Cheaper by the Dozen

Directed by Shawn Levy, Cheaper by the Dozen follows Steve Martin’s Tom and Bonnie Hunt’s Kate as they encounter a whole host of complications while trying to raise their 12 children. It’s a familiar premise that’s employed to somewhat agreeable yet ultimately underwhelming effect by Levy, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Sam Harper, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow, delivers an erratic comedy that fares best in its affable, briskly-paced first half – with the watchable vibe perpetuated (and heightened) by the predictably winning efforts of star Martin and Hunt. (And it doesn’t hurt, either, that the supporting cast boasts a handful of noted scene-stealers, with Ashton Kutcher’s frequently hilarious turn as Tom and Kate’s oldest daughter’s clueless, vapid boyfriend.) There’s little doubt, then, that Cheaper by the Dozen‘s slow-but-steady descent into tedium is triggered by a protracted third act rife with eye-rollingly melodramatic plot developments, which ensures that one’s interest level plummets significantly long before the upbeat conclusion rolls around – with the end result an almost passable family endeavor that’s rarely, if ever, up to the level of its various top-flight performers.

** out of ****