Review of Life as a House (2001) by Christi M — 13 Sep 2010

Kevin Kline leads the cast as George, an ill fated architect who tries to mend his broken relationships with his ex-wife and disturbed teenage son. After George loses his job he discovers he has terminal cancer and only has the summer to live. Keeping his sickness a secret he forces his drug addicted asshole son Sam (Hayden Christensen) to live with him and help build his dream house.

Along the way we learn just how bad Sam's drug use really is. We see him huff paint and steal numerous pills. Sam even dabbles in the guy on guy prostitution ring, being pimped by his older buddy. George tries again and again to reconnect with his demented son but Sam won't budge until George flushes all the drugs and forces Sam to help build the house.

George also reconnects with his estranged ex-wife Robin and the two eventually fall back into love when Robin's hubby leaves her. Eventually George confesses his condition to Robin and Sam and let the crying begin. It's a strong tear jerker but tries a bit too hard. Not as hard as The Last Song or My Sister's Keeper, but almost.

There's about 15 minutes of the movie I could have done without. The 16 year old weirdo neighbor Alyssa, the pimp sleeping with Alyssa's mother and the kissing scene between old man and young teenager. All that unnecessary drama aside, Life As A House is still a strong tear jerker even though it tries way too hard to make the audience cry.

Kevin Kline makes us care about his character and Hayden Christensen should be commended on having the balls to take on such a role. Christensen plays the biggest asshole I've ever seen and I guess that's what they were going for is an ungrateful little piece of garbage kid. Good job to the whole case but I could have done without Jena Malone's character as a whole. She just plain sucked and was an extreme weirdo, even creepy. All in all, a decent tear jerker chick flick.