Director of the first film, Shawn Levy, returned to produce the sequel and made a cameo appearance as a hospital intern.

Comedian Ben Falcone appears in a small role as a cinema customer who gets upset with Tom and Jimmy's quarrel.

Taylor Lautner and Robbie Amell, who both later became well-known leading men, played minor roles as members of the rival Murtaugh family before their bigger breakthroughs.

Despite receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics (only 8% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film the same 'A-' grade as the original film.

Roger Ebert was one of the few critics to give the film a positive review, awarding it 3 out of 4 stars and comparing young actress Alyson Stoner favorably to Reese Witherspoon.

The film received two Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Award nominations, for Worst Actress (Hilary Duff) and Worst Supporting Actor (Eugene Levy).

Several critics singled out Hilary Duff's tanned appearance for harsh criticism, with one review comparing her look to 'buffalo jerky' and another calling her 'haggard' and 'flat-out scary'.

The film is one of only twelve feature films in history to be released in over 3,000 theaters and still improve its box office performance in its second weekend, jumping 55.6% from its opening.