Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: The film follows the raucous exploits of the Bakers, a blended family of 12, as they navigate a hectic home life while simultaneously managing their family business.
Review: I have a question. Why?! Was there an online petition for yet ANOTHER remake of this Disney movie that I didn’t hear about? If you’re like my hubby and you’re thinking there’s only been one set of “Cheaper” movies, you would be very wrong as there are no less than four now (1950, 1952, 2003 and its 2005 sequel ) so I’m genuinely left asking, why did we need to do this again?
This time around we have Zack Braff (Scrubs, Bojack Horseman) and Gabrielle Union (Bring it On, Deliver Us From Eva) leading the pack as Paul and Zoey Baker respectively. Paul feels like he needs to succeed to outdo Zoey ex-husband Dom (Timon Kyle Durrett) who is an ex-football player. He cuts a deal to sell his special sauce that they developed at their restaurant and in doing so he’s able to move the dozen of them into a huge mansion. But this is a Disney movie so of course we need something to go wrong by the second act. And the rest is predictable as all hell.
If there’s one element to this story that I didn’t see coming was the weird uneven tone that permeates the entire story. What made 2003’s Steve-Martin led Cheaper (and to a lesser extent, it’s sequel) work for general audiences is it’s a simple family-styled comedy. I can barely remember it but I remember it being entertaining and very straightforward. Here they insist on shoe-horning in moments of Zoey and the interracial kids struggling with living in an affluent (and predominantly white) neighborhood. I get that they’re trying to be present or as the young people would say, “woke”, but BOY did it feel out of place. The entire tone of this movie swings from family comedy to serious drama, the acting is awkward and forced and I watched this entire movie with my face permanently set to cringe.
So I’m not sure who this was made for and whether the audience it WAS made for is going to enjoy it. I for one recommend just rewatching the Steve Martin versions. Those movies weren’t great but the were a lot more cohesive than this mess.
Sommer’s Score: 4.5 out of 10
Are you a fan of the Cheaper films? Which is your favourite? And you can check out more family comedy content below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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