The Pacifier (2005)
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A Navy SEAL is tasked with babysitting a family of five children while searching for a top-secret government project.
The story
After a failed rescue mission where his teammate is killed, U.S. Navy SEAL lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to stay at the Plummer residence in Bethesda. His mission is twofold: he must search for a secret government project called GHOST and mind the family's five children while the mother, Julie, travels to Zürich to retrieve a safety deposit box. The children prove to be difficult to handle, leading to a nanny quitting. Shane eventually begins to discover the children's problems and resolve them, gaining their trust after saving them from a pair of intruders looking for the GHOST program.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
U.S. Navy SEAL lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer from Serbian rebels. During the escape, Howard is killed, and Shane is hospitalized for two months. Shane is then tasked with staying at the Plummer residence in Bethesda to mind the five children while Howard's widow, Julie, travels to Zürich to retrieve a safety deposit box. The children are difficult to manage, and their nanny, Helga, quits after a prank goes wrong. Shane begins to bond with the children, helping them with personal issues and teaching them martial arts. He also takes charge of a school play and gives Zoe driving lessons. While Julie is away, Shane discovers a secret vault in the garage. However, he is betrayed by his commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett, who is a double agent working with the Plummers' Korean neighbors, the Chuns. Bill and the Chuns take Julie and the children hostage to access the vault. The children escape and manage to crash the Chuns' car into a dealership. Shane uses a specific dance Howard used to lull Peter to sleep to bypass the vault's security. He eventually rescues Julie and the children, subduing the Chuns with the help of a family duck and his love interest, Claire Fletcher. In the end, Shane retires from the Navy to become the school's wrestling coach.
- First release year
- 2005
- Runtime (minutes)
- 95
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Adam Shankman
- Writers
- Thomas Lennon · writer; Robert Ben Garant · writer
- Cast and characters
- Vin Diesel · Shane Wolfe; Lauren Graham · Julie; Faith Ford · Helga; Brittany Snow · Zoe; Max Thieriot · Seth; Carol Kane · Lulu; Brad Garrett · Duane Murney
- Genres
- family; action; comedy
- Themes
- Family; Responsibility; Redemption
- Tone and mood
- Comedy; Action
- Premise and plot tags
- Babysitting; Secret Agent; Family Comedy
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics, though it was a commercial success, grossing $198.6 million worldwide.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 21% · scale: approval rating · review count: 127; Metacritic · score: 30 · scale: 100 · review count: 27
- Production trivia
- The film was originally slated to begin production in early 2004.; Vin Diesel stated in 2015 that a sequel was being written.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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