Admiral Frank Beardsley returns to New London to run the Coast Guard Academy, his last stop before a probable promotion to head the Guard. A widower with eight children, he runs a loving but tight ship, with charts and salutes. The kids long for a permanent home. Helen North is a free spirit, a designer whose ten children live in loving chaos, with occasional group hugs. Helen and Frank, high school sweethearts, reconnect at a reunion, and it's love at first re-sighting. They marry on the spot. Then the problems start as two sets of kids, the free spirits and the disciplined preppies, must live together. The warring factions agree to work together to end the marriage.
Practical Effects
Genuine coordination of 18 child actors without complete anarchy.
Costume
Navy uniforms vs. hippie chaos—visual gag never gets old.
Acting
Dennis Quaid commits to saluting children like it makes sense.
Director
Raja Gosnell
Dennis Quaid
Frank Beardsley
Rene Russo
Helen North
Sean Faris
William Beardsley
Danielle Panabaker
Phoebe North
Miranda Cosgrove
Joni North
Drake Bell
Dylan North
Katija Pevec
Christina Beardsley
Dean Collins
Harry Beardsley
Tyler Patrick Jones
Michael Beardsley
Haley Ramm
Kelly Beardsley
Ty Panitz
Ethan Beardsley
Miki Ishikawa
Naoko North
Slade Pearce
Mick North
Lil J.J.
Jimi North
Rip Torn
Commandant Sherman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Raja Gosnell also directed Big Momma's House and the live-action Scooby-Doo movies—this is basically his brand.
A 2005 time capsule: flip phones, low-rise jeans, and the belief that 18 kids in one house was aspirational rather than a zoning violation.
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