The reviews for The Breadwinner warned me that Nate Bargatze's movie debut wasn't the most progressive of movies, but even that was an understatement. As a fan of the comedian and his past sketches, I decided to watch it when it was available with my Netflix subscription, and it made me so angry as a dad that I almost shut it off a few times.
Beyond a dated message explaining that gender-defined household duties can be bad, The Breadwinner commits a sin I can't overlook. The story revolves around and somewhat idealizes the stereotype of a dad that, quite frankly, I can't believe exists in 2026.
I Can't Imagine Any Happy Family In 2026 In Which The Father Knows Nothing About Basic Chores Or His Children's Lives
There's nothing aggravating about Nate being "the breadwinner" in the movie, but there is something aggravating about the film's repeated hook that it's all he's ever had to do. Even in a family comedy, how much disbelief should we suspend that outside of selling cars, this man knows absolutely nothing about how to run a household?
As a father, I'd be pretty embarrassed if I couldn't prepare eggs for my child without burning them, or do laundry. Not as embarrassed as I'd be if I didn't know basic details about where they go to school, or who their friends were. All of those things happen in the movie, by the way, and it infuriated me.
Nate Could've Definitely Learned How To Do Laundry, Cook Adequately, And Many Other Things In A Month
Don't get me wrong, I get it's a comedy, but it's only funny if Nate is called out for what he actually is. What The Breadwinner will tell you is that Nate is just a man who doesn't know how to do things because he was busy working while his wife handled all that stuff. As he says early in the movie, perhaps because there was an inkling this movie wouldn't go over well, it's not what everyone does, but it works for them.
The reality is, Nate is a man-child. He's given a full month to attempt to learn any of these skills he should've known well before marriage, and yet somehow, by the end of the movie, he still doesn't know how to do any of them.
The Breadwinner resolves all this at the end by showing that Nate let go of his goal of becoming the top salesman at his car dealership in order to help his wife around the house more. The moral? Your husband can be useful at home, ladies, but his work will suffer.
I've seen the show has a high audience score, and honestly, it's probably because people aren't thinking about it as deeply as I am. At the base level, this was made to be a family comedy, and it succeeds in being a movie for all ages.
What I don't like about it as a dad is that there may be a generation of boys who think it's ok if they're clueless about buying groceries or keeping a home clean. These are basic life skills people should maintain, regardless of their job. Nate Bargatze may have some funny one-liners in his stand-up, but I think he needs to take a better look at the scripts he signs on for in the future.
The Breadwinner is available to stream on Netflix. While I can't give it my official seal of approval, I can say that I enjoyed Mandy Moore in it and how the movie referenced her pop roots.
