PLOT: A supermom lands a Shark Tank deal, switching roles with her breadwinner husband. He struggles to adapt as a stay-at-home dad to their three daughters.
REVIEW: Whenever a stand-up comedian finds success, we inevitably see them try their hand at starring in a movie. It’s a tale as old as time. Sometimes it translates to massive success, and other times it crashes and burns. Now, Nate Bargatze is trying his hand at it with The Breadwinner, a comedy about a man who has to switch roles with his wife and become a stay-at-home dad. And I hope that premise sounds intriguing, because it’s pretty much the only joke that the film has.
I’ve always found Nate Bargatze to be a bit of a boring stand-up comic, and that really translates to his performance. He seems so disinterested in everything he’s doing, and there’s no energy to him at any point. His monotone, everyman schtick might work on the stage, but it fails when it comes to leading a movie. Mandy Moore is in the token wife role, and she doesn’t seem to be there for anything outside of smiling and being encouraging. She has no chemistry with Bargatze, and they don’t even feel like they’d be in the same social circle, let alone be husband and wife.
The biggest issue with The Breadwinner is that it’s a comedy without any significant laughs. The joke gets played out very quickly, yet the movie doesn’t seem to ever catch up to that fact. A dad not being capable of doing basic tasks like laundry or taking his kids to school just makes the dad look like a loser. And Bargatze isn’t nearly charming enough to make that kind of role work. Instead, it’s just half-baked jokes, constantly harping on the fact that “isn’t it funny that this guy can’t do what his wife does so easily?” No, it’s not and I feel stupider for having to sit through it.
It doesn’t help that even the side characters fail to conjure up many chuckles. Will Forte, Colin Jost, and Kumail Nanjiani are easily the best part of the movie, but it’s mostly just because I like them, versus them actually being entertaining in the film. Even Forte’s Keegan, who is the world’s worst contractor, doesn’t seem like he’s used to his full potential. Though I do love that now that Kumail is jacked beyond belief, he’s getting more villainous roles. It’s just too bad the film never lets him do anything that’s actually devious.
There’s this weird thing going on in The Breadwinner where there can be zero stakes present at any point. Even when Nate is doing something completely out there, his wife is more than accepting and just goes with the flow. The only time there’s drama is when it is completely manufactured in the most ridiculous way possible, then it doesn’t even result in any significant consequences. It’s like the filmmakers wanted to make the most inoffensive film possible and wound up with something entirely devoid of personality.
This may as well have been called “Product Placement: The Movie.” From Walmart to KFC, this film takes every chance it can to push out some commercial product. The most egregious element is how much coverage Shark Tank gets. The entire story finally kicks off because of an episode of Shark Tank, and it even comes back around in the final act. It doesn’t help that none of the people from that show can act, and struggle with even the most basic of lines. Maybe I’m just showing my age, but do people even watch that show anymore?
The Breadwinner feels like the kind of film we would have seen in the 90s starring Martin Short or Steve Martin. Only, it’s 2026, and this entire premise feels so dated that I was shocked it kept pulling from that well for jokes. Bargatze is an uncharismatic lead, and the jokes are so juvenile and shallow that I can really only see little kids getting a laugh out of this.
The Breadwinner is playing in theaters on May 29th, 2026.
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