Nate Bargatze isn't dumb. But he plays one brilliantly — and now he's playing one on the big screen too.
According to Rolling Stone's review of 'The Breadwinner', the 47-year-old Tennessee comedian has landed a star vehicle. The film, co-written by Bargatze and Dan Lagana, casts him as the archetypal clueless husband and dad — a family-friendly comedy based on the observational humor that made him famous.
Bargatze built a career selling out arenas with his slow-burn Tennessee drawl and relatable observations about Starbucks orders and common-core math. Rolling Stone notes that his "sense of crafting anecdotes into top-tier material and knowing how to use his sweet-molasses pacing to calmly detonate a joke is damn near peerless."
The Breadwinner leans into exactly what made Bargatze famous — the self-deprecating, aw-shucks everyman persona that offers "neutral-ground escapism from our divisive world." It's positioned as an old-school comedy in the vein of Michael Keaton's 1983 classic 'Mr. Mom,' complete with fish-out-of-water domestic chaos.
This is not a bid to crown Bargatze as a chameleonic actor. Rolling Stone is clear that 'The Breadwinner' is a star vehicle, not a showcase for range. The critic notes that "no one's mistaking this for My Left Foot." And Bargatze would probably say the same thing.
The comedian who spent years joking about his confusion over life's small moments has earned his moment on the big screen. For those who followed his journey from comedy clubs to arena tours, this feels earned.
