The Breadwinner: Why I’m So Done With Hapless Dad Movies

June 2026

 

The Breadwinner ...

 

Looked like a product placement for Shark Tank...

Featuring Lori Greiner...

 

Who currently resembles a doll some child forgot...

And left outside in the sun...

For a couple of months...

 

And I suspect she may have been just a tad jealous that Kevin O’Leary got such a plum role in Marty Supreme...

And so signed up to appear in this movie...

 

But The Breadwinner also made me think Garry Marshall had come back from the dead...

 

Because it has a decent cast...

 

Mandy Moore ...

Kumail Nanjiani...

 

Although when Nanjiani exclaimed...

“Pakistani Power!”

My first thought was....

 

You don’t hear that too often in a comedy...

 

But the screenwriters for The Breadwinner give this talent nothing to work with...

 

And the plot points in this movie are...  

 

RIDICULOUS...

 

I mean a pet horse running through a house destroying it...

A goofy roofer who builds scaffolding that looks like it was done by a 7 year old...

Who thought he was working on a tree house...

 

And I’m so done with pratfalls...

 

They’ve become filler...

In films that can’t think of anything else to do...

 

So all this reminded me of another filmmaker...

Who would bring on a great cast...

For a movie that should have made anyone associated with it...

 

Embarrassed...

 

Which is why I started to think Gary Marshall had somehow been magically resurrected...

 

And the premise of The Breadwinner is that tired trope...

Of the newly stay at home dad who can’t handle what mom does...

 

I mean how many times have we seen this before?

 

Seriously...

 

Didn’t Michael Keaton do this movie two years ago?

 

And when he made Goodrich in 2024....

I thought at the time...

 

Michael...  you already made this movie...

 

It was called Mr. Mom...

And you made it four decades ago...

 

Did you forget?

 

So Hollywood... once again...

Can’t think of anything new...

 

Because Goodrich had basically the same plot.. as Mr. Mom...

And now The Breadwinner...

 

And probably some others I’ve forgotten...

 

Dad is forced by circumstances to take care of the house and kids...

Screws up, gets better..

And learns to appreciate the family he ignored before ...

 

This is called the Family First Character Arc...

And we are seeing a lot of that these days...

 

Where the job is supposed to take back seat to family...

 

But in Goodrich they live in a 3 million dollar house..

The kids go to a pricey private school...

 

So how does the dad... as he rides off into the sunset of parental happiness...

 

Stay at home and pay for all this?

 

Well... Hollywood doesn’t really want you to think too much about that...

 

Or see if the dad and the kids in Goodrich are still happy ..

When they are living in an apartment in Van Nuys...

And going to public school...

 

I guess they just assume dad will buy a copy of Your Money Or Your Life...

Open a Robin Hood account...

Buy some crypto...

And all will be ok...

 

Because he now gets to spend lots of quality time with his kids...

 

So like all the Family First movies these days...

Fiscal reality is not allowed to intrude

On the prescribed happy ending...

 

So along with the Quiet Quitting and the FIRE movement...

I guess prioritizing your job... is so last century...

 

Which is why Nate in The Breadwinner decides being the top salesman at his Toyota dealership..

Was not worth it...

 

Because going to that spelling bee is more important...

 

 Ok.. I guess that works

 

Now the comedian Nate Bargatze...

Would seem the perfect choice to play a hapless dad...

 

And he is the best part of this film...

 

He has great comic timing ...

Which is why he is a master of deadpan delivery...

 

A sort of George Burns for the 21st century...

 

And yes... I am that old...

 

Now Bargatze is a natural in front of the camera...

And so deserved better material...

 

Although the bit about dad taking the kids to Walmart to buy enough clothes to last until mom comes back...

So he doesn’t have to do laundry...

Was a very dad thing to do...

 

And at first I thought...

Why has no one given this guy a sitcom?

 

Oh wait... many have tried...

And failed...

 

And Bargatze did cowrite the screenplay for this film...

So I would suggest he not quit his day job as a standup comedian...

 

But with the right material...

I think he has potential...

 

But PLEASE...

 

Not as another hapless dad...

 

We’ve had enough of that...

 

Bargatze has a great riff in his standup routine about his dog...

So I would suggest...

Make him a clueless vet...

 

Dogs and Bargatze...

I think that would be fun...

 

But finally a word ...

From someone who has been there...

Had kids and a job...

 

Hollywood...

 

Let’s get real...

 

It’s not that hard...

 

Kids can have chores...

They are quite capable of doing their own laundry...

And you can tell those entitled little ones...

That you are not a short order cook...

And they can eat would you put in front of them...

Or wait until the next meal...

 

Because that worked for me...

 

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