A textbook example of how not to mess with success, "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" is every bit as forced, synthetic, banal and mawkish as the first edition, meaning there's no reason to assume it shouldn't come close to matching the $138 million-plus taken in by its equally underachieving predecessor. There may be a new director on board -- hitmaker Adam Shankman ("The Pacifier," "Bringing Down the House") -- with Eugene Levy and Carmen Electra joining the party of 14, but this sequel to the remake of the old Clifton Webb-Myrna Loy chestnut keeps all the subsitcom histrionics tediously intact. With so many of their older offspring planning to go off in different directions, Tom announces that there'll be one last Baker family gathering at their old summer vacation home in Lake Winnetka, Wis.

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