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88 MINUTES | BOSTON COMMON + FENWAY + FRESH POND + CIRCLE + SUBURBS A widow and a widower with 18 kids between them merge in this antic and unfunny family comedy. The two batches of kids hate each other and declare war until they team up to destroy a greater enemy: their parents. High jinks ensue, but the kids learn — wait for it — a lesson about family values. With a cast of child actors this large (my sympathies to director Raja Gosnell), no one emerges as anything but the most basic stereotype: the artist, the cheerleader. And despite the crazy stunts, they’re all boringly nice. In theory a remake of the 1968 comedy starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, this version plays more like an episode of The Brady Bunch. Gosnell has two attractive and hugely likable stars in Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo, but they spend most of the movie pratfalling into buckets of crap and acting like idiots. Only the youngest will find this mess amusing.
BY BROOKE HOLGERSON
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