Cheaper by the Dozen on DVD
Steve Martin stars in yet another fatherly role, this time as the patriarch
of a family that obviously has a total of twelve children getting
underfoot in their small home.
Bonnie Hunt is his wife, Kate, and shes as good as Martin in this
and really deserved to have her name next to his above the title. But such is
life.
Hes a small time football coach, shes a stay at home mother who
writes. The family as a whole loves to love each other, fighting like siblings
do, and the entire shebang makes for a wonderfully raucous household.
Hey, this is a boisterous family, but its a functional one something
Hollywood doesnt seem to portray very often so lets enjoy it while
we can.
Since Hollywood at large isnt great at turning out family flicks that
dont either pander or miss their mark completely, we didnt expect
much going in. But we were very pleasantly surprised. This is a movie that a
family can enjoy and that parents can enjoy watching with them; theres
fun action for the kids and parents will identify with just about everything
thats going on here they may not have experienced it x 12,
but theyve certainly been through enough of it!
Things start to fall apart for the family when Tom (Martin) gets offered his
dream job: coaching a top college team. This means moving from their beloved
small town house, uprooting the entire family and throwing their lives into
a tizzy, but they do it. And just when they arrive in their new, upper crust
and snotty neighborhood, Kate sells her book and must head off to New York and
parts west for a book tour leaving Tom to balance a challenging and time
consuming new career and the family unaided.
Naturally, all hell begins to break loose.
Martin and Hunt are very good in their roles as the long-married couple who
still love each other and find each other attractive. They wear their huge family
like a comfortable pair of sweat pants and you can believe them. Martin, an
underrated actor at the best of times, does a good job in these Spencer
Tracy-like parent roles (though Clifton Webb had this role in Foxs
original Dozen) such as Father of the Brides. Bonnie
Hunt is also underrated; here shes warm and sexy and maternal, and it
all works.
Then theres the motley assortment of kids, played by such names as Piper
Perabo, Hilary Duff and Tom Welling and current teen heartthrob Ashton
Kutcher is also along, in a role where he gets to make fun of his on screen
self.
The DVDs good, but not the greatest. The picture, presented in anamorphic
widescreen (and Pan&Scan on the flip side of the disc), is pretty sharp
but the colors are a little smeary. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and
while the qualitys fine, it could have used a little more oomph.
Extras include a full length running commentary by director Shawn Levy, and
a gang commentary by the Baker kids. You also get some
deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary, Directors Viewfinder
feature, and more.
Cheaper by the Dozen, from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
98 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1, 16x9 TV compatible)/Pan&Scan (1.33:1,
not 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, Peper Perabo
Written by Sam Harper and Joel Cohen & Alex Sokolow, directed by Shawn Levy
Tell us at TechnoFile what YOU think