948 book

* Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.
* Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Produced by|

* Robert Simonds
* Michael Barnathan
* Ben Myron

Starring|

* Steve Martin
* Bonnie Hunt
* Hilary Duff
* Tom Welling
* Piper Perabo

Cinematography| Jonathan Brown
Edited by| George Folsey Jr.
Music by| Christophe Beck

Production
companies

* 20th Century Fox[1]
* Robert Simonds Productions[2]

Distributed by| 20th Century Fox[1]

Release date

* December 25, 2003 (2003-12-25) (United States)

Running time

| 99 minutes[1]
Country| United States[1]
Language| English
Budget| $40 million[3]
Box office| $190.5 million[3]

Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Shawn Levy. It is a remake of the 1950 film of the same name. Both films were inspired by the semi-autobiographical book Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and his sister Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. It stars Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, and Piper Perabo with supporting roles by Kevin G. Schmidt, Alyson Stoner, Jacob Smith, Forrest Landis, Liliana Mumy, Morgan York, Blake Woodruff, Brent and Shane Kinsman, Paula Marshall, and Alan Ruck. Outside of a passing mention of the Gilbreth name, the film has little connection with the original source material.

The film was released on December 25, 2003, by 20th Century Fox and grossed $190 million worldwide against a $40 million budget. The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus criticized the film for its lack of humor.[4]

A sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, was released in 2005. Another remake was released in 2022 on Disney+.

## Plot

[edit]

Tom Baker is a football coach at a small rural college in Midland, Indiana, where he raised twelve children. His wife, Kate, has written her story in a book and hopes to send it to her friend for publication. One day, 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 demands all the children vote on moving. Despite losing the vote, Tom has the entire family return to Evanston for a better home and space. The atmosphere at the Bakers' new house is tense and the situation at school is even worse as the kids face ostracization and bullying over their rural background.

When her book is ready to pick up for publication, Kate is required to do a national book tour to promote it. Tom thinks that he can handle everything in the family's household while Kate is away, so he hires the family's oldest child, Nora, and her self-absorbed boyfriend, Hank, to manage the children. When Nora and Hank arrive, the younger children plan to make Hank the target of their prank by soaking his underwear in raw meat and assisting the Bakers' pet dog Gunner to attack him by biting his buttocks, prompting him to refuse to assist in babysitting. As a result, Nora drives off with Hank, while Tom lectures and grounds the younger children for their prank.

After Kate departs for her book tour, Tom realizes that he cannot handle the children on his own after a chaotic night. He tries to hire a housekeeper, but nobody is willing to work with a family as large as the Bakers. As a result, Tom decides to bring the football players from work into his house for game practice in the living room and backyard while the children perform chores and their household games. However, they start causing trouble at school (mostly by retaliating against their bullies) and inadvertently ruin their neighbor Dylan's birthday party (despite Dylan actually enjoying the chaos), and Charlie, the Bakers' oldest son, is removed from his school's football team due to poor grades and continuous truancy caused by bullying. Kate eventually overhears from the children about the chaos and cancels the book tour to take charge of the situation. Her 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, one of the younger children, becomes upset that his pet frog, Beans, has died and his sister Sarah callously insults him and tells him that no one cares, a heated fight erupts moments before the segment starts, leading the cameramen to call Winfrey to cancel it. Later that same evening, Mark, fed up with the fighting and feeling like an outcast, runs away from home, prompting the Bakers to band together to find him, and Nora dumps Hank when he selfishly refuses to help in the search. Tom indulges a hunch that Mark is trying to run back to the Bakers' old home, and eventually finds Mark on an Amtrak train departing from Chicago to Midland.

Reuniting with the rest of their family, the Bakers begin to address their issues with each other after holding a funeral for Beans, and Tom ultimately resigns from his position at his alma mater, turning down a dozen job offers until he finds a flexible one close to home. Kate's book stays on the best-sellers list for an entire year, the children learn to adapt to their new home and lives, and the Bakers come out of the entire experience closer than ever before.

## Cast

[edit]

### Baker family

[edit]

* Steve Martin as Tom Baker, the patriarch of the Baker family
* Bonnie Hunt as Kate Baker, the matriarch of the Baker family and the narrator of the film
* Piper Perabo as Nora Baker, the eldest Baker child
* Tom Welling as Charlie Baker, the second Baker child
* Hilary Duff as Lorraine Baker, the third Baker child
* Kevin G. Schmidt as Henry Baker, the fourth Baker child
* Alyson Stoner as Sarah Baker, the fifth Baker child
* Jacob Smith as Jake Baker, the sixth Baker child
* Forrest Landis as Mark Baker, the seventh Baker child
* Liliana Mumy and Morgan York as Jessica and Kim Baker, the eighth and ninth Baker children who are fraternal twin girls
* Blake Woodruff as Mike Baker, the tenth Baker child
* Brent and Shane Kinsman as Nigel and Kyle Baker, the youngest Baker children who are identical twin boys

### Others

[edit]

* Alan Ruck and Paula Marshall as Bill and Tina Shenk, the Bakers' neighbors
* Steven Anthony Lawrence as Dylan Shenk, Bill and Tina's son
* Richard Jenkins as Shake McGuire, Tom's best friend
* Vanessa Bell Calloway as Diane Phillips, Kate's publisher
* Tiffany Dupont as Beth, Charlie's girlfriend
* Cody Linley as Quinn
* Dax Shepard as Camera Crew Member
* Regis Philbin as himself
* Kelly Ripa as herself
* Amy Hill as Miss Hozzie, Nigel and Kyle's kindergarten teacher

### Cameo appearances

[edit]

* Shawn Levy as a reporter
* Ashton Kutcher as Hank, Nora's ex-boyfriend
* Jared Padalecki as an unnamed bully who causes problems for Charlie
* Wayne Knight as Pete, the electrician whose repairs on the Bakers' chandelier in the hallway cause him to fall off of his ladder in two different incidents.

