The punchline parent

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, May 29th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a new comedy aimed at families.

Famously clean comedian Nate Bargatze stars in The Breadwinner, which hits theaters this weekend. The film has been marketed to families as a clean, safe entertainment choice. 

But WORLD reviewer Joseph Holmes says despite its wholesome ambitions, this one may not deliver.

JOSEPH HOLMES: There’s a reason American Christians gravitate toward “old-fashioned” and “safe” movie material. We tend to be more family-oriented than our peers—especially today. So we enjoy media that we can safely watch together.

The new family comedy The Breadwinner is headlined by probably the biggest “clean comedian” working today, Nate Bargatze … and is clearly targeting exactly that viewer. It's built around the oh-so-familiar trope of the inept father trying and failing to do the mom’s job while she’s away.

Unfortunately, it's also another example of how safe doesn’t always equal good. And of how just because something is old-fashioned doesn’t mean it’s safe.

KATIE: I think I might really have something.

NATE: If doing this makes you happy, you have to go for it.

SHARK TANK LADY: This is a big opportunity. I’m going to give you an offer. But Nate, you have to stay home and take care of the kids.

NATE: Yeah, I could do that.

KATIE: Really?

SAM: We’re all gonna die.

NATE: I’m right here.

Bargatze plays Nate Wilcox. He—along with his three children—consider wife Katie, played by Mandy Moore, the ultimate mom. She manages their comically chaotic household with equal parts efficiency and love, and everything runs perfectly. 

But when Katie’s household invention leads to a once-in-a-lifetime deal on Shark Tank and takes her on a prolonged business trip, Nate has to figure out how to keep the house from falling apart.

KATIE: Are you sure you can handle this?

NATE: I’m the top salesman at the dealership! I can handle a month alone with the girls. You act like I’m going to blow the house up.

KATIE: Bye!

GRACIE: Dad, the front door’s locked.

NATE: There’s a window in back, we’ll crawl through that.

I’m a fan of Bargatze, and I think he’s due to headline a Hollywood film. And I can appreciate what The Breadwinner was trying to do. 

It’s been a while since we had a comedy about families that families can watch together. And although the comedy is familiar, it has the potential for some new twists in a time where women are working more, and dads are staying home more. You see bits of this in how Nate Wilcox has to lie to his wife when he tells her he doesn’t mind the fact that their roles have reversed. Something a sitcom dad from the 50s wouldn’t have necessarily had to do.

The problem is, the movie isn’t very funny. 

Regrettably, a big part of it is Bargatze’s casting. His understated style of comedy doesn’t mesh well with the cartoonish gags that dominate the majority of The Breadwinner’s runtime. 

In his standup routines, Bargatze excels at delivering jokes with wholesome, deadpan self-awareness. When the film lets Bargatze play that way in the film, it works. But far too often, he has to play a dumb dad who’s so clueless and incompetent he’s basically a Looney Tunes character. 

A character that doesn’t fit with the version of himself that he plays far better.

HADLEY: Dad, you’re going the wrong way.

NATE: To your school.

GRACIE: To any of our schools.

HADLEY: You don’t know where our schools are?

NATE: Uhhh…

SAM: I’m going to call mom.

NATE: What? Give me the phone!

GRACIE: Look out! [crash]

But the problems wouldn’t have been solved if they had hired a different comedian who fit the material better. Because most of that material is too tired and cliché to generate any laughs. 

The film also features a legitimately good cast of Hollywood comedians like Kumail Nanjiani, Zack Cherry, Nick Nolte, and Colin Jost. But they also feel hemmed in by the material, getting most of their best moments in the rare instances when they get to play to their comedic strengths. 

Also, the film can be preachy with its life lessons like a bad Christian film. We see Nate and Katie teaching their daughters “consent in hugging” and later, Nate has to learn all kinds of heavy-handed lessons what being a better husband and father is like. 

Unlike those bad Christian films however, none of these lessons are necessarily tied to a Christian worldview.

NATE: I’ll get two weeks of t-shirts and two weeks of underwear.

SAM: What happens after two weeks?

NATE: We throw all this out and start over.

In fact, some of those messages that the film preaches are problematic. 

The Breadwinner is constantly promoting the “loser dad” cultural myth by showing us—and telling us—how much better Katie is than Nate as a spouse, husband, and person. At every turn, we’re told how bad Nate is at being a good parent, and his character development is all about learning to admit that he needs to follow and learn rather than lead.

We tend to downplay the harm of this myth because we’re so familiar with it. We see it with Homer Simpson and on the show Everybody Loves Raymond. 

But given how much damage seeing dads that way has done to marriages and families, it’s not something that we should just ignore. 

If the film were more entertaining, it might be worth watching and discussing. But given how dull it is, it’s hard to justify.

NATE: She makes it look so easy. This has been the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life.

KATIE: I know this is hard, growing into new roles. But this could change our lives.

NATE: Trust me. I’m not going to let your dream die.

Christian parents are right to look for wholesome movies that the whole family can watch together. Hopefully, filmmakers will start making better ones soon, so families don’t have to settle for movies like The Breadwinner.

I’m Joseph Holmes.

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