BREADWINNER, THE

(director: Eric Appel; screenwriters: Dan Lagana, Nate Bargatze; cinematographer: Eigil Bryld; editor:
Evan Henke; music: Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson; cast:
Nate Bargatze (Nate Wilcox), Mandy Moore (Katie Wilcox),
Stella Grace Fitzgerald (Gracie Wilcox), Birdie Borria (Hadley Wilcox), Charlotte Ann Tucker (Sam Wilcox), Colin Jost (Conor Ashford), Zach Cherry (Dan), Martin Herlihy (Peter), Kumail Nanjiani (Peyton), Will Forte (Keegan), Lori Greiner (self); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: PG; producers: Jeremy Latchman, Dan Lagana, Nate Bargatze; TriStar Pictures/Sony Pictures; 2026)

“Dated and unfunny domestic comedy.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Eric Appel (“Step Bude”/”Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”) directs this dated and unfunny domestic comedy about a stay-at-home suburban dad. It’s co-written by Dan Laganza and the popular stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze, who also stars in it.

Nate (Nate Bargatze) is married to the perfect wife, Katie (Mandy Moore). They have three daughters (teenager Stella Grace Fitzgerald, spelling-bee whiz Birdie Borria and the cutie Charlotte Ann Tucker).

Mom invents a product, a home-schedule-managing gadget, and goes on the business ownership TV competition show “Shark Tank.” One of the show’s “sharks” offers her a $100,000 buy-in and she takes her product on the road to South Korea for a few weeks to make sure it gets manufactured correctly. During that time Nate takes time off from his car-salesman job to watch his daughters. Everything dad does is bumbled, as he decides the house needs repairs and hires the incompetent Keegan (Will Forte) to repair the roof.

The sitcom comedy has SNL players Colin Jost also play a stay-at-home dad and Martin Herlihy as a goofy pizza delivery guy.

The silly antics by dad are meant to show how vital moms are in running the house, but the story gets bogged down in dull comedy routines and becomes tedious. The result is a dumb family comedy.

REVIEWED ON 5/30/2026  GRADE: C
dennisschwartzreviews.com