Life as a House (2001)

A respectable tearjerker, Life as a House is a welcome throwback to angst-ridden family dramas like Ordinary People and Terms of Endearment. It falls short of those modern classics, but you'll probably still need Kleenex if you appreciate Kevin Kline's underrated dramatic skills. As the title suggests, Kline's project is a broad metaphor for repairing damaged lives from the foundation up. Playing an architect with terminal cancer, he gives an Oscar^®-caliber performance, reaching out to his estranged, nihilistic son (future Star Wars star Hayden Christensen) and ex-wife (Kristin Scott-Thomas) as he wrecks and rebuilds the Malibu cliff-top home that contained his most painful memories. Director Irwin Winkler's flair with actors helps to minimize lapses in a script (by As Good As It Gets scribe Mark Andrus) that occasionally borders on maudlin. Overall, this is a fine reminder that Hollywood hasn't lost its soul to action and special effects. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

One of the best movies that I've seen in recent memory

I've had this movie on my wish list for quite some time as the description sounded interesting, but hadn't really gotten around to ordering it. I finally got the opportunity to sit down and watch this last night as a rental. I'm on line this morning to order the movie! The acting is superb, the cinematography is breathtaking and the soundtrack is wonderful. I could not find a single fault in this movie. Each and every actor put in an oscar award winning effort. Hayden Christensen makes you forget that you ever knew him as "Anakin Skywalker" and only that there is a deeply troubled and hurting teenager in front of you. Kevin Kline will make you laugh through your tears and Kristin Scott Thomas will make your heart ache for a woman with a lifetime of mistakes. I won't spoil the ending but it makes you smile and say "YES! That was the right thing to do!". In the day of fluff and nonsense movies that are currently on the big screen, this movie should definitely have earned far more recognition than it did. It will be on my movie shelf by the end of the week. May 12, 2008

Movie

This movie is great. It's not one I would see over and over, but it tugs at my heart. April 6, 2008

Good film but...

It's an okay film overall, especially if you watched it through. Initially, the movie gave me a lot of wince. It's not because Kevin Kline's character was going postal, nor Hayden Christensen played an emo doing what appeared to be auto-erotic asphyxia, or Jena Malone's character was totally a wh*re. No, none of that, but it's because the script was flawed in term of characterization.

I can understand why George (Kevin Kline) gone postal, and why he actually endured 20-some years before he blew up. Did he not think through the consequence of his action? He doesn't strike me as a person who would bottle up his anger for decades. No, in fact, we had seen him pee into the ocean. This is not a reserve, introverted person. He doesn't care a squat about what people think of him.

I don't like why Sam decided to suddenly shed his make-up (yes, Hayden was fabulous with eyeliners, eye shadow, lip stick). I think the filmmakers want us to see the progress of his character from a rebel to a daddy's boy.... Nevertheless, that was on a questionable premise. Does putting make up on makes him an awful person? Granted, maybe he did all that for the shock effect, because he wanted to be a rebel, but I never believe he was ever a "bad boy" at all, or at least the script does not set me up to become a believer of that.

There are a lot of stuff in this film that made me want to ask how can everyone tolerate George's self-pity for so long? It's nice he built a house before he died, to fulfill his dream. That's all fine, but I do not like the motivation behind it. This is "Life as a House", not "Me as a Planet".

In term of direction, the director mentioned he wanted to make a film that examine what's going on in our society today. If that's the direction, I have to say he was looking at our society in a rather conservative scope (and I am a conservative). The kind a parent would condemn their kid with. I do not believe the movie made a good point on "what can be done", instead, it judged, "this is dysfunctional."

I do like the house though. It looks comfy and spacious. :-) The people behind the scene put a lot of effort into it, and I do like the analogy. Life /is/ like a house. The house analogy reminds me of "House of Sand and Fog." (which is a very good movie)

Overall it's a good film, but it's flawed. I may be a little harsh, but if what I mentioned (i.e., inconsistency of character; judgmental) got sorted out, it'll be a five-star movie. February 27, 2008

I couldn't believe this movie made so much sense

My parents used to tell me "build your house on a rock!" I never quite get it... And then what? I watched this one movie and it made sense to me? My goodness...
This movie is about a guy whos life didn't go very well. His wife left him and his son is a drug addict. On top of all of that, he has about 3 to 4 months to live and then he dies. What is he going to do? He desides to build a house! I loved the part where he comes to get his son Sam to live with him for the summer while he is building the home. It was great to watch a father relating to his son in a new, tender, but forceful way, knowing that he only has about 3 months to do anything to help Sam's change his life!
Over the course of the house building, the father was able to establish a relationship with Sam, even though it was difficult and at time painful, since Sam was in such a bad shape in his soul. Made me wanna change my perspective about people in my family who are struggling with issues simmular to Sam's.
I'm horrible about writing reviews... As you might have noticed, but I do incourage you to watch this movie. I rarely leave reviews, but I just thought I should this time. The point is, if you know someone who doesn't know anything but dying hair, smoking weed and hard rock, but their life is not that great, or if you know someone who lost their wife and doesn't have any respect on their children's part, watch this movie, it'll kinda serve like a puzle solver, you'll see...
Thanks for reading my review, take care... February 23, 2008

Very Satisfying movie

My wife and I loved this movie. Kevin Klein still has it after all these years. He can make us laugh ("A fish called Wanda") and now make us cry...The rest of the cast is fantastic as well. Kristin Scott Thomas does an excellent job at bringing out the emotions of the moment. "Young Anakin" does a great job at the troubled youth with teenage angst role. All in all, this movie is not to be missed. February 3, 2008

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