Film Review: The Breadwinner

 

Sexuality/Nudity No Objection

Violence No Objection

Vulgarity No Objection

Anti-Catholic Philosophy No Objection

The simplest review for this movie is that if you like Nate Bargatzee's stand-up comedy, then you will enjoy this movie.  It is a safe, inoffensive, family-friendly remake of Mr. Mom.

The Breadwinner stars Bargatzee as Nate Willcox, a top salesman at a local Toyota dealership.  He is married to his homemaker wife Katie (Mandy Moore), who has invented a family-organizing device called the "Starminder," that she gets to pitch on the show Shark Tank.  During that appearance, she is able to get funding for her company if Nate agrees to take a break from his job to become a stay-at-home dad.  

Hilarity ensues.

As you can see, the premise is very simple, almost thread-bare.  It falls victim to the same plotting issues that movies by other stand-up comedians have.  Joy Koy's Easter Sunday, Bill Burr's Old Dads, and this movie basically try and shoe-horn the stand-up comedy bits into a unified plot.  The problem is that most stand-up sets are just a series of loosly related anecdotes with no real story arc.  Fans of Bargatzee's work will recognize some of his bits about horses sleeping and other little tidbits.  But the trick is to find a way to make it all work into a coherent story.  This is not always successful.

What holds the movie together is Bargatze's humor.  There are a lot of pieces-parts of this movie that work very well and had me laughing out.  Good comedy works because it touches on some truth.  And Bargatzee the silliness and strangeness of family life in modern America.  Anyone who has children who are in junior-high and grade school will find a lot relatability to the struggles of the characters.  

He is not a very seasoned actor.  He wisely only plays a version of his stage persona and does not try to push his acting range too much.  Because of this, you feel like you are hanging out with an old, funny friend.  There is a familiarity that exudes from Bargatze that makes the scenes flow together well.  Even if all the jokes don't land, Bargatze engenders good will from the audience.  And to be fair to him, a lot of the jokes land well, especially in the first act.  The bit when they are on Shark Tank is one of the best parts of the movie because it uses all the tropes of the show to maximize the jokes.  But as with a lot of comedies, the third act drags a bit.

Moore is perfect in her role as Katie.  She is clearly smarter and more capable than Nate, but there is no sense of resentment or superiority in her.  She loves her family and loves being a mom, but she pursues this business more for the good of the family than herself.  Moore is able to project both the strength of the character's mind and heart.  Most of the rest of the cast plays the comedy very broadly, which is fine.  SNL veterans Colin Jost and Will Forte play their characters like they are sketch characters.  Kumail Nanjiani and Zach Cherry play co-workers of Nate's who play things cartoonishly simple.  The child actors who play Nate's three daughters do very well for their ages.  

One of Bargatze's biggest strengths as a comedian applies to this movie in that it is incredibly family-friendly.  This is a movie that is rare in that it something that the entire family can sit down and watch without any worry about inappropriate language or content.  Thematically, the movie has a strong beating heart.  Nate is a lovable louse who tries to take short-cuts to parenting.  But there is a wonderful moment after things blow up in his face when he says, "I thought everyone could get what they wanted," to which someone replies, "I think you mean you thought you could get everything that you wanted."  The movie confronts the struggle with selfishness that parents face.  But the movie is clear that there are no short-cuts.  When it comes to the love of a parent, it must be complete and total, thinking only for the good of the others. 

So if you want a movie that the whole family can gather together and enjoy with some decent laughs a good message, I would recommend The Breadwinner.