There were 14 in the bed...

...and the little one said "Roll over you great lumps!".

I should be writing about The Princess Diaries 2, which I saw on Friday. Instead, I'm going to blab about Cheaper By The Dozen, because I watched it on DVD tonight.

I didn't get to see this at the cinema, and wasn't concerned as I dubbed it a DVD film anyhow. Am glad I made the effort to actually hire the DVD, as I am likely to buy it now.

I am an on/off fan of Steve Martin. His comedy is typically to my liking, but sometimes it misses it's mark (Bringing Down The House). In Dozen he hits all the right marks and bring comedy with heart to a wonderful family comedy.

Bonnie Hunt is a perfect on screen match for Martin. She is one of those actors who can get the laugh from the simplest look or phrase.

The base story of family being the most important is ok as the driving force for the plot, but it does get swamped by a number of subplots that do well individually, but come across as slightly patchworked. A result of having four screenwriters perhaps. Overall it works, and this movie can be forgiven nearly everything when you look at the cast.

Aside from the 'name' actors, the younger unknown cast make and steal every scene they are in. It is a blast watching these kids wreak havoc everywhere they go is very funny and a lot of fun. Both sets of twins are classics to watch, and the girl who comes up with all the plans is a mini version of Aphrodite from BB4 this year. Scary.

Tom Welling is convincing as Charlie. I found it easy to forget his super persona (much like the character), and he managed to convey the eldest's anger without flying off the handle. Piper Perabo is fine as the eldest who just wants to escape, but she is under used. It's a symptom of having 14 main characters, you want to see more of everyone, but can't. Asthma Kutcher and Hillary Duff aren't anything special to me. Kutcher is amusing in 'That 70's Show", but I've not liked him in anything else. Hillary Duff is the devil incarnate. I managed to resist the urge to lay out plastic in case my head began to spin around and, well, everyone knows what comes next. Thankfully, she's not onscreen much.

Dozen delivers the goods as a family comedy everyone should enjoy. For an extra laugh watch the deleted scenes, but for some real extra fun listen to the commentary that features the younger kids. It's wonderful to listen to what they talk about and how they laugh all the time.