Film Review – The Breadwinner

1983’s “Mr. Mom” explored the changing dynamics of household leadership during a time when more women were joining the workforce. It was pleasant, good-natured silly business from screenwriter John Hughes, who exaggerated the evolution of men in parental mode, having fun with the concept of a father tasked with taking care of domestic duties and the raising of children while his wife tended to her corporate job. Again, 1983. In 2026, comedian Nate Bargatze attempts to revive the same plot for “The Breadwinner,” taking starring and co-writing duties for a picture that doesn’t appear to understand the changing ways of domestic balance, charging ahead as a dumb guy movie. And it’s not an inspired dumb guy movie. “The Breadwinner” plays like a failed T.V. pilot, watching Bargatze stumble through an antiquated take on gender roles and fatherly authority, trying to play to his fanbase with stiff slapstick and dreary sentiment, hoping to launch a leading man career with an offering that actually makes him quite unappealing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com