Rating: 
Summary: Doesnt get any better
Review: Everyone should at least see this film if not own it. Once you see it, it will become one of the most cherished items in any movie lovers collection.Kevin Kline and Hayden Christiansen are outstanding. For young hayden Christiansen this is perhaps the best performance he has given to date. And it doesn't need to be said, but Kline is at the top of his game. The relationships evolving between, father and son, husband and wife/ ex-wife as the case may be, boy and girl, the list goes on and on, are all brilliantly woven together in a story you will watch over and over again. I have owned my copy for over a year and I still watch it at least once or twice a month.
Rating:
Summary: Daydream of Frustrated Parents and Estranged Ex-Hubbies
Review: George Monroe (Kevin Kline) has hated his job for the past twenty years and he has hated his life for at least the past ten. When he loses his job and discovers that he has terminal cancer, he decides to use the time he has left to confront the things in his life that have brought him the most pain and disappointment. Kline keeps what is inevitably a tearjerker from being a dark and depressing movie and instead makes it a positive and uplifting experience with a type of somber comedy. Telling no one of his condition, he sets out to tear down the ramshackle house left to him by his alcoholic father and build a new house fit for the prime location of a cliff overlooking the ocean. He enlists for the summer the aid - or at least the presence - of his rebellious sixteen-year-old son Sam (Hayden Christensen) who, with blue hair and multiple facial piercings, has become an aerosol sniffing punk wishing death on his estranged parents. Backed by superb supporting actors and actresses like Kristin Scott Thomas, Mary Steenburgen, Scott Bakula and Richard Cummings, Jr, this movie is the daydream of every parent with a rebellious teenager and of estranged ex-husbands still in love with their ex-wives. As the old and diseased life is pulled down symbolically with the house, new bonds are forged and new happiness is found by all those that come together in the project.
Rating:
Summary: A Movie that Changed My Life
Review: I found Life as a House while channel surfing one day. It seemed like a boring movie, by Comcast's short description, but there was really nothing better on so I decided to watch it. From the second the movie started I was glued to the screen. The movie revolves around a man, divorced from his wife, who only has four more months to live. He decides to use these last precious days to reach out to his son Sam, a drug addict and very troubled teenager. George, Sam's dying father also plans to build the house he has always wanted to build. George desperately tries with no luck to connect with Sam at first, however after time they realize they have a lot in common, and Sam starts to heal while his father quickly worsens. Life as a House is a truly tear-jerking movie with an incredible ending that will not disappoint you. It is a must for any teenager to see, along with every parent.
Rating:
Summary: Ah, that's the stuff.
Review: Watching this movie is like having someone scratch a spot on your back that wasn't even itchy to begin with -- but then afterwards it feels sooooooo good. I loved it! This is unusual, because lately dramas bore the crap out of me... But not this one. The opening scene (with Kevin Kline's priceless "performance") endeared the film to me immediately - as did every bit of wit and crisis that followed. A friend recommended this movie to me, but in an offhand way so that I forgot about it entirely for about five months. Then my sisters rented it, and I was amazed at what I'd missed. (My sisters loved it too, by the way.) I usually like Kevin Kline anyway, but the only other movie I'd seen Hayden Christensen in was that -awful- new Star Wars movie. (Come on, we can all admit now that it was terribly done.) I had no idea he was in 'Life As A House' until his face showed up on the screen - and even then I had trouble placing where I'd seen him before, since he looked and ACTED so differently. In other words, this time he did a marvelous job. I was impressed with the way he pulled off the whiny teenager bit so convincingly... and then changed so much towards the end of the film. 'Life As A House' is about relationships and their boundaries. As you go from one scene to another, you realize how representative of real life the film is; boundaries are hazy and they shift so often that it's hard to keep track of who you should hold close to your heart and who should be kept at arms length. The theme of death-in-the-family was something of a low blow, but it was the only believable way those particular people could have been brought together. In this instance, the cheap shot was the right one. Film-making is an art; the whole point of art is to emphasize the things in life that you see as beautiful (or just powerful), so that others may appreciate that beauty. This movie showed the beauty a family exudes, despite the bitterness and hang-ups... And the power that family ties can have. I really enjoyed 'Life As A House' and I think you will too. PS: Read the other reviews if you want a plot outline. :)
Rating: 
Summary: VERY WARM AND VERY HUMAN
Review: I don't know why but this film was a surprise for me. I did not go to see it at the movies and somehow I was relactant to see it at all. Than I had a chance to see it on the DVD and everything turned around. Everything was good there and I liked it all. It was good, solid, well made American film with a little tough of Europe. In short, it was generating a very warm and a very human feeling. That is how I felt after it was over.
Rating:
Summary: madness
Review: Incredible
i loved this movie, and whats made it better was the fast that 'hayden whats his face' starred in it and the brilliant soundtrack
Rating: 
Summary: Nope
Review: This movie is so sentimental it makes Artificial Inteligence look like American History X. When an entire film is devoted as an allegory for a house, and not a normal house, a Full House family, you known cringing in your seat will at least provide sweat and the possibility to burn calories. Contrived movies do one thing well; con. Many people were conned into believing this film posesses significance. This film holds about as much significance as a stupid ordinary house. You have your rooms, your kitchen and of course your bathroom, the only holy quarter where one can relieve his or her/self from the burden that weighs one down. However, one can avoid being stuck in the bathroom of a house, cringe in your seat and you'll sweat and burn your burden.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful & moving.
Review: Kevin Kline gives a truly memorable performance of a man diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to rebuild a house while connecting with his emotionally distant son. Actually, all the acting is excellent, which helps keep the film from just being depressing. The film focuses more on the changing dynamics between people than on cancer but there is a lot of emotionally charged energy. Yes, there are laughs but there are more tears. If you want comedy or a light-hearted story don't see this movie. If, however, you want to see a good movie and don't mind tears House is well worth a try.
Rating:
Summary: Kevin Kline gives a predictable tear jerker a sense of heart
Review: Kevin Kline might be one of the most under appreciated actors in Hollywood today. "Life as a House" is a fairly predictable film. Kline's character George Malone has been been fired from his job, making models for an architectural firm, and been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has one summer left and he intends to use it tearing down the shack in which he lives and building a house. He also demands that his son, Sam (Hayden Christensen), live with him in the garage while this is going on, instