Review of House of D (2004) by John K — 01 May 2005

I see a lot of people didn't like [i]House of D[/i], but I caught it while visiting friends in NYC, and I wouldn't exactly call it [i]terrible[/i].

The reason I went to see it was because of Robin Williams. I know he's not as popular as he once was, but I still love him.

He does overact like mad, and we see plenty of that here in [i]House of D[/i], but that's part of his charm in my book!

David Duchovny turns in a lacklustre performance and it includes another of those terribly annoying narrations, which are supposed to be insightful, but aren't.

It is disappointing because when you think of David Duchovny, you think of the [i]X Files[/i] of course, and anyone who saw that show knows how great he can be, but he was barely lukewarm in this film.

I did wish the story wasn't so full of holes, and that it didn't seem more like a film of a stage play about a diary than an actual movie.

Tommy's wife didn't know he was an American? Excuse me, but why not? It's not as if he speaks excellent French. (A hint: he doesn't!) That was just strange.

And how exactly did the young Tommy get to a European city like Paris and then survive there on his own when he was so young?

Anybody who is Catholic becomes the butt of jokes in this film. As a Catholic I have to say that was a little off-putting.

The whole Catholic-bashing angle felt gratuitous and even a little spiteful. Did Duchovny have a bad experience with a priest when he was young?

It seems to me to be a little risky for a person of one religion (I believe Mr Duchovny is Jewish?) to make fun of another's religion.

The most prominent black person in the film is in jail (the '[i]House of[/i] [b][i]D'[/i][/b]etention) for murder (Erykah Badu, as Lady). Again the stereotyping is uncomfortable.

Young Tommy's romantic relationship saga with Zelda William's character felt like a very implausible device, as did his friendship with Robin William's Pappas (a 'retard' janitor'), and the issue with the bicycle.

Yes, there are some seriously strange things about the story. Hmm, oh well. Nothing is perfect.

Despite what people say, I like Tea Leoni. I think she's a skilled comic actress, but I felt as if she was the wrong person to play a suicidal widow.

This film certainly evoked the '70s quite nicely, with the fashions and colours and music. That really flashed me back a bit I have to confess!

Despite its faults, I can't condemn this as some have, but it's not a great film. I give it a 4. I wouldn't buy the DVD but I might rent it one day.