Review of Life as a House (2001) by Ben T — 01 Feb 2012

I stumbled across this movie and stopped doing all of my homework to watch it and it was worth every minute. Although it had recently come out in 2001 there was an even more recent movie of 2010 that had an almost identical storyline, The Last Song. Life as a House may have made less money but it is definitely under-rated and exceeds The Last Song by a tenfold in every category.

Sure Miley Cyrus's rendition of a family reconciled only to be torn apart again by terminal cancer was okay but I have to say Life as a House was performed much better. Kevin Kline was a much better actor than the dad in The Last Song and the father-son connection was very realistic throughout all of its stages unlike Miley and Greg Kinnear's.

It was a movie that had me laughing one minute then stifling my tears the next.

I think that the director was smart to make this movie focus more on the parents instead of just the angry, rebellious teen, which is oh so cliché. It allowed room for a different interpretation of a scene by both audiences; I found it funny and was a little shocked when George jumped into the ocean but parents could find it serious and relate. After all, when you have a kid with blue hair and piercings everywhere I'm sure that's how you would feel sometimes.

I also quite enjoyed the individual character development and relationship development of Sam and his dad. I didn't really realize it at first but Sam had started removing his piercings gradually throughout the movie, because of his father's previous begging, until he had none and wore other colors than just black. Also, seeing their relationship grow over time made me much worse when George finally admitted that he was dying.

I highly recommend this movie because I feel that it can be relatable on many levels; everyone struggles with their parents or kids. It's a great portrayal of a broken family fixing up their relationship through working on something together, in this case building George's dream house. I think there's something in it for everyone. Not to mention a very unexpected and touching ending that will leave you amazed at one's selflessness and maturation.