Review of The House (2017) by Chris Z — 28 Jun 2017

Chris' Movie Review (Visit our Facebook page "Brotherhood Of Okay Reviews" for more reviews just like this.).

The House.

Rating: 6/10 (Fine).

Recommendation: Redbox It.

This was a nice surprise. The previews made it look really generic but it got a few good laughs out of me.

The House stars Will Ferrell (Scott), Amy Poehler (Kate), and Jason Mant-Zoukas (Frank).

Plot Summary.

Scott and Kate are broke. Their daughter is about to head off to college and they don't have the money to pay for it. On top of that, the scholarship they were hoping she would get doesn't come through. Then Frank comes up with an idea.... Let's make a casino.

Now Scott, Frank, and Kate are running an illegal casino. They need to make around 500,000 before they are caught and it's only a matter of time before that happens.

Review.

The House is a movie that came out with some punches and hit me with some unexpected laughs. Not all of the jokes work but the ones that do, really do.

For starters, Will, Amy, and Jason aren't fully in control of this movie. Meaning that they didn't write this film, also they didn't seem to ab-lib all that much either. So this movie is mainly in the hands of the behind the scenes writers. Which, as mentioned, some of the jokes really work and some don't. The film feels like it could've been better handled if Will and Amy wrote it instead.

The chemistry of Will and Amy is solid. They aren't "Couple of the year" but they play off each well enough that they are very likable. Jason is a nice addition to the group as well. He pulls off the darker jokes just a tad better and he provides some of the bigger laughs throughout the runtime.

The plot is absurd. It's not that it's totally unbelievable, the setup that is, but more of how everything plays out in the end. The third act literally makes no sense but it's one of those "Silly" comedies, so just don't put too much thought no into it. You'll probably end up hurting yourself if you tried to make sense of it.

Lastly, the movie is just fun. It may not get a bunch of laughs but there's nothing here that makes it boring or awful to watch. But again, comedy is super subjective. It's hard to properly rate a comedy. There are some exceptions to this rule but this film isn't one of those this time around.

Overall.

The House is a nice surprise. It's not a complete waste of time but it's not something to run out and see either. You'll get a few hardy laughs but, for the most part, it'll be mediocre.

The movie wasn't written by Will and/or Amy. The plot can be too unbelievable at times. And the acting isn't always the best. But Will, Amy, and Jason have good chemistry. Some of the deliveries, to the jokes, are really good. And you'll most likely be in a positive mood throughout the movie as opposed to being negative one.

This is another one of those movies that if you see it in the Redbox it might be worth checking out once but it's most likely not going to become one of your personal favorites.

As usual, thanks for reading!