It feels very Disney to have Cheaper by the Dozen premiering on the company’s streaming service, Disney+, in 2022. The family film is the remake of a remake – the 2022 version puts a new spin on the 2003 movie of the same name, which updated the 1950 movie based on the the semi-autobiographical novel by siblings Frank Butler Gilbreth Jr and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. It’s also potent nostalgia bait for young millennial parents; the 2003 version, starring Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt as the parents of 12 rowdy children, was a reliable (if tepidly reviewed) family-friendly staple of the 2000s whose brood contained a bevy of millennial-beloved stars – Hilary Duff, Piper Perabo, Tom Welling, Alyson Stoner.
The 2022 version, directed by the Black-ish producer Gail Lerner from a script by the show’s creator, Kenya Barris, and writer/producer Jenifer Rice-Genzuk, makes several welcome updates to the formula of large family hijinks, but shares the 2003 film’s flat humor. There are too many moving parts to find a consistent groove; its tone wavers even more haphazardly from kids flick to marriage portrait to slapstick comedy to stark commentary on race, without nailing any particularly well and despite endearing commitment from its performers.