## Soundtrack

[edit]

"Cheaper by the Dozen" SoundtrackNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Performed by| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "I'm Just a Kid"| Simple Plan| Simple Plan| 1:24
2.| "Help!"| Lennon–McCartney| Fountains of Wayne| 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
Total length:| 21:16

Other compositions used in the movie are "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams and Carl Orff's "O Fortuna", among others.

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 24% rating based on reviews from 119 critics and an average score of 4.58/10. The site's consensus reads: "In this family of twelve children, much chaos ensues, but little hilarity."[4] On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an A− grade.[6]

Despite this, the film was given "Two Thumbs Up" from Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper on their television show.[citation needed] Ebert in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and called it "lighthearted fun".[7]

Robert Koehler of Variety was critical of the uneven tone of the film, varying between "schmaltzy/gooey and slapstick/gross-out" and wrote that it was "as far from the original pic and its autobiographical memoir source as it can be while retaining the same title" but predicted a wide-ranging audience for the film.[8]

### Box office

[edit]

The film ranked at #2 for the weekend, grossing $27,557,647 in its opening weekend ($35,397,241 including its Thursday Christmas Day gross of $7,839,594) from 3,298 theaters for an average of $8,356 per theater ($10,733 average per theater over four days), being kept from the top spot by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The film went on to gross $138,614,544 in North America, and an additional $51,597,569 internationally, for a total gross of $190,212,113 worldwide, nearly five times its $40 million budget.[3]

### Accolades

[edit]

Ashton Kutcher was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performance in this, Just Married and My Boss's Daughter but lost to Ben Affleck with Daredevil, Gigli and Paycheck.[9][10]

Association  | Category  | Recipients  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|

Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Male Movie Star | Ashton Kutcher  | Nominated  |
Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Blush | Hilary Duff  | Nominated  | [11]
Choice Breakout Movie Star – Male  | Tom Welling  | Nominated
Choice Movie Liplock  | Piper Perabo and Ashton Kutcher  | Nominated
Young Artist Awards | Best Young Ensemble Cast | Cast (under 18)  | Won  |
Best Young Actor Age Ten or Younger | Forrest Landis  | Won
Best Young Actress Age Ten or Younger | Alyson Stoner  | Nominated

## Home media

[edit]

The film was released on VHS and DVD on April 6, 2004 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
2. ^ "Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)". BFI. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
3. ^ a b c "Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
4. ^ a b "Cheaper by the Dozen". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
5. ^ "Cheaper by the Dozen". Metacritic. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
6. ^ "CinemaScore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
7. ^ Ebert, Roger (2003). "Cheaper by the Dozen". Chicago Sun-Times.
8. ^ Koehler, Robert (November 30, 2003). "Cheaper by the Dozen". Variety.
9. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (January 26, 2004). "J.Lo Heads List of Razzie Nominees". People. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
10. ^ Germain, David (March 1, 2004). "'Gigli' voted worst in Raspberry Awards". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
11. ^ "2003 Teen Choice Awards Nominees". Billboard. Valence Media. June 18, 2003. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
12. ^ "Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) - Financial Information". The Numbers.

## External links

[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film).

* "Official Website". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
* Cheaper by the Dozen at IMDb
* Movie stills
* Cheaper by the Dozen at the TCM Movie Database
* Cheaper by the Dozen at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

* v
* t
* e

Cheaper by the Dozen

Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Novels|

* Cheaper by the Dozen (1948)
* Belles on Their Toes (1950)

Films|

* Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
* Belles on Their Toes (1952)
* Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
* Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)
* Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)

People/Characters|

* Frank Bunker Gilbreth
* Lillian Moller Gilbreth
* Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.
* Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
* Robert Moller Gilbreth

* v
* t
* e

Works directed by Shawn Levy

Films|

* Just in Time (1997)
* Jett Jackson: The Movie (2001)
* Big Fat Liar (2002)
* Just Married (2003)
* Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
* The Pink Panther (2006)
* Night at the Museum (2006)
* Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
* Date Night (2010)
* Real Steel (2011)
* The Internship (2013)
* This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
* Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
* Free Guy (2021)
* The Adam Project (2022)
* Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Miniseries|

* All the Light We Cannot See (2023)

Related|

* 21 Laps Entertainment
* Night at the Museum franchise

* v
* t
* e

Gilbreth family

Family members|

* Frank Bunker Gilbreth
* Lillian Moller Gilbreth
* Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
* Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.
* Robert Moller Gilbreth

Scientific management|

* Time and motion study
* The Psychology of Management
* Therblig

Family memoirs|

* Cheaper by the Dozen
* Belles on Their Toes

Film adaptations|

* Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 film)
* Belles on Their Toes
* Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)
* Cheaper by the Dozen 2
* Cheaper by the Dozen (2022 film)

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