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Cheaper by the Dozen is a 2003 American family comedy film directed by Shawn Levy. It is a remake of the 1950 film of the same name. Both films were inspired by the semi-autobiographical book Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and his sister Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. The 2003 version stars Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, and Piper Perabo.

The film was released on December 25, 2003, by 20th Century Fox and grossed $190 million worldwide against a $40 million budget. The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus criticized the film for its lack of humor. A sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, was released in 2005. Another remake was released in 2022 on Disney+.

Plot[]

College football coach Tom Baker and his wife Kate have raised their twelve children: Nora, Charlie, Lorraine, Henry, Sarah, Jake, Mark, Jessica, Kim, Mike, Kyle, and Nigel, in Midland, Illinois. Kate hopes to publish the book she has written telling the family's story. Tom accepts a job offer to coach at his alma mater in Evanston. The children oppose his decision and are unwilling to leave their friends. The atmosphere at the Bakers' new house becomes tense, and Charlie and Mark are bullied at their respective schools. Kate embarks on a national book tour to promote her newly published book. Tom has Nora and her self-absorbed boyfriend, Hank, help look after the other children while Kate is away. The younger children dislike Hank as he hates children. They trip him into a kiddie pool filled with dirty water then soak his underwear in raw meat while he is showering. At lunch, the children unleash their dog on him. Nora and Hank storm off, and Tom cuts off the children's allowances. After a chaotic night, Tom realizes he cannot handle the children on his own. No babysitter is willing to work with a family this large, so Tom brings the football players to practice in the living room for Saturday night's game as the children do their chores. The younger children crash their neighbor Dylan's birthday party, which Tom had forbidden them to attend for fighting in school and not doing their chores. When a frustrated and homesick Charlie is taken off his school’s football team, he accuses Tom of moving for selfish reasons. Tom discovers Nora and Hank sneaked in and slept over, violating the rules. Hank upsets Nora by saying he does not want children and expects her to feel the same. Kate gets a call from the children about the chaos, and cancels her book tour. Her publisher instead invites Oprah Winfrey to film the Bakers in their home. Despite Kate's coaching, the Bakers cannot recreate the loving, strongly bonded family she describes in her book. Mark is upset when his pet frog, Beans, dies, but Sarah coldly says nobody cares, causing a fight to erupt. The producers tell Winfrey to cancel the filming. Mark runs away from home. Tom believes Mark is returning to their old home and finds him on a train bound for Midland. The Bakers reunite the next day and begin to address their issues. Tom retires from his job to spend more time with his family, and the Bakers celebrate Christmas together as the chandelier in their living room crashes to the floor.

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