Over the years, Nate Bargatze has made a name for himself as a standup comedian. He has a unique style of clean comedy with a deadpan delivery, mostly about fatherhood and his family. In “Breadwinner,” Bargatze translates his deadpan, family-centered style from standup to the big screen, co-writing and starring in the family comedy. The foundation of the comedy is watching an over-confident dad realize how difficult it is to maintain his home and family while his wife is away. The film is meant for a family audience and is sure to get some laughs, but its humor isn’t consistent.
The film opens with the successful car salesman, Nate Wilcox (Nate Bargatze) describing how great his life is. He’s successful at work and his stay-at-home wife Katie (Mandy Moore) takes care of their home and raising their three daughters. Katie is extraordinarily organized. She uses color-coded calendars and even created a product called the Star Minder to help her kids stay on top of tasks. With Nate’s encouragement, Katie decides to try selling the Star Minder and finds enough success to land her a spot on “Shark Tank.” In a humorous parody segment, one of the sharks gives Katie a deal. The condition is that Nate will stay home to take care of the kids while Katie travels to get the business set up. Nate confidently agrees, not knowing what he’s getting himself into.
The Laughs Feel Sparse
With Katie gone, Nate is in way over his head. He accidentally hires Katie’s cousin to repair his roof, resulting in his house looking like a construction zone. After some failed meals, dinner for the girls becomes delivered pizza every night. Nate tries to keep up with the planned calendar, but finds himself struggling to stay afloat with his wife overseas. Close to resignation, Nate decides to run his house like a dealership, with incentives for his daughters to help with chores. Eventually, Nate finds a new normal with the help of his daughters. However, he’s not sure if his shortcut’s sustainable, or if everything will come crashing down before his wife returns home.
Nate Bargatze’s style of comedy is good for a few deadpan self-deprecating jokes about his role in his family. However, stretched into a 99-minute film, the genuinely earned laughs are surprisingly sparse. Bargatze plays a good father. However, many of the funnier performances come from supporting actors like Kumail Nanjiani as a competing car salesman and Colin Jost as another stay-at-home dad. Both Nanjiani and Jost bring much more personality to their roles. In comparison, Bargatze’s over-confident dad role is limited in range and can get old at moments. Charlotte Ann Tucker’s performance as the youngest of Nate’s daughters also stands out as a great mix of cute and hilarious in her delivery. One of the highlights is the “Shark Tank” sequence, with the cast willing to parody their own show’s ruthless format by completely roasting Nate for having a donut. It’s not impossible to make a clean family-friendly comedy be comedically effective. “Breadwinner” has its truly hilarious moments, but it fails to make its characters interesting enough to be comedically consistent.
Product Placement Becomes Distracting
One of the most irritating elements of this film is its shameless product placement. At moments, “Breadwinner” legitimately feels like a Toyota advertisement. However, with the main character working at a Toyota dealership, that can be explained. What can’t be explained are countless moments when Bud Light, General Mills, and Kentucky Fried Chicken products are all distractingly center-stage. There is a scene in which the resolution to a conflict is to go to a Wal-Mart. It begins a segment that could be misconstrued as a humorous commercial without any context. Product placement isn’t inherently a death sentence for critical evaluation of a movie. But if the story being told is trying to be a sincere family comedy, it degrades its earnestness. Instead of the intended “feel-good appreciation for hard-working parents,” the effect is an icky feeling of having been advertised to for over an hour.
“Breadwinner” has its funny moments. But its humor doesn’t fully overcome its flaws. The early 2000s were full of similar family comedies like “The Pacifier,” “Cheaper By the Dozen,” and “Daddy Day Care.” While this film is clearly influenced by this era, it doesn’t learn any lessons from the mistakes of its predecessors. The comedy is inconsistent and quickly tires. The main character lacks personality beyond overconfidence and career ambition. And the product placement is distractingly shameless. Nate Bargatze has shown that he’s capable of writing a character that matches his standup style. However, that character isn’t engaging enough to make “Breadwinner” a resounding success.
“Breadwinner” is currently in theaters.
