Review of The House of Yes (1997) by Jesse O — 03 Jan 2016

This movie was a bit hit and miss for me. On the one hand, you have one of Parker Posey's best performances and on the other you have Freddie Prinze Jr and Tori Spelling. Freddie Prinze, quite honestly, is fairly terrible in this movie and don't get me started on Tori Spelling.

It's not that Spelling herself is terrible, she's not bad, but the fact that this movie was produced by a company owned by Aaron Spelling, then that pretty much reveals why Tori was cast. Again, she's not as terrible as Freddie Prinze, but she was clearly cast in this movie because of nepotism and not because of the fact that she was the best person qualified for the role.

She's just not,, she has no romantic chemistry with Josh Hamilton in this movie whatsoever. This is a bit of problem when the film is centered around Tori's character's fight to get back her 'man' from his sister, with whom he has an incestuous relationship with.

Honestly, Parker Posey and Josh Hamilton had better romantic chemistry and the film, while not necessarily judging the characters for it, isn't trying to make incest into something that's acceptable, so that was odd to see.

The film, honestly, had the potential to be a deliciously juicy black comedy and you do get bits and pieces of that. It's a well-written movie, honestly, but I just think that this type of story is better suited as a play.

It just has that air about it. The fact that you also cast Freddie Prinze Jr and Tori Spelling in important roles also has lot to do with that, because I'm sure, at least I'd hope, that the actors for the play were better than those two.

But, with that said, I pretty much have to give the utmost of praise to Parker Posey, who pretty much hits a grandslam in the bottom of the 9th on a 3-2 count. Perhaps that's a bit of hyperbole, but Parker is quite excellent in this movie and if it wasn't for her and her comical, yet disturbing performance of this woman who has an unhealthy obsession with her brother.

To the point that she actually shoots him at one point before he is to leave for New York to study. Clearly she's the most interesting character in the entire movie, though everyone in the family has their little issues.

Without Parker Posey, or someone just as good as her, this movie wouldn't have been nearly as good as it is now. Yes, the writing is good and the rest of the cast, outside of Freddie and Tori, are good, but there's nothing outstanding about it, particularly considering the subject matter.

They do go to some dark places regarding mental illnesses, but it's a movie that fancies itself to be cleverer than it actually is. But, still, by and large, thanks to Parker Posey and a solid script, this ends up being a good movie.

It has its flaws and it doesn't always make a smooth transition from play to film, but it's a fairly good movie and one that I'd recommend if you have Netflix. Can't really recommend this as a rental or a buy.