"Cheaper by the Dozen 2", a 'by-the-numbers' sequel to the Steve Martin/Bonnie Hunt hit of 2003, takes up two years later, as dad Tom Baker (Martin), now a 'house father', unhappily deals with his children's increasing independence. Oldest daughter Nora (Piper Perabo), VERY pregnant (but not by her 2003 'flame', Ashton Kutcher, who passed on the sequel), plans to move with her husband to a new city; oldest son Charlie (Tom Welling, taking a break from "Smallville"), is contemplating a future away from home, as well. Daughter Lorraine (Hilary Duff, as irritating and one-dimensional as she'd been in the original), is graduating from high school, and wants to leave the family to attend college cross-country. BIG changes are afoot, and Tom ISN'T happy!
While all this could make for a serious, warm family comedy (in the vein of "Parenthood"), 20th Century Fox, preferring the 'quick bucks' a 'kid-friendly' slapstick-themed farce would generate, quickly moves the film into a "Meatballs" mode, with Martin and (the underused) Bonnie Hunt taking the kids on a last 'family vacation', to a lake retreat they'd used, disastrously, years earlier. Back then, Tom had ended up competing with smarmy Jimmy Murtaugh and his brood...and sure enough, they AGAIN run into the now-rich Murtaugh (Eugene Levy, doing his usual 'schtick'), his 'trophy' wife, Sarina (the surprisingly good Carmen Electra), and his 'over-trained' children...again leading to the expected competition, and LOTS of pratfall opportunities for Martin.
A budding romance between Welling's Charlie, and Anne Murtaugh (Jaime King, returning to 'G'-rated fare after sex-and-violence-drenched "Sin City") is sweet, and Alyson Stoner, as Sarah Baker, blooming from 'Tom Boy' into womanhood, is a film standout, but too much of the film devotes itself to an almost 'sitcom' level "Father-Is-An-Idiot" slapstick, the kind of stuff that Steve Martin has spent much of his career moving away from. One assumes that with his rewarding but much riskier "Shopgirl" playing at theaters, Martin decided to 'play it safe' with a sure moneymaker, just in case...
With the expected 'having a baby at the WORST possible time' finale, "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" ends, as it began...pleasant, but predictable.
It certainly COULD have been far better!
While all this could make for a serious, warm family comedy (in the vein of "Parenthood"), 20th Century Fox, preferring the 'quick bucks' a 'kid-friendly' slapstick-themed farce would generate, quickly moves the film into a "Meatballs" mode, with Martin and (the underused) Bonnie Hunt taking the kids on a last 'family vacation', to a lake retreat they'd used, disastrously, years earlier. Back then, Tom had ended up competing with smarmy Jimmy Murtaugh and his brood...and sure enough, they AGAIN run into the now-rich Murtaugh (Eugene Levy, doing his usual 'schtick'), his 'trophy' wife, Sarina (the surprisingly good Carmen Electra), and his 'over-trained' children...again leading to the expected competition, and LOTS of pratfall opportunities for Martin.
A budding romance between Welling's Charlie, and Anne Murtaugh (Jaime King, returning to 'G'-rated fare after sex-and-violence-drenched "Sin City") is sweet, and Alyson Stoner, as Sarah Baker, blooming from 'Tom Boy' into womanhood, is a film standout, but too much of the film devotes itself to an almost 'sitcom' level "Father-Is-An-Idiot" slapstick, the kind of stuff that Steve Martin has spent much of his career moving away from. One assumes that with his rewarding but much riskier "Shopgirl" playing at theaters, Martin decided to 'play it safe' with a sure moneymaker, just in case...
With the expected 'having a baby at the WORST possible time' finale, "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" ends, as it began...pleasant, but predictable.
It certainly COULD have been far better!