Movie Review: Cheaper by the Dozen

The third incarnation of the venerable story of a blended family of twelve, Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union as the heads of house, plays out as predictably as one might expect heading into it, but there is an earnestness to the family dynamic at work that makes the whole business worthwhile once all is said and done. 

Adapted from the novel by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, the film tells the tale of a family, the Bakers, as they navigate the waters of their now wildly frenetic life as they try to keep their family business – an all-day breakfast restaurant – running smoothly.  

Of course, this is easier said than done as there are numerous obstacles to the family’s enduring happiness, the grandest of which is a move to a sleek, gated community that portends a higher station in life for the young entrepreneurs but threatens to curtail their happy family life. 

Director Gail Lerner, working from a script by Kenya Barris and Jenifer Rice-Genzuk, delivers a far more family-centric version of the story than the heavier on the physical comedy 2003 edition directed by Shawn Levy and starring Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. In fact, the newer film falls more in line with the Walter Lang-directed version from 1950 starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy. There is definitely more of a familial comradery dynamic at work here as there was in the two series created by Barris and Rice-Genzuk – Black-ish (2014-2022) and Grown-ish (2018-2022) – than in the previous filmic renditions of the story, benefitting the film greatly. 

Gabrielle Union, Zach Braff, Erika Christensen, and Leo Abelo Perry in “Cheaper by the Dozen.” © Disney+ 2022.

While Braff and Union do a fine job of keeping the film together as the parents of the Baker family, the various kids that make up the “Bakers Dozen” are each afforded their own individual chances to take over the film without becoming too overbearing or treacly. 

Although the whole of Cheaper by the Dozen may feel as though it may play better as a longer piece, such as a television series, there is an honest connection present amongst this family that allows the familiarity of the story to transcend its confines and simply be an enjoyable bit of family entertainment. 

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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