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Cheaper by the Dozen 2

EMAILPRINTTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 reviews
34
2.6 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 39 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Comedy  |  Family/Kids

Written by: Sam Harper
Craig Titley (characters)
Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (novel Cheaper by the Dozen)

Directed by: Adam Shankman

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 21, 2005
DVD: May 23, 2006

Running Time: 100 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for some crude humor and mild language

Starring Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Piper Perabo, Tom Welling, Hilary Duff, Carmen Electra, Jaime King, and Eugene Levy

The Bakers are back...BIG time! Only this time, they're going toe-to-toe against another clan in the ultimate inter-family battle. Bigger scale, more laughs, ramped-up action - and lots of heart - are the hallmarks of the Baker's new adventure. (20th Century Fox)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What I liked the most about the second "Dozen," was another performance, the one by Alyson Stoner as their daughter Sarah. As a girl poised on the first scary steps of adolescence, she finds the kind of vulnerability and shy hope that Reese Witherspoon projected in "The Man in the Moon."

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70

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A family comedy that is actually involving, even believable, and manages to be pretty funny too.

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50

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Compared with Martin's first "Dozen" and the recent mega-family movie "Yours, Mine and Ours," this sequel is Academy Award material.

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50

New York Post Kyle Smith

The point isn't really to make you laugh. The film is supposed to make people feel good about their families, and it does a fine job of it.

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50

USA Today Mike Clark

Give Dozen a slight edge to the mournful "Yours, Mine & Ours" as a holiday season bottom-feeder, because Martin and Levy are better at slapstick than Dennis Quaid.

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50

LA Weekly James C. Taylor

What keeps the film afloat (barely) is the sheer charisma of Eugene Levy and the young Alyson Stoner, who manage to find emotion and laughs in the tritest of dialogue and the flimsiest of scenarios.

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50

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

There's a discernible lack of enthusiasm from almost everyone involved, and Duff, who's gone from wholesome to haggard in two short years, is flat-out scary.

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42

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

All processed sugar and artificial flavor, right down to the sticky but tasteless happy ending.

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40

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Everything that happens proves just as predictable as before.

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40

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

In its absolute commitment to inoffensive, fun-for-the-whole-family entertainment, it's as extreme in its own way as hardcore pornography.

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40

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

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.

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40

Variety Justin Chang

Bland, canned but studiously professional sequel retains most of the principals from Fox's family-friendly 2003 hit, including the ever-reliable Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.

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40

Washington Post Desson Thomson

This is definitely a family trip to stay home and skip.

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38

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Ironically, one of the film's best-developed characters is a mouse: The four-legged "Chizzler" actually has a legitimate story arc with a genuine payoff.

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38

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Noisy, silly, gratingly upbeat, and piously sentimental, 'Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is what passes for wholesome family entertainment these days. It's the sort of movie to send small children and grandparents out of the theater hugging each other and strong men in search of bourbon.

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38

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

It has virtually nothing in common with the charming book written by the Gilbreths about their turn-of-the-century family and everything to do with making money on DVD rentals.

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33

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

What you have is less a sequel to a not-so-bad remake than yet another remake, this one of that not-so-great 1988 John Candy comedy "The Great Outdoors."

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30

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

It's the snobs versus the slobs! And this holiday's no picnic!

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30

The New York Times Laura Kern

This messy blend of silly slapstick and oversentimentality probably won't please children, teenagers or adults.

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25

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

What can you say about a film where Carmen Electra's performance is one of the high points?

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25

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

A cheerless sequel to an uninspired remake, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is, at best, well timed to serve as a backup baby-sitter during the hectic days of winter break.

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25

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Sure ain't a movie. Nope, it's a product, pure and very simple and carefully tested to sell to the widest possible market.

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25

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

A few amusing moments mixed in with the painful ones.

