LM23 Rating: Cute movie that could have been better as a limited series
Hard to believe that it’s been nearly 20 years since the last Cheaper by the Dozen remake starring Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. In this Disney+ 2022 version, we are introduced to a whole new Baker family starring Zach Braff and the ageless, Gabrielle Union. In this version produced and co-written by black-ish’s Kenya Barris, the Bakers are a large blended family that includes an adopted sibling, step children, and a temporary staying with us now as his mom is having problems sibling.
I loved the beginning half of the film. Set in Los Angeles, we get to see how the Bakers became their dozen in the meet cute where Zoey and her two kids stop by for breakfast as Paul’s diner. The diner’s innovative menu is that every meal is a variation of breakfast. But then Zoey and her marketing degree help to push Paul and his diner further and that’s how the Bakers family was brought together.
You start to think that okay, the movie is about this really large family and at the center of their lives is the family business which is this cute diner. What’s even more extraordinary is that Paul’s former wife, a hippy, ditzy, free woman named Kate and played by Erika Christensen is openly welcome to babysit for the kids. But then, we find out that Zoey’s former husband, Dom, a successful football player, is going to ESPN and wants to be a bigger part of his two kids’ lives. Paul feels threaten by Dom’s riches and he decides to forge ahead with his sauce that can taste sweet or savory depending on what food it’s on.
Here is where I thought the film was going to dig deeper into the family and business ties. Paul is super nervous going into a meeting with investors and trying to sell his product and he does so hilariously by trying to play himself off as a cool Gen Z like guy. I thought this disastrous business meeting was going to create a great opportunity for Dom to now join in on the Bakers family business. As in, Paul will go back home defeated and Dom will offer to invest in his product now that he’s making more at ESPN and has more time to spend with the family.
But no. The hot sauce actually takes off and so much so that the family is able to up and move from their middle class Los Angeles suburb to Calablasas. And I’m sure most of us only have heard of Calablasas thanks to the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, and other mega wealthy celebrities who all live there in their giant compounds. I thought this was where the film was losing its charm, but I was still willing to keep with it.
The topic of race suddenly rears its ugly head when the family is moving into their new home. A community security guard on his Segway glides up to Zoey and reminds her that there is no loud noise allowed after 10pm. This is obviously a racist and nouveau riche classist example of harassment. This part of the film scratches a little bit of the surface of issues of race and acceptance for the family as they navigate their 1% life in Calablasas. But I have to say that although the scenes and incidents we see are expected and not a surprise, the topic itself is so heavy and needs more of a dramatic base that this sudden switch in tone from the first part of the film doesn’t work.
The Bakers who were so seemingly interconnected and so loyal and loving with each other as a very blended family of different races, different ages, different bloodlines, and even physical abilities (one daughter is in a wheelchair) now suddenly are this family that is a stereotypical mixed family where the white parent is oblivious and ignorant of what his racialized family members are facing. The family has been together for a long time. We expect that at this juncture and for the sake of the flow of the film, we don’t have to go down that what now seems like a very boring trope. Forgive me, but I don’t want this to turn into a film about race and the out of touch white guy dad. If the Bakers were so strong and worked and lived together as one unit, I would expect more from Paul and that they would have already gone through the tough times and racial and prejudicial incidents that will occur when you are in this huge and non-traditional family.
And I would have expected the same with Dom. If Paul’s former wife, Kate, is already part of the family fold, then why can’t Dom have been as well? Instead, he’s going to play the foil to Paul and be the angry Black dad who is not down with their seemingly crazy household and wants full custody of his two kids. And he then has to have the speech about raising a Black son that in TV and movie fiction is becoming too much like a storyline trope. This scene would have been more effective if Dom had been introduced as an integrated Baker-family character and he is now stepping in as an equal family member to support Paul and the entire family in this hard subject that he is best to handle. He could have even been the one to support Haresh, the adopted son, who was facing racist bullies.
There was so much more this film could have done to be so much better. But just when you thought you were thrown for a different plot line, another one suddenly appears. In the bottom third of the film, Paul’s nephew, Seth, shows up and he now becomes the center of the film. Seth at some point doesn’t want to live with them anymore and runs away. Paul runs off to find him and the rest of the Baker family follows closely behind and then it’s happily ever after.
I know this film had a lot of bad reviews and I can see why. But, I think with all the zigzagging in the plotline, this film could have been broken up into several episodes and then have a nice happy conclusion. All of the actors are great. Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union and all of the kids in the film have great chemistry together. Erika Christensen and Timon Kyle Durrett are also perfectly cast as the exes. This film may not be easy to sit through as it does go off the rails too many times, but it does make for an okay, boring day or play in the background movie. Good effort, but it may not sustain your attention.
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