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Auditions & Castings
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Cheaper By The Dozen Mr. & Mrs. Baker along with their twelve children are back. Father and Husband Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) believe that when their third child Lorraine (Hilary Duff) finishes school and starts to make plans to move to New York that this may be the last opportunity for the whole family to share a holiday experience together. Therefore, they all pack and head out to the family holiday destination of Lake Winnetka. What they do not realize, until they get there, is that a new complex has been constructed the other side of the lake that is being run by Tom's rival (since school days) Jimmy Murtaugh (Eugene Levy). The Bakers family holiday then becomes a fierce competition with the Murtaughs to see which family is greatest. Cheaper by the Dozen was director by Shawn Levy but he decided against directing this sequel and opted instead for The Pink Panther with Steve Martin (Which at the time of writing is due for release in the UK on 17 March 2006) so Director Adam Shankman takes the reins. Shankman only has a few films as director under his belt, one of which is the appalling Bringing Down The House in 2003 with (Yes, Again) Steve Martin, He is better known as a choreographer on the TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and on the film Inspector Gadget (1999). He is now rumoured to be working on the remake of Hairspray which is due sometime in 2007. Shankman is fast working his way up the list as the man of choice for condescending family movies with little value and this unnecessary and wholly depressing sequel does nothing to improve his CV. This Film is shallow, tortuous, banal, padded (Even at 94 Minutes), and has a plot that was so obvious that I could have fallen asleep after 15 minutes and still told you the outcome. Now, I admit, I have never been a fan of Steve Martin, I think his best film will always be the “The Man with Two Brains (1983)”, but it is always sad to see a big name like Martin continually involved in pathetic material like this. The screenwriter (Sam Harper) seems to have completely forgotten to include any jokes with this script. Harper, aside from writing the screenplay for the first movie, has only written one other film, which was the equally dismal "Just Married" which was directed by Shawn (Cheaper by the Dozen) Levy in 2003. It almost seems that Martin, Levy, Shankman, and Harper are having a laugh among themselves for unleashing this type of unpleasant experience on people and sitting back and watch it make a bucketful of money. I am always skeptical of sequels, but I admit that they do not always necessarily mean a bad film; however, there are no positive virtues to this one. 20th Century Fox and everybody involved should be ashamed of themselves. Paul Elliott
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