Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)

Director:

Adam Shankman

Writers (WGA):

Sam Harper (written by)
Craig Titley (characters)

Release Date:

21 December 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

This Christmas, you better watch out!

Plot:

Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return as heads of the Baker family who, while on vacation, find themselves in competition with a rival family of eight children, headed by Eugene Levy |

Plot Keywords:

Children | Vacation | Rival | Competition | Pregnancy

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Steve Martin	...	Tom Baker
Eugene Levy	...	Jimmy Murtaugh
Bonnie Hunt	...	Kate Baker
Tom Welling	...	Charlie Baker
Piper Perabo	...	Nora Baker-McNulty
Carmen Electra	...	Sarina Murtaugh
Jaime King	...	Anne Murtaugh
Hilary Duff	...	Lorraine Baker
Taylor Lautner	...	Eliot Murtaugh
Alyson Stoner	...	Sarah Baker
Jonathan Bennett	...	Bud McNulty
Jacob Smith	...	Jake Baker
Liliana Mumy	...	Jessica Baker
Morgan York	...	Kim Baker
Kevin G. Schmidt	...	Henry Baker

Also Known As:

Moins cher la douzaine 2 (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some crude humor and mild language.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | Brazil:Livre | USA:PG (certificate #42232) | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | France:U | Malaysia:U | Australia:G (re-rating on appeal) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:All

Filming Locations:

Aurora, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Carmen Electra is allergic to dogs. When the Bakers go to the Murtaughs' house, their dog Gunner jumps all over her. When the Bakers are leaving, tiny red dots are all over her body.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kenneth and Mark run over to the golf buggy, as they talk the position of the chinstrap hanging down from Mark's hat keeps changing from hanging down/hanging over his shoulder.

Quotes:

Nora Baker-McNulty: You get Lorraine and ill pee in the back

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Parenthood (1989)

Soundtrack:

Sunday Morning (Acoustic Version)

Steve Martin, you can do better than this

I guess it's been a long time since Steve played the banjo on the Muppet Show. I have really enjoyed some of Steve's movies..."Roxanne", "Being There", etc. but he seems to have lost his touch in this one.

This movie is still very watchable mind you, but the "former" Steve is missing. It seems there were too many gags (ie; dog & crotch, dangling from balcony) and not enough real comedy like we're used to from Steve (such as the nose jokes in Roxanne).

Also this movie has nothing to do with the 1950 "Cheaper by the Dozen" (or it's original sequel "Belles on Their Toes")...other than 12 kids of course. It seemed more akin to "The Great Outdoors" or "Meatballs".

There were some cute scenes however: The two kids crush & the dads both spying on them in the theatre, and nearly giving birth in a canoe I found amusing. It would have been a lot more amusing had she actually given birth in the canoe though.

Oddly my favourite actress in this was the little girl (can't remember her name right now) who had the crush on the little boy. She was really cute and engaging. I hope she appears in more movies.

Thankfully, I did not pay money to see this (thanks to the wonders of bittorrent) But I will definitely be buying the DVD. It is a good family movie, just not up to my expectations for Steve Martin.

Possibly I should not endorse downloading, but movie-going is difficult where I live as it entails a long, costly ferry trip. Otherwise I probably would have seen this in a theatre.