Film Review – Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)

“Cheaper by the Dozen” began life as a 1948 book, where siblings Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey shared their experiences being part of a massive family, charting the strangeness of such a life. The memoir inspired a 1950 film adaptation (starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy), and a 1952 sequel. The material was revived for a 2003 reworking starring Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt, which also inspired a follow-up in 2005. There’s been a lot of “Cheaper by the Dozen” over the years (including knock-offs and freak show pay cable programs worshipping the concept of large families), and now it’s back again, this time with Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union as the overwhelmed parents, who not only have to deal with the demands of too many children, but the challenges of guardianship in 2022, which involves social media, racism, and corporate pressure, with screenwriters Kenya Barris and Jenifer Rice-Genzuk Henry in charge of updating the formula for a new generation of household problems. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com