The Breadwinner
Comedian Nate Bargatze's first film starring role is a milquetoast "Mr. Mom" reboot, as a car salesman ineptly fills in for his housewife when her career takes off.
It used to be that casting a tier-one stand-up comedian in a starring feature film role was like printing money. Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart, Melissa McCarthy — all segued into fruitful acting careers anchoring comedies of various stripes. Occasionally, a Robin Williams or Ray Romano even struck paydirt on the dramatic side.
The track record hasn’t been so great lately. Just in the last few years, Bert Kreischer, Sebastian Maniscalco and Billy Eichner all flamed out pretty spectacularly in their star vehicles. And now here comes Nate Bargatze, probably the top standup on the circuit these days, with his own attempt.
In truth, “The Breadwinner” ain’t that bad. Very loosely based on his own life as a straitlaced family man and daughter-daddy, the screenplay was co-written by Bargatze and Dan Lagana, and directed by Eric Appel, who previously helmed “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”
It was partially financed by a faith-based movie studio, which isn’t surprising given Bargatze’s reputation as a “clean” comic whose humor centers mostly on traditional family life and his own shortcomings as a dad and husband. He eschews the label of ‘Christian comic,’ but his material definitely swings toward that demo.
Rated PG, “The Breadwinner” plays like a family sitcom, with nothing edgier than his 13-year-old daughter ditching sweaters for crop-tops at school, and a little gross gastrointestinal humor. It’s intended for the whole family, is safely middlebrow and boasts a decent amount of laughs.
The story, though, mostly plays as a milquetoast reboot of “Mr. Mom,” a 1982 comedy starring Michael Keaton as a dad forced to stay at home and take care of the kids when he and his wife swap the titular role.
Nate Wilcox (Bargatze) is the top Toyota salesman in Nashville, earning the same award every year that comes with Tennessee Titans tickets. He’s just an amiable doof with a gift for relating to all different kinds of people, and can even talk a college fratboy into buying a minivan so he can stand out from the crowd.
If you think it’s interesting that the Toyota brand is so prominently mentioned in a feature film, where such things tend to be glossed over, that’s because “The Breadwinner” features some of the most brazen product placement content I’ve ever seen. In addition to the carmaker and some key shots at Titans games — though understandably no mention of Nissan Stadium — there’s plugs for KFC, the “Shark Tank” show and even a trip to Walmart that plays like a magical suburbia adventure.
His wife, Katie, is a stay-at-home mom with next-level organizational skills, including a big board with post-it notes for every family activity. She makes driving the kids around and doing metric tons of laundry seem like a snap. She even had time to develop a cute little reminder toy for their kids, called the Starminder, and early on she gets a deal on “Shark Tank” to put them in production.
That means she has to go away for weeks at a time, leaving Nate to handle the homemaker duties. He’s a good dude but like a lot of guys, he tends to dump a lot of emotional labor — not to mention the actual labor of the domestic variety — onto Katie. He insists he’s got no problem putting his job on hold to support her, and how hard can it be to make breakfast and do laundry?
Incredibly hard, as Nate discovers, making a colossal mess of things before realizing that, in failing to be a version of Katie, he actually can become a better version of himself. Cue the life-lessons moments.
(Aside: it really isn’t that hard. And yes, I’ve been a stay-at-home dad. Once the kids are old enough for school, it’s a couple of hours of work a day, max. The movie also seems to forget there are these magical things called school buses, and you don’t have to actually drive there for pickup and dropoff).
The movie starts out pretty slow and obvious, with exactly the jokes you expect: burning the toast, squirting goo all over the car, having no idea what kind of eggs or milk to buy. We get that Nate has been pretty checked-out on this stuff, but milk and egg jokes?
On the plus side, Bargatze is an amiable, self-effacing presence onscreen, and we enjoy going along with him on this ride, even though we know where it’s going to go. He’s probably more TV sitcom material than movie star, but he makes it work.
I tried and failed to place Katie, and finally looked it up to find she’s played by Mandy Moore — yes, that Mandy Moore. The pop songstress and early Aughts movie starlet is all grown up and an empathetic presence as a woman who loves being a mom, but her eyes really start to shine when she’s given an entrepreneurial opportunity.
A pleasing supporting cast rounds out the edges. Will Forte plays Keegan, the roof repair guy of questionable skills who essentially sets up shop at Nate’s house and becomes his confidante and wingman. Kumail Nanjiani, still swole from his MCU turn, is Peyton, Nate’s nemesis at the Toyota dealership. Colin Jost has some fun as Conor, previously the only stay-at-home dad in their circle, who tries to make buds but keeps getting rebuffed. Brett Cullen plays Nate’s dad, who flies in to help out, but spends most of his time crashed out on the couch.
Charlotte Ann Tucker, Birdie Borria and Stella Grace Fitzgerald play their daughters, and each get a decent narrative arc of their own instead of just standing as backdrop to dear old dad. Really, the heart of the movie is about his relationship with his kids, and learning you can’t do shortcuts.
Is “The Breadwinner” agreeable, wholesome entertainment? It is. I could find little about it to hate, but also little to love. After a rough start it gets better as it goes along, which is always better than a movie limping in to home plate.
I can’t get all the way to recommending it. But maybe with some more original ideas, Nate Bargatze could be the rare modern comic to actually stick in the movies.