A man takes his family from the city to the country and buys them a dream house, which instead turns out to be falling apart. Ice Cube plays Nick the lead character who is going through some major life changes. He marries Suzanne (played by Nia Long), a woman who has two kids, Kevin (played by Philip Bolden) and Lindsey (played by Aleisha Allen) with the dog Coco. They all move in with Nick in his small apartment. At the same time, he decides to make a career move. He sells his sports shop and starts a sports magazine. He wakes up very early at 5 A.M. to work on his writing without being disturbed. But Kevin is there right afterwards demanding pop-tarts for breakfast. Lindsey comes in complaining about her missing cell phone and wanting to put on makeup to go to the mall. Suzanna tells him she is pregnant. She goes for a sonogram and comes back with the report showing they are having twins.
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Nick moves the family to the country for more space. They look at a house together. Chuck Mitchell, Jr. (played by John C. McGinley) is the real estate agent selling the house. He also says he is a midwife and knows, just by looking at her, Suzanne will have boy twins. He hard-sells them the house which is beautiful but he hides lots of problems. On the surface it looks terrific. When Nick is shown the private toilet, he falls in love with the house. Then he is shown the guest house where he will be able to write as a publisher of the new sports magazine he is starting. When a few things break in front of them, Chuck tells them he knows a good contractor for the “fixer-upper” repairs.
Nick says he will be able to fix up the house himself. He says he will take Suzanne's son Kevin to fish, even he does not know how to do it. Even though they fall through the roof , they decide to buy the house anyway. Once they move into the house all the nearby neighbors come to welcome them and everyone gives them a plate of prepared sturgeon fish which is the local fish. They lose the dog Coco and when they look for it, they cannot find the dog. They find a rabid deer instead. They have sturgeon for dinner. In the middle of dinner, the candelabra falls onto the table, which breaks the table. Nick decides to call the electrical contractor which is, to his surprise, also Chuck Mitchell, wearing another hat. Chuck arrives with Coco the dog. He found the dog on the highway.
Chuck Mitchell tells Nick the house is falling apart and needs a huge amount of repairs. Chuck tells Nick he should have hired an inspector before the bought the house. But Nick does not respect Chuck and ignores his advice. Nick hires a renegade electrical contractor who fixes the house for $150 instead of the amount of $8,000, which was quoted by Chuck. Raccoons get on the roof. Nick attacks them, but falls through the roof instead. The next day, the City Inspector, arrives on the property, which is also Chuck, to tell Nick he has violated the law. Then he changes hats back to the contractor. As the contractor, he tells Nick, he will put the power back on, but he also says there is dry rot. To repair the dry rot requires a special crew of dry rot specialists who all are Hawaiian heritage.
The dry rot crew rips the entire house apart removing many of the walls. Chuck brings his trailer so he can live on the property, to better help them. Bats come in the chimney at night and flood the house. Blind plumbers tell Nick he needs to replace all the water pipe with copper. Lindsey goes to a party with a teenager on the dry rot crew named Danny (played by Tahj Mowry). Her step-father Nick finds out about it. Chuck takes Nick to go get her.
Nick and Chuck have a huge argument. Nick fires Chuck, then all the rest of the workers also quit. Nick and Suzanne also have a big fight when Nick tells her he is putting the house up for sale. Suzanne walks out on him. The kids also leave. They don't go very far. They all go to live in the guest house on the same property. It starts raining. Nick repairs the roof in the middle of the night by himself. Suzanne watches him repair more of the big house by himself. Nick takes his step-son Kevin fishing. Kevin is pulled into the water by a really big fish. Chuck jumps in the water to save him and catches the big fish.
Nick learns Chuck lost his wife Ellen a few years back. This is why Chuck is a bit crazy. Nick goes to see Chuck and they become friends again. Chuck says he might be able to help Nick sell the house and he made a call to Magic Johnson so Nick can use him for the sports magazine. All the construction crew with Chuck rally together to finish the house within a week. Nick apologizes to his wife Suzanne, who is about to give birth. They don't have time to get to the hospital. She screams for Nick to help with the home birth. They call Chuck to come help also. Nick does his best to help before Chuck gets there. In the middle of the birth, Magic Johnson calls Nick. The birth is a success and the house gets finished. Instead of making a sports magazine, Nick makes a different magazine called “Are We Done Yet?” about what it takes to build a dream house.
Best part of story, including ending:
This a fun remake based on a movie called “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House”, which was a 1948 film starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. It is hilarious to think of Ice Cube playing the same role as Cary Grant. If only Ice Cube had the wonderful Cary Grant accent.
Best scene in story:
I like the scene when Nick goes after the raccoon on the roof only to fall through the roof and the raccoon looks down through the open hole to laugh at him. Even the animals think Nick is an idiot.
Opinion about the main character:
Nick does realize at the end family is the most important thing so this makes for the happy ending.
