The film opens with a voiceover from the vastly underrated Bonnie Hunt, setting the scene on this crazy family. Within the first few minutes of the film, therefore, it had satisfied an important criterion for a family comedy. Sentimental scene-setting voiceover - check.

As we got introduced to the family, more boxes could be checked. Steve Martin as an eccentric yet lovable father. Bonnie Hunt as the sensible but fun mother. Tom Welling (TV's Smallville) and Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire) as two of the kids in a cunning casting move designed to appeal to appeal to the tweenager crowd. Amongst the other siblings, there was a heavy child, a shy child, a studious child. Check, check, check. Cute four year old twins with lisps. That was the Jonathan Lipnicki requirement covered. Dad is a football coach - lovely, that sets up a nice conflict between his dedication to his team on the field, and his team at home. Mom is an author - wonderful, that will set up a conflict between her burgeoning career and her family needs. Within the first ten minutes, I could see that this film was right on track.

The family, of course, has a lovely, huge house with lots of nooks and crannies - so much the better for eavesdropping on Mom and Dad's conversations, and for slapstick high jinks (which predictably ensued quickly and frequently.)

The plot is well hidden amongst the food fights and falling overs, but there is one. Dad is offered a new job as a football coach at his old college - his dream job, in fact - and so the family uproots to a new home. The kids are far from happy about the move, and things become more difficult when Mom goes off on a national booktour - leaving Steve Martin's overwhelmed father to cope, for the first time, alone. Predictably, he doesn't manage it and, predictably, both parents realise in the end that the most important thing to them is not their careers, but their family. It's a resonant enough message in an age of parents trying to juggle family/work commitments, even if they seem to be able to afford a very nice house and have no financial problems despite their massive brood.

The major sub-plot revolves around the shy child. Nicknamed Fed-Ex by his siblings because they believe he was delivered one night and isn't part of the family, it's obvious from the outset that, at some point, he is going to run away. You can tell because he wears glasses, feels closer to his pet frog than to his family and because - for some reason never adequately explained - Steve Martin finds it impossible to remember his name. I found this rather strange but, I realise now, I have no idea what the kid's name is either, so maybe I was being a little harsh.