Life
as a House (2001)
Cynics will have easy work of dismantling "Life
as a House." After all the film has some real moments
of wooden acting, forced exposition, obvious contrivement
and overt indulgence of the temptation to be "new indie
cutting edge." Oft times, it tries way too hard. But
even more glaring, the film wants desperately to be
the "next 'American Beauty.'" I'm surprised they didn't
hire Thomas Newman to do the score.
Nailing the "house" connotation immediately, Kevin
Kline plays George, an architect. Fired from the firm
he's worked at for over 20 years, George goes ballistic
before succumbing to stress and simply passing out.
When released from the hospital, he decides to build
his dream house, tearing down the eyesore shack his
upper class neighbors hate. It happens to sit, of course,
on the most beautiful piece of California coastline
one can imagine.
Kline's character is an archetype, the audacious,
intelligent man who revels in giving the snooty local
gentry numerous reasons to get upset. His dog even seems
to understand the standard of this character and assists
by pissing on the neighbor's property as much as possible.
This is pretty standard stuff and the script often finds
itself fighting between these parallels, basically,
between being "standard" and "cutting edge."
The real nexus of conflict for drama in the film
comes with Sam, George's son from his now dissolved
marriage. Sam, seemingly suddenly 16, wears eye make-up,
has blue dye in his hair and has recently pierced his
chin. He also engages in autoerotic asphyxiation and
listens to a lot of Marilyn Manson. Trouble is, Sam
is played by Hayden Christensen, known to millions,
even now, as Anakin Skywalker from the next, forthcoming
"Star Wars" film. Christensen is hot as hell but his
acting ability is almost unapparent. Surely coming from
the George Lucas School of Acting (sad = pout lips,
happy = smile, mad = yell) Christensen has only his
youthful sexuality to help here. (Did I mention he is
a hottie and a half?) Imagine Bowie and Robert Smith
of the Cure mixing their seed in a test tube and waiting
16 years and you get a pretty good idea of just how
fine he is.
For what it's worth, when it comes to Christensen,
director Irwin Winkler seems to get it. He knows we
want to see this cutie as much as we can and he splays
him out for our ocular imbibement as often as possible.
Too bad the kid's a bit of a prude and doesn't seem
to understand this same concept. The "masturbation"
scene he engages in is totally devoid of anything interesting.
Of course, Christensen is working from a screenplay
(by Mark Andrus) that insists that eye make-up (on guys
anyway) and face piercings and colored hair indicate
"troubled teen." Kline's George spends far more time
worrying about this crap then he does trying to figure
out the real problems his kid has. What George does
do, that is correct and intriguing for a film, is make
Sam come live with him and build a house on his summer
break.
There is a lot going on in the plot here as numerous
characters, including George's ex/Sam's mom (Kristen
Scott Thomas), her husband (Jamey Sheridan), their two
young sons, the lusty next door neighbor (Mary Steenburgen),
her intelligent and sexually active daughter (a Leelee
Sobieski look-alike), a local cop (Scott Bakula), the
numerous horrified neighbors, and a teenage boy hustler
who tries to get Sam to become "trade" come into the
mix.
Gee, do you think Sam evolves over the summer?
Do you think having a strong father figure in his life
for three months completely changes the boy? Of course
it does. It doesn't hurt that Leelee2 lays him in the
shower as well.
But for all its faults, for all its contrivances,
for all its forced "moments," I couldn't help but love
this movie. It does almost everything exactly like you
want it to and maximizes it for the most emotional impact
possible. Sure, there are really wonderful, subtle,
emotional and human moments too. In the end, these even
win out. The film just wants to please and most of the
time it does so. Who can argue with a film that gives
you what you want?
Unless you are a cynical, heartless creep, "Life
as a House" will make you laugh and cry and smile and
feel all warm and gooey inside. Too bad it also often
feels like your being manipulated, though. (And not
in a good way).
Note:
Also with Sam Robards and John Pankow.
More
of Lodger's reviews indexed alphabetically! Just click
your favorite letter to go there.
a
b c
d e
f g
h i
j k
l m
n o
p q
r s
t u
v w
x y
z
HOME
|
