Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film)

Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American family comedy film which takes its title from the autobiographical book of the same name by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, but despite the title and the concept of a family with twelve children, ranging from 5 year old Nigel & Kyle to 22 year old Nora, the film bears no resemblance to the book nor its original film adaptation, although it is mentioned that the mother's maiden name is Gilbreth. The film was directed by Shawn Levy, narrated by Bonnie Hunt, and starring Steve Martin. The film was released on December 25, 2003 by 20th Century Fox, ultimately grossing just over $190 million worldwide.

Plot
Tom Baker is a football coach at a small rural college in Midland, Indiana, where he raised twelve children, and his wife, Kate, has written her story in a book and hopes to send it to her friend to publish the book. 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.

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 decides to hire the family's oldest child, Nora, and her self-absorbed boyfriend, Hank, to manage the children. When Nora and Hank arrive, the children plan to make Hank the target of their prank by soaking his underwear in meat and assisting the Bakers' pet dog, Gunner, to attack him by chewing his bottom, prompting him to refuse to assist in babysitting. As a result, Nora drives off with Hank, while Tom lectures them 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. In reply to this revelation, Tom tries to hire a housekeeper, but nobody is willing to work with a family as large as the Bakers, so Tom decides to bring the football players from work into the family's house for game practicing in the living room to prepare for the Saturday night football game as the children perform chores and their household games. However, the children start causing trouble at school. Kate overhears from the children about the chaos and cancels the book tour to take charge of the situation. Kate's 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 becomes upset that his pet frog has died, a heated fight erupts moments before the segment starts, leading the cameramen to call Winfrey to cancel it. Mark runs away from home, prompting the Bakers to find him. 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, and Tom ultimately resigns from his position at his alma mater with Shake.

The Parents

 * Steve Martin as Tom Baker, the father
 * Bonnie Hunt as Kate Gilbreth Baker, the mother

The Children

 * Piper Perabo as Nora Baker, 22 years old, the eldest
 * Tom Welling as Charlie Baker, 17 years old, second oldest
 * Hilary Duff as Lorraine Baker, 16 years old, third oldest
 * Kevin Schmidt as Henry Baker, 12 years old, fourth child
 * Alyson Stoner as Sarah Baker, 11 years old, fifth child
 * Jacob Smith as Jake Baker, 10 years old, sixth child
 * Forrest Landis as Mark Baker, 9 years old
 * Liliana Mumy and Morgan York as Jessica and Kim Baker, 7-year-old fraternal twins
 * Blake Woodruff as Mike Baker, 6 year old boy
 * Brent and Shane Kinsman as Kyle and Nigel Baker, 5-year-old identical twins

Others
Director Shawn Levy makes a cameo as a reporter
 * Steven Anthony Lawrence as Dylan Shenk
 * Paula Marshall and Alan Ruck as Tina and Bill Shenk
 * Richard Jenkins as Shake McGuire
 * Ashton Kutcher (uncredited) as Hank
 * Tiffany Dupont as Beth
 * Cody Linley as Quinn
 * Jared Padalecki as an unnamed bully
 * Joel McCrary as Gil
 * Dax Shepard as Camera Crew Member
 * Regis Philbin as himself
 * Kelly Ripa as herself
 * Frank Welker as Gunner (voice)
 * Wayne Knight as Electrician (uncredited)

Sequel
A sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, was released in the United States on December 21, 2005.

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

Critical reception
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 24% approval rating based on reviews from 118 critics, with an average score of 4.5 out of 10, and the site's consensus reading: "In this family of twelve children, much chaos ensues, but little hilarity." On Metacritic, which determines a normalized rating from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 46 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Despite initial reactions, the film was given "Two Thumbs Up" from Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper on their television show, and became a box office hit. The film opened at #2 ranking in US$27,557,647 in its first opening weekend and, despite being kept from the top spot by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, went on to gross $190,212,113 worldwide. Ashton Kutcher was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performance in this, and two other films.

Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on April 6, 2004.