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
the summer they have together building his dream home by the sea. The laborious process leads to the rebuilding of dissipated relationships, the birth of new ones, and all-around healing. ~ Rachel Deahl, Rovi
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.
[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.
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.
...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.
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.
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.
No quotes approved yet for Life as a House. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Life as a House'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
