It’s the snobs vs. the slobs! And this holiday’s no picnic!
Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (2005)
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Reviews Counted:88
Fresh:6
Rotten:82
Average Rating:3.7/10
Consensus: A sequel to a remake, Cheaper 2 wastes its solid cast in scenes of over-the-top, predictable humor.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for some crude humor and mild language
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Childrens
Theatrical Release:Dec 21, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $82,468,131
Synopsis: Steve Martin returns as the proud patriarch of the Baker family in this sequel to the original CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, based on a book by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth. This time, all... Steve Martin returns as the proud patriarch of the Baker family in this sequel to the original CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, based on a book by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth. This time, all twelve Baker kids and their parents, Tom (Martin) and Kate (Bonnie Hunt), are going on vacation, returning to their summer cabin in Wisconsin for one last hurrah before the kids grow up and go their separate ways. Lorraine (Hilary Duff) is on her way to New York to begin an internship with VOGUE, Nora (Piper Perabo) is hugely pregnant, and the Bakers want to spend some quality time all together for a change. As the family arrives at their old house, however, they realize that some things have changed--and some things never do. Tom's old high school rival, Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy) is now the big man about town, owning much of the surrounding area, and raising his large family in a huge home across the lake from the Bakers'. The longstanding competition between the two families--or at least that of the fathers--mounts over the course of their vacation, as the two men resort to ever nastier tactics of one-upsmanship. Meanwhile, Charlie Baker (Tom Welling) becomes closer with Anne Murtaugh (Jamie King), and Sarah (Alyson Stoner) embarks on her first romance with Eliot Murtaugh (Taylor Lautner). It all comes to a head when the two families face off in a canoeing race, during which they are faced with a decision between loyalty to family and friends, and the competitive edge. [More]
Starring: Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Piper Perabo, Tom Welling
Starring: Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Piper Perabo, Tom Welling, Hilary Duff, Eugene Levy, Alyson Stoner, Forrest Landis, Taylor Lautner, Carmen Electra, Jaime King
Director: Adam Shankman
Director: Adam Shankman
Screenwriter: Sam Harper
Producer: Shawn Levy, Ben Myron
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Cheaper By the Dozen 2
Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: Carmen Electra is more interesting than Steve Martin.
All in all, the emphasis in this title is less on the '2' and more on the 'Cheaper.'
This cheerless, tiresome sequel is so tastless and flimsy that it proves big families aren't much fun after all.
I wonder how many meetings they had before they came up with that title. And didn't we just see this movie a couple of weeks ago, and wasn't it called Yours, Mine and Ours?
Any movie that stars Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt can't be all bad, and this one isn't.
... you may get a half-hour sitcom's worth of laughs, but little more.
... feels cobbled together by a committee fresh from a marathon of family reunion and summer camp comedies.
"Cheapr by the Dozen 2," is not as ghastly as one might expect. In fact, it has moments that are realistic and sweet.
Crammed with moppet mayhem, mawkish sentiment and bruising slapstick, it's a flat-footed retread only Right to Lifers could love.
The humor in Sam Harper's script is as malnourished as Hilary Duff appears to be.
For the most part, director Adam Shankman keeps the mayhem comprehensible.
Running a painfully long 100 minutes, the movie is made up of a tiresome series of predicable, slapstick moments.
When cutesy family-oriented comedies start to show the strained buffoonery of its leading star (Martin), you know it's time to hang up the hat and call it the day.
It aims to be pleasant and good-natured, which it is. There are enough laughs scattered throughout to keep everything moderately amusing, and the cast is likeable.
While their last movie relied on boisterous physical humor, this is built on a family feud.
The movie may play better on video screens in the back of minivans, but I suspect even seat-belted children will remain unimpressed.
Shankman drops the ball at the finish line, jettisoning the tough-love fun for cheap sentimentality.
This by-the-numbers pratfall-fest is as synthetically generic as a "Happy Holidays" card from your realtor.
Latest News for Cheaper By the Dozen 2
January 04, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: New Year Brings New Crop of Pics
Three new releases welcome in the new year this weekend, but moviegoers are likely to keep spending their cash on holiday holdovers. More...
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