Sam Monroe (Hayden Christensen) is a mess and doesn't get along with his stepfather. His mother Robin Kimball (Kristin Scott Thomas) divorced from his father George Monroe (Kevin Kline) 10 years ago. George gets fired from his hated architectural job. He's dying from cancer and decides to tear down his shack to build his dream house. He has a combative relationship with his next door neighbor Colleen Beck (Mary Steenburgen). Her daughter Alyssa (Jena Malone) is Sam's schoolmate and she likes Sam. George forces Sam to spend the summer with him building the house. School drug dealer Josh (Ian Somerhalder) recruits Sam to prostitute himself and they're arrested by the police.
I am not a Hayden Christensen fan. Other than 'Shattered Glass', I rarely like his performances. For this movie, he's well cast for this whiny bitter teen character. He has a pathetic self-indulgent streak that is perfect for this role. This movie can be overly sentimental. I would rather not have some of the sappy talk between Sam and Robin. It needs to stay focused on the father and son relationship. There are also a few too many people sleeping around. That cul-de-sac turns into orgy central all of a sudden. There is a solid foundation of a sentimental movie in the middle of everything.
Life as a House
2001
Action / Drama
Life as a House
2001
Action / Drama
Plot summary
George Monroe (Kevin Kline) is a lonely and sad man. Divorced for ten years, he lives alone on the southern California coast with his pet dog in the same run down shack in which he has lived for twenty-five years, the shack which his father passed down to him. In the intervening years, ostentatious houses have sprung up around him. He's been at the same architectural firm for twenty years in a job he hates, which primarily consists of building scale models. On the day that he is fired from his job, he is diagnosed with an advanced case of terminal cancer, which he chooses not to disclose to his family. In many ways, this day is the happiest of his recent life in that he decides to spend what little time he has left doing what he really wants to do, namely build a house he can call his own to replace the shack. He also wants his rebellious sixteen-year-old son, Sam Monroe (Hayden Christensen),to live with him for the summer, hopefully not only to help in the house construction, but for the two to reconnect as a family. Getting Sam to do any of it will not be an easy task as Sam, who has embarked on some self-destructive behavior, would rather do anything than spend time with his family, which also includes his mother Robin Kimball (Dame Kristin Scott Thomas),her wealthy but emotionally unaffectionate husband Peter Kimball (Jamey Sheridan),and their adolescent children. In Sam, George sees an unhappy person in every aspect of his life, much like George was before that fateful day. What Sam decides to do for the summer may consider Alyssa Beck (Jena Malone),his pretty classmate and George's next door neighbor. Through the process, George also reconnects with Robin, who admits that she's made some pretty bad decisions in her life. He may not want that reconnection to go too far considering his health. Ultimately, George has much to do to complete all he wants before he dies.
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some compelling sentimentality
Sappy tearjerker that goes for the jugular and tries to bleed you dry.
A neurotic architect suffers a severe nervous breakdown after loosing his job, smashing up all of his designs and ending up in the hospital where his ex-wife gives him therapy in the form of his punk rock, drug addicted son. Living in a shack in a beautiful cliff side community overlooking the Pacific Ocean, he wants to tear it down and build his dreamhouse, just like Cary Grant's Mr. Blandings in that classic screwball comedy with Myrna Loy.
Almost a male "Terms of Endearment" (and even "The Miracle Worker" with father being Annie Sullivan to the son's drug-addicted variation of Helen Keller),this overkills on emotional manipulation in spite of some superb performances, especially by Kevin Kline. Ex-wife Kristin Scott Thomas is stuck with an emotionally blank husband (Mike Weinberg) who believes any sign of parental affection leads to weakness and has caused his step-son (Hayden Christensen) to become emotionally distant and possibly incapable of forming any type of romantic attachment. The equally troubled Kline, already suffering a career nervous breakdown, seems the least likely candidate for curing the estranged son, but once the barriers are broken, the stage is set, especially thanks to the presence of a pretty young neighbor (Jena Malone) who has no qualms about joining Christensen naked in the shower of her mother's (Mary Steenburgen) house.
A well-intended family drama, it suffers with too many emotionally troubled individuals and a manipulative effort to tug at the viewer's emotions. No one mood is sustained, and at times, the melodrama is almost comedic, which ultimately causes the screenplay to loose its focus and credibility. What is memorable is the movie's stunning photography which features breathtaking sunsets and ocean views. This leads to the film's breakthrough sequence between father and son where Kline, in a moment of desperation, jumps off the cliff into the ocean, as if to scare his son into revealing something other than the Marilyn Manson dour persona he's been impounded with throughout the first part of the movie.
Kevin Kline's continuing saga
"Life as a House" is one of those movies that looks like it should be a total stinker, but actually comes out quite good. Architect George Monroe's (Kevin Kline) life is going down the tubes. He's totally alienated from his ex-wife Robin (Kristin Scott Thomas),while his son Sam (Hayden Christensen) has gotten addicted to drugs. To crown everything, George is plagued with guilt from having injured someone in a car wreck. So, George decides to build a house as a metaphor for his life. While some people find it a little strange, he clearly has some good intentions for everyone.
Kevin Kline has been my favorite actor for some years now, and "Life as a House" reinforces that. Some parts of the movie may be a little sentimental, but it's overall pretty good.