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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.

30

Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 21

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

audience

87

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 54,991

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, 2 hr. 5 min.

Drama

Mark Andrus

Mar 26, 2002

$15.4M

New Line Cinema

Cast

All Critics (124) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (57) | 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 | Comment
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 | Comment
ReelViews
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 | Comment
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There's a prefab construction to Life as a House that prevents it from acquiring the emotional solidness it needs to stand out.

November 2, 2001 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

House may suffer from excessive and unnecessary ornamentation, but its foundation -- Kline's performance -- is solid and strong.

November 2, 2001 Full Review Source: Denver Post | Comment
Denver Post
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 | Comment

Uneven but moving story of reconcilliation.

December 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
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) | Comment

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 | Comment
Film Quips Online

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

November 26, 2002 Comment
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 | Comment
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
More Critic Reviews

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

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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