The Breadwinner: A Cliched Premise Leads to a Laugh-Free Comedy (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Nate Bargatze is a comedian whose name you probably haven't heard of, but for more than two decades, his career has seen him doing stand-up in clubs and on a few different talk shows, appearances that eventually gave him the chance to make a few specials for various networks (one of which earned him a pair of Emmy nominations). This success even led him to release a movie earlier this year entitled "The Breadwinner," which he co-wrote, co-produced, and stars in.

Sadly, the film resulted in rather scathing reviews from critics and hardly anyone showing up to see it, with several possible reasons explaining the latter, including a lack of marketing, lack of interest, and perhaps a simple lack of name recognition. Whatever the reason for its disappointing box office performance, the film is now getting a second chance as it makes its Blu-ray debut this week, so now it's time to find out if it deserves another shot or if audiences were right to avoid it in the first place.

The film follows Nate Wilcox (Nate Bargatze), a highly successful car salesman, whose family includes his wife Katie (Mandy Moore), a stay-at-home mom, and their three daughters: Gracie (Stella Grace Fitzgerald), Hadley (Birdie Borria), and Sam (Charlotte Ann Tucker). When Katie is able to sell her invention, the "Star Minder" (a product to help you remember tasks), on "Shark Tank," she ends up having to go to South Korea for a couple of weeks, forcing Nate to take time off from his job to stay home and take care of the kids.

He is quickly overwhelmed by the multitude of tasks that this requires him to do, but he & the girls manage to muddle through the two weeks. However, as soon as Katie returns home, she is required to go to San Francisco for two more weeks, leading Nate to try and do things his way while she's gone again. Will his new approach work better than what he tried before, or will it merely cause an even bigger mess?

"The Breadwinner" is one of those projects where director Eric Appel and screenwriters Bargatze & Dan Lagana no doubt had the best of intentions, but it's also one where, if you saw a trailer or stuck around for about 15 minutes, you'd see that it's nothing more than an attempt to utilize an extremely cliched premise that we've seen many times before. Just on that basis, the question of why audiences didn't turn up at the theater begins to be answered. That said, a distinct lack of originality is hardly its only issue, for its use of an over-done premise also leads to the problem of trying to find something new & compelling to do with it, a rather massive hurdle that the filmmakers sadly never come close to clearing.

Of course, a father suddenly having to take on all parental duties for three young kids would be something of a chaotic situation, and as one would expect, that's exactly the direction the film heads in. It simply depends far too much on the viewer being entertained by watching Nate be in way over his head, but again, given that this is the only direction the film has to go, and it being exactly what we know has to happen, there just isn't anything the filmmakers can do to surprise the audience, leading to a very ho-hum experience that packs no punches and leaves no impact when it's over.

This is not to mention the fact that it's also simply not funny. The writers attempt to throw a number of jokes in here, but nothing lands, though that's to be expected when using an over-done set-up like this. Someone with a little more comedic skill might have been able to do something with it, but from the sample of Bargatze's stand-up routines that we're shown during the closing credits, this never really had much of a chance of eliciting any laughs, especially when you combine a lackluster screenplay & its cliched premise.

In the end, "The Breadwinner" was clearly a rather misguided endeavor for all involved. It's unclear what Bargatze & his fellow filmmakers were thinking when putting this together, but I suppose they must've thought that there was something funny in there, though obviously they were quite mistaken. It's one of those times where you wish they would've passed the screenplay around to a few friends & family, or better yet, stronger comedians, to get notes on what was working and what wasn't. That way a lot of its glaring mistakes could've been avoided, for as it is, it's just a completely forgettable outing that audiences were right to avoid.

Video/Audio:

"The Breadwinner" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality, presenting a sharp & clear picture throughout its entire 99-minute runtime. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue & music in outstanding quality. Overall, Sony Pictures has done a great job in both areas for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Commentary with Director Eric Appel

Making of (6 Minutes): A look behind the scenes with cast & crew.

Daditudes, Sharks, and a Horse: Casting the Breadwinner (5 Minutes): A featurette that explores the film's ensemble.

More Bloopers! (3 Minutes)

A Standup on Set (3 Minutes): A fake featurette about Nate attempting to transition from stand-up to acting.

Line-O-Rama's (5 Minutes): Various unused takes.

Deleted Scenes (6 Sequences, 5 Minutes)

Conclusion:

Eric Appel's "The Breadwinner" is a rather unfortunate & misguided attempt to take a bland, cliched premise and squeeze some amusement out of it, the result of which is a laugh-free comedy where the audience knows where it's going every step of the way, ultimately making for a completely forgettable outing that needed quite a lot more effort put into its screenplay.

Score: 2/5

Available on Blu-ray starting today.

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