‘Breadwinner’ Review: Nate Bargatze’s Family Comedy Suffers to Be Engaging Enough to Land as it Should
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.
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.
