Opening

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—— The Haunting of Helena Jun 21

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—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
—— White House Down Jun 28
—— The Heat Jun 28
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Life as a House (2001)

tomatometer

47

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 105
Fresh: 49 | Rotten: 56

A manipulative tearjerker, Life as a House benefits from fine performances from the cast.

34

Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 21

A manipulative tearjerker, Life as a House benefits from fine performances from the cast.

audience

86

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 56,511

My Rating

Movie Info

Kevin Kline stars as George, a down-on-his-luck architect in this tearjerker from Irwin Winkler (At First Sight, Guilty By Suspicion). A disdainful local character who draws disapproval from the community, particularly his neighbor played by Mary Steenburgen, George sets out to change his life after suddenly losing his longtime job and discovering he's terminally ill (he has cancer). Attempting to reconnect with his estranged and troubled son, Sam (Hayden Christiansen), George endeavors to spend

R,

Drama

Mark Andrus

Mar 26, 2002

$15.4M

New Line Cinema - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (124) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (56) | DVD (27)

Gauged strictly by the gag-factor, a more honest title might be Life as a Basement Apartment with Bad Light and a Dank Smell.

March 19, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie gets us to feel about the characters, their relationships, and their circumstances, and that goes a long way towards allowing us to forgive the screenplays' occasional mis-steps and wrong turns.

November 27, 2001 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Life as a House reaches easily past all your intellectual and emotional barriers, back into that spot behind your heart, where the levers that release tears are stored.

November 2, 2001 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Kline] works beyond the call of duty here, although the role exploits and corrupts his natural charisma while hardly taking advantage of his estimable talent.

November 2, 2001 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This father-son melodrama is well acted, but it's too solemn and too concerned with being inspirational

June 2, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Uneven but moving story of reconcilliation.

December 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Remember the movie Terms of Endearment, about a mother-daughter relationship, a terminal illness and a message about not taking people for granted?

June 25, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Thank goodness there are actors capable of delivering performances better than the scripts they're given. Too bad there aren't more of them in this movie.

February 8, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Quips Online
Film Quips Online

Life as a House is no cinematic masterpiece but it stays with you.

November 26, 2002
Billings Outpost (Montana)

...the people who assembled Life as a House imagined it as a kind of American Beauty for the slightly more-literal-minded, for those who hated or felt baffled that film will likely like and apprehend this one.

October 30, 2002 Full Review
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A blatant tearjerker with the kind of shady characterization and plot development that give the genre a bad reputation.

August 8, 2002 Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies
Mark Reviews Movies

Even the most perplexing problems are wrapped up neatly before the conclusion. In this "House," nobody goes home lonely: Even the local pimp gets some good, good lovin' before the final curtain.

June 9, 2002 Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette
Kalamazoo Gazette

Llorarán y sin embargo saldrán de la sala con una sonrisa de esperanza y los deseos de construir su propia casa-existencia, ajustada a sus propios y más íntimos anhelos.

May 7, 2002
Cinenganos

Retrato de la importancia de las relaciones humanas y el dolor que estas conllevan.

April 23, 2002 Full Review Source: Moviola

Achieves an intimacy rarely seen in a star-laden Hollywood drama.

April 3, 2002 Full Review Source: Matinee Magazine
Matinee Magazine

As a drama it's insipid, maudlin junk that'll have you reaching for the sick-bucket rather than the Kleenex.

March 18, 2002 Full Review Source: BBC

Glosses over some hard truths in order to resurrect the notion of cozy family bonding that is still a sacred tenet of our national mythology.

January 15, 2002 Full Review Source: Movieline
Movieline

Rebuild your house, rebuild your home, rebuild your family, rebuild your life is the rather obvious message. If only it really were that simple.

January 3, 2002 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com
TheMovieReport.com

While the script is a bit too neat and tidy in tying together various subplots, the strong acting and mostly assured direction elevate the film.

December 21, 2001 Full Review Source: Baseline.Hollywood.com
Baseline.Hollywood.com

Let me just warn you - you will need a hanky. Who cares if it's a little too neatly done?

December 18, 2001 Full Review

While it is both funny and tragic, the two themes don't always work together.

December 9, 2001 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope
Laramie Movie Scope

Its one redeeming quality is a stellar cast that struggles mightily to overcome a turgid screenplay -- unfortunately, they don't succeed.

December 9, 2001 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

This 'House' is no Oscar palace, but neither is it a movie-of-the-week tenement.

December 6, 2001 Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com
AboutFilm.com

Audience Reviews for Life as a House

Everytime aging Kevin Kline glooms over the welcoming sea and remembers when his wife loved him and holding his toddler son in the sand, laughing and crying, and then that music hits for five solid minutes, i just know, like telepathically that my grandmother is watching this same movie on t.v. and crying her eyes backward into her head, except she also hears the hateful, offensive rock soundtrack and so she silently judges it while she weeps.
March 27, 2009
LoughnerWasLucid

Super Reviewer

I am a big fan of Kevin Kline, and I think that this is one of his best movies. Very moving, and very well done. Great for anyone who likes a good drama.
September 5, 2010
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

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