Cheaper By The Dozen 2
Starring: Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Eugene Levy, Carmen Electra, Hillary Duff
Directed by: Adam Shankman

Released in the US: December 21st, 2005
Released in the UK: December 26th, 2005

Reviewed by: Tyler Sanders, ZBoneman.com

This follow up to the 2003 comedy about the expansive nuclear family of a down home minded football coach finds the family this time spending one last summer at a traditional lake haunt before the kids are all married and off upon lives of their own. The inspired pairing of Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt as Tom and Kate Baker that made the original a marginally bearable film experience is completely wasted by director/hack Adam Shankman ( a “Shankman” should become a synonym for a godawful comedy - see Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier). A “Shankman” must contain at least one adult being vomited or urinated upon, plus being bitten in the crotch and/or humped by a dog - and several incidents of said adults slipping tripping flipping, fumbling stumbling bumbling and then landing on their head in a puddle of some kind of nasty goo. If a Shankman can be empirically identified, then perhaps one day they can be outlawed. Incidentally Shankman did not direct the original film.

Before leaving for the lake Tom and Kate are keeping their fingers crossed that an old high school rival of Tom’s (Jimmy Murtaugh) doesn’t by some chance show up at the lake this particular week. Hotheaded competitions between the families and old wounds being opened always result when both families happen to show up at the same time. Ah but they laugh it off, “come on - what are the odds? After all it’s been a few years since they’ve been there themselves” Naturally, he will be there, what kind of Shankman would it be if he weren’t? Murtaugh is played unconvincingly by Eugene Levy who is rude and condescending without being the least bit funny. Which makes it two Shankman’s in a row for the usually dependable SCTV alum. (If we’re including “The Man” and assuming that his work in the straight-to-video Band Camp is no great shakes,) Not only is Levy’s Jimmy Murtaugh filthy rich, and sporting a new trophy wife on his arm in the person of Carmen Electra, but he’s purchased the palatial home just across the lake from the dilapidated shack where the Bakers traditionally stay.

To add another element of conflict, there is a Romeo and Juliet scenario shaping up between one of the Baker girls - 12 year old Sarah (Alyson Stoner) and a Murtaugh boy of the same age. I can’t really fault all of these plot machinations, but their execution has Shankman written all over them. The first thing to happen that really sticks in Martin’s craw is that his children actually like the Murtaugh kids, mainly because their place is loaded with toys. So instead of having this idyllic chance to bond with his older children one last time, they’re far more interested in heading off to the other side of the lake where they can enjoy all the modern day amenities they are supposed to be getting away from. Of the three writers who worked on the original, only one is back for the sequel, and from what one would guess he wasn’t the funniest of the stable. The dialogue is just lame and lackluster to the point where it’s not often clear what exactly is the cause of all the tension between Martin and Levy - aside from a thinly veiled envy of financial success.

I will give Steve Martin credit for a decent effort - even though most of what I felt was pity for such a great comic actor trapped in this rickety vehicle chock full of cheap gags and no genuine comedy. Bonnie Hunt fares even better. The fact that her character is much less essential to the film allows her to stay out of the fray and just sort of exist in her own world. To be fair, there are some credible subplots about the children coping with puberty and few bright spots of actual humor blended in with the banality. Still Shankman sees to it that these few moments of quality are kept to a minimum and that the vast majority of what transpires consists of tired slapstick stunts. I have seen too many jokes revolving around middle aged men trying to impress their children. Eugene Levy beats this horse to death with his character and is wound up so tight, that he loses any chance of coming off as a real human being. Ironically, Carmen Electra comes off as the most natural seeming character among the adults. The competition at the end of the film only cements it as a blatant rip off of both The Great Outdoors and Summer Rental, two John Candy films that are far superior. Still my biggest concern with the film was the health of Hillary Duff - they needed to hold her down and force feed her some potato salad, because she’s literally turning into a skeleton. Good ole Hollywood.

Grade: C-