Review of The House (2017) by Kristofer H — 04 Jul 2017

Proper Perspective: Watching The House I kept getting a weird nagging feeling that this felt familiar. Not that this movie has been made before, it hasn't, but it felt familiar. Then it hit me, this is a very discount spiritual sequel to Old School. Let's talk about The House...

Official Synopsis: A dad convinces his friends to start an illegal casino in his basement after he and his wife spend their daughter's college fund.

Plot: Desperate to pay for their daughter's education after the town takes away a scholarship, a couple and their eccentric friend start an in house casino.

Take: All a comedy has to do is make you laugh and try not to be too convoluted. The House was not as convoluted as most comedies in recent years, but it wasn't very funny. Aside from a few sparing laughs at the situational humor and Jason Mantzoukas (Parks and Recreation, Dirty Grandpa) character being a standout in the movie.

The story follows two parents, Scott and Kate Johansen (Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler), as two great parents who focused on being present parents and did not save for their daughter, Alex (Ryan Simpkins) college education.

They have a college scholarship taken from them when the town decides to build a pool instead of the annual scholarship they award to one high school senior. Then, they gamble away a small amount of savings in Las Vegas which gives them the idea to start a casino in their friend Frank's house (Jason Mantzoukas). The situational comedy took each joke to 11 rather than going for what was naturally funny, it hit at times, but mostly fell flat.

In the end The House went the conventional route of having a common situation answered with the most extreme possible answer. There was a McGuffin and a generic bad guy. Everything was going perfect, then fell apart, and then everything wrapped up perfectly for all the protagonists.

Oddly enough this movie could have used another 10-15 minutes. Also, if they went the route of making Will Ferrell's character Scott a guy who "broke bad" through the casino there would have been a minefield of humor. Instead the movie just went through the cliché machine.

Recommendation: This is a perfect Redbox movie. Not offensive or terrible, just not anything special or adds something new to the genre. It is a perfectly serviceable comedy that will be forgotten in a few months when the next perfectly serviceable comedy comes along.

Time to get started on my casino, only nine years left!!!