Life as a House

as metaphorical as the title suggest; a bit narrow in scope, but still worth seeing

Fairly sappy and melodramatic, tug at your heartstrings kind of stuff. The bad news is that its obvious in its attempts for tears, the good news is that I can see it working for a lot of people. Kevin Kline is good, and Hayden Christensen is laughably bad, but mainly due to his 'edgy, troubled' character. It's incredibly ordinary in that lifetime movie kind of way, but it's well done for what it is. Expect a lot of plot threads to go nowhere.

Kline is competent, the script however is a bit tear jerky, but the good news is Christensen doesn't single handedly destroy it with his very presence.

Life as a House is essentially a well-acted Lifetime movie. The plot is saccharine; but watching it for the first time in 2019, the lack of social commentary or political expression is oddly refreshing. The cinematography is dated, and the third act does drag a little, but it’s an enjoyable film overall. Kline and Malone are great. Christensen shows that his SW:AotC performance was actually mildly subdued. Silly and sweet.

An emotional and well-made film, with a very strong lead performance from Kevin Kline.