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Life as a House

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 20 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Mark Andrus
Directed by: Irwin Winkler
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 26, 2001
DVD: March 26, 2002
Running Time: 124 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language, sexuality and drug use
Starring Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen, Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen, Jamey Sheridan, and Scott Bakula
The poignant, often humorous journey of one man who decides to tear down his house -- and winds up rebuilding the world around him. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: At First Sight De-Lovely Home of the Brave
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Mike Clark
Kline is one of the rare major actors not afraid to look like hell. And given his character's plight, his willingness to get physically unpleasant matches the emotion he brings to the part.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
This movie lets you feel something. Like George's house, if not his life, it's built well and full of heart.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Just when this sunshiny and affectionate comedy is beginning to bloom, the inevitable, tear-jerking conclusion closes off the fun like a Venetian blind blocking the light. (29 Oct 2001, p.93)
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Makes for a compelling comedy-drama about family ties. It's only when the cancer takes center stage that the movie feels like a wash.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Because it is slick and classy and good to look at, and the actors are well within their range of competence, you can enjoy the movie on a made-for-TV level, but you wish it had been smarter and tougher.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
An overwrought, ramshackle weepie that really doesn't deserve Kline's Oscar-caliber work.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Elevated beyond its cutesy contrivances and mawkishness by some extraordinarily good performances.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
It's a pleasant movie, written with care for the characters. But as the film's title suggests, scriptwriter Mark Andrus has made too obvious and clunky a metaphor of George's house.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Dequina
With nothing in the way of inspiration coming on either the writing or directing end, it's up to the actors to maintain audience interest and emotional engagement, and two members of the cast rise to the occasion: Kline and Christensen.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The real bottom line here is that the character just doesn't make much sense.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Rita Kempley
Built with fine materials and boasts a gorgeous ocean view. Unfortunately the family dramedy's design is overblown and the construction is pretty flimsy.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Mark Andrus's script is built on soggy sandstone, and Irwin Winkler's bulldozer direction keeps unearthing toxic epiphanies. That's not to say the movie isn't occasionally moving, as well as exasperating.
San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
Kline, in particular, has the spark and know-how to overcome some awfully belabored writing and situations.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
A family melodrama that becomes less authentic as it progressively takes itself more seriously.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
There's nothing particularly wrong with this movie, except that it's too nice for words.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
I heard a moviegoer calls this drama "a feel-good `American Beauty,'" which is like saying "a hot bowl of gazpacho" -- the point has completely been missed.
TV Guide Ken Fox
The phrase "Everything happens for a reason" is heard more than once, a risibly simplistic cliché that not only stands as this film's hackneyed theme but also as a surprisingly honest confession as to just how calculated the entire film is.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
This one is nearly as bad as it gets, suggesting that all the wrong people were wielding the sledgehammers here.
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
There's really nothing more to this by-the-numbers, ailment-of-the-week fodder dressed up with a classy cast.
Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
This family melodrama is as subtle as a load of bricks and occasionally as painful, but it offers two of the most finely tuned acting performances yet this year.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
Will the movie end in an orgy of sentiment? Why do we bother to ask?
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Forget about cancer -- it's weepy movies like this that are the real scourge.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Doesn't trust the audience enough to keep from laying on the schmaltz.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
Like hundreds of doomed movie protagonists before him, the hero of Life as a House doesn't have long to live. By the second reel, you may find yourself wishing his time on the planet was even shorter.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Christensen is the only jolt of excitement in this turgid soap opera.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Kline will break your heart, while the rest of the movie will just make you sick.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
No worse than any disease-of-the-week TV movie, and no more moralistic than any Lifetime drama. But it's no better, either, and it ought to be.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
So feel-sniffly-good it could make you revisit lunch.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Life as a House mounts a brutally insensitive attack on its audience's sensitivities.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Corey S. gave it a9:
Kevin Kline gives an Oscar-worthy performance in this very underrated drama. Yes, at times it is melodramatic, at times it is quirky and uneven, but isn't that often what life is really like?
Mike H gave it a4:
A constructed and formula driven movie that by the overly melodramatic finale becomes so lost in it's own self-indulgence, it looses any relevance and familiarity with almost all family's it attempt to connect to with a series of unrealistic and poorly realised characters. The rebuilding of the house and simaltaneously of the family was a cliched metaphor also.
Belle W. gave it a 10:
One of the best movies ever made. I have yet to see another movie that has been able to touch on so many diverse issues, mostly controversial, and be able to develop several different characters within 2 hours. While the ending was expected it offered a fresh and touching twist.
Casey B. gave it a 10:
Very heart felt movie...wonderful...i reccommend it to absolutely everyone.
Av H. gave it a 10:
This movie rocks!
Lynnette P. gave it a 10:
I thought that it was a real life view of what can happen to kids when families split up.
AG gave it a 3:
It goes through the same rhythms that every movie that deals with somebody dying with cancer goes through. The writing is good as some points and very lame at others. Even some subplots don't need to be out in there (Hayden's friend, Hayden whoring himself.) Kevin Kline did give a good performance despite the cheap writing. It's too bad it's just so cliched. Watch the ER episode that deals with Dr. Green and cancer. That's way better than shlock like this or "Walk To Remember" or "Here On Earth", etc. etc.
