The Breadwinner Review: One of the Year’s Worst Comedies

The new family comedy film The Breadwinner is so dull, so tepid, and so unfunny that the theater I attended, where I had to purchase a ticket because the studio did not hold a press screening, never a good sign, didn’t laugh once. This is not hyperbole, embellishment, or the result of the noise from a screening of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu blaring through the wall from the auditorium next door.

No, The Breadwinner is so shockingly inept at comedy that you have to wonder what happened to one of the hottest stand-up comedians’ talents for making people laugh. The self-deprecation Nate Bargatze is known for is still there. However, his gift for layering mundane anecdotes into strong punchlines and relatable payoffs is not only nowhere to be found but also seemingly never attempted.

What is The Breadwinner about?

The signature, bemused Bargatze experience abandons the disarmingly funny observations and unassuming charm that made him a stand-up sensation in favor of a regurgitated version of Mr. Mom, Daddy’s Home, and Cheaper by the Dozen. The Breadwinner doesn’t just borrow from familiar family comedies. It recycles the generic structures, character arcs, and tired jokes of bad ones.

The only audacious choice the comedy makes is its insistent and overdone use of product placement, which is the film equivalent of ads on the sides of cars at a NASCAR race.

Even a plot device centered on a Shark Tank-style television show comes across as half-baked, surface-level nonsense. That’s where the film begins. Nate Wilcox (Bargatze), a car salesman and perennial Salesman of the Year, is once again on the verge of retaining his crown and winning tickets to a professional football game. Nate is married to the lovely Katie, a devoted wife and mother to their three adorable daughters.

The Breadwinner Review

That is all about to change, however, as Katie (Mandy Moore) invents what amounts to a fancy Post-it Note, and one of the sharks invests $100,000 in it. The investors then force Nate to quit his job and become a stay-at-home dad so that his wife can pursue her dreams. If only her dream hadn’t resulted in nearly two hours of wasted time for paying customers, including me, trapped in one of the most uninspired comedies in decades.

The Breadwinner is directed by Eric Appel (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), and his sophomore feature is so stale, monotonous, and listless that I’d prescribe this comedy as a non-habit-forming sleep aid. The script, from Bargatze and Dan Lagana (American Vandal), could have been a breeding ground for irreverent situational humor, but the script tries to play it straight and tepid. Even wasting Kumail Nanjiani in a thankless rival role.

Is The Breadwinner worth watching?

Simply put, nothing is funny. Every time Will Forte, who plays a handyman fixing the Wilcox roof, winds up to make you laugh, you realize he is just performing his same old shtick, like a talking doll, and the studio is pulling strings. I won’t even mention the child actors who play the Wilcox children, because simply bringing them up could be construed as tolerating borderline child abuse.

Then there is the matter of Colin Jost, who plays a stay-at-home dad, albeit the emasculated kind, who seems to be having the most fun, but comes across as painfully awkward. As the film winds down, with mind-numbing, inane plot points that even the writers of Full House wouldn’t dare write, it even tries to show bits of Bargatze’s stand-up to justify the experience.

Unfortunately, the choice just reminds his core fans and new ones how lackluster the film adaptation of his stand-up actually is.

You can watch The Breadwinner only in theaters starting May 29th!

The Breadwinner Review: One of the Year’s Worst Comedies