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"Life
as a House" is a movie that seems to promise a more
interesting story than it actually delivers. It's not really a
bad film and it does contain terrific performances from actors
at the top of their game, but a tarpaulin of superficiality
seems to hover above it. Mark Andrus' screenplay provides some
potentially interesting characters, but takes a few too many
narrative detours instead of focusing on the emotional
intricacies of the key players. The whole thing plays like a
teaser to a much better movie.
The film is an exercise in glaringly overt symbolism. WARNING!
The next two paragraphs are entering plot spoiler territory
again. George Monroe (Kevin Kline) is a California architect who
for years has possessed a dream. He has always wanted to
construct his own house, one overlooking a cliff along the edge
of the Pacific. But like a sad majority of people rummaging
through their daily grind, George has put off the dream, and has
kept putting it off while his passion for the world around him
has been slowly drained through the years. Now he's divorced,
overworked, and alienated from virtually everyone who has ever
loved him.
It's not until he's "downsized" from his place of
employment and faces a harrowing medical discovery that he
realizes the importance of his dream and how vital its
completion has become. So, he scrapes every bit of money he has
left, orders his estranged son (Hayden Christensen) to help him
in the endeavor, and begins his quest not only for the
completion of his dream home, but more importantly, for the
filling of the emotional cavities created by keeping his loved
ones at arm's length. At first, his idea is treated with a
sizeable degree of skepticism by his ex-wife (Kristin Scott
Thomas), but soon she, along with his neighbors and eventually
his reluctant son are lending their best efforts at completing
the heavily symbolic task.
This is the kind of film that doesn't hide its desperation in
seeking Oscar gold, which has a tendency to undermine its
potential emotional impact. (Last year's "Pay It
Forward" suffered a similar fate.) The performances are
deserving enough, especially from Kline, whose portrayal is
thoughtful and cognizant yet not sunk by director Irwin
Winkler's rather intrusive bouts of unnecessary comic relief.
It's a wonderful performance that could have actually shined
brighter if surrounded by a more emotionally permeating story
line.
Good performances decorate the movie, but deserve more than what
the script is willing to offer. As the estranged wife and son,
Kristin Scott Thomas ("The English Patient," "The
Horse Whisperer") and Hayden Christensen (the upcoming
"Star Wars: Attack of the Clones") bring an
attention-calling authenticity to their roles of suburbanites
who have tragically mastered the art of concealing the source of
their inner pain. But instead of developing those characters and
the rebirth of their relationships with each other, the film
opts to fill that screen time with superfluous subplots: one
involving a relationship between George's next-door neighbor
(Mary Steenburgen) and a local high school boy and another where
an angry neighbor (Sam Robards) vows revenge against George for
allowing his dog to crap on the man's lawn. (The movie also has
an odd fetish with shower scenes that contribute little to the
story's central theme. Apparently, the filmmakers were inspired
by the Kevin Spacey masturbation scene in "American
Beauty" and decided to incorporate their own series of
shower adventures.)
My problem with the film doesn't stem from its identity as an
unabashed tearjerker nor that it employs some distinctively
manipulative techniques in obtaining audience sympathy, but
rather that it curiously sacrifices genuine character
development in the process. The individuals involved aren't real
people so much as tools to extract a particular response.
"Life as a House" is a story made up of
interesting characters that strangely isn't about who they are,
but rather what they can contribute to the shameless tugging of
a viewer's heartstrings. Some will undoubtedly be moved. For my
money, however, I expect a movie like this to work a little
harder.
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