A textbook example of how not to mess with success, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is every bit as forced, synthetic, banal and mawkish as the first edition.
Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (2005)
Tomatometer
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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:26-12-2005
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
Reviews for Cheaper By the Dozen 2
Shallow, meandering, predictable, padded, and jam-packed with one unfunny, hoarily conceived slapstick bit or pratfall after the next.
The big Baker clan goes for a vacation at a Wisconsin lake, and we get drowned in a sea of slapstick and schmaltz...but it's actually an improvement on its predecessor.
Concerned with pat platitudes about learning to say goodbye, the importance of family, and the superiority of parental leniency over authoritarian strictness.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is predictable, manipulative, and probably funded by the Taliban, but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is simply a case of plastic characters jumbled together with a contrived script, shoved in a Hollywood comedy oven with the timer bell ignored.
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