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25

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

There's something pernicious about a toxic mix of sitcom and snickering sex jokes getting packaged and effectively sold as wholesome fun for the family.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 2.6 (out of 10) based on 39 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Christopher P. gave it a1:
You know what you can expect when you see a film titled "Cheaper By The Dozen 2." Lighthearted fun, breezy moments with a few chuckles. That is the highest expectations, and anyone who expects more needs to have seen more. The first "Cheaper By The Dozen," well, actually not the first but the first remake, was surprisingly delightful. Sure, it was a crockpot of mush and oversentiment but it fit the bill for its target audience. Here, the entire cast is back and the only feasible explanation one can give to that is a contract that would have forced them to produce a sequel if the first "Dozen" was a success, which it was. "Cheaper By The Dozen 2" is a laughless affair, and even worse than no laughs are all the desperate gags Steve Martin and Eugene Levy attempt to do. Hilary Duff continues stuck in family-fare fluff, and such quips such as "you are so butch" and "I totally know how you feel" makes me long for her to either sign onto a film where she actually can expand her artistic merit, or leave acting altogether. Piper Perabo, a talented young actress when she's given a task, has nothing better to do than complain to her anal-retantive dad, Martin, and deliver her baby. Carmen Electra is Levy's third wife, and Electra got the most credit for getting down the role of an airheaded, bimboish mom right. That's how desperate some critics were to give any form of credit to the movie. Bottom line is "Cheaper 2" is lame and incredibly boring. The only good aspect is its scenery.

A Movie Critic gave it a5:
I thought it was actually kind of decent. I mean...look. No, it's really not a comedy but an over-sentimental "family movie"... but at this, it was kind of successful. I don't know...it was just a "nice movie." I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except younger kids, but I think they may actually end up liking it. Older audiences who are forced to watch it will not be completely bored. And the movie also didn't play it quite as safe as the 1st movie, introducing at least a couple jokes for an older audience. Although yeah, as a comedy, this series has failed miserably. I really think these movies would have been better with a PG-13 rating, maybe older kids, target an older audience, have more older issues and much more humor (not slapstick,) and we may have had a good franchise. At any rate, sometimes you're forced to see movies like this, and...look; it wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was actually an alright movie. It deserves at least a little credit for not being as horrible as the first Cheaper by the Dozen. Still, this great idea of a 12-kid family was wasted on sugary family movies, and it's just unfortunate. As for Steve Martin....I don't know. He tried to go back to his zany roots with Pink Panther, but this was then edited down by the studio to become (yet another) family movie. It's really not his fault, although let's hope that whatever he's in next will actually be for HIS FANS, not the kids of his fans.

J G gave it a1:
Perhaps a moment the corners of my mouth were tugged at a bit in the whole 2 hours. Really quite stupid. Bad humor.

Graeme W. gave it a0:
Even as a generic hollywood movie its bad, practically no laughs unless you take the mickey out of it- only a couple of actors rate and steve martin isn't one of them. Who cares about the charactors - no one in my family did - couldn't wait to get in out of the dvd player. More effort pu into tv dramas.

Gerrick C. gave it a0:
Sequels tend to be worse than the original, even though they are supposed to be a "remake" of it. And I usually thought of Steve Martin to be the funny guy in a movie, but it seems desperation has set in for him. Aside from Martin we have an all-star cast with Hillary Duff and Carmen Electra to name a couple. The first Cheaper by the Dozen movie with Martin and Duff didn't even turn out that hot, so what makes one think another one will be better? Someone desperate for work? It seems that for Cheaper by the Dozen 2 isn't that far off.

Rob B. gave it a0:
I agree with the sentiment about Steve Martin. What happened??? He went from being the funniest person on the planet (see early SNL) to possibly the dullest individual in the entertainment industry.

Emily G. gave it a9:
Great movie for all the family! Funny and entertaining. It suited everybody my grandad and my 5 year old sister thought it was fantastic. Worth going to see it. Great real life family problems.

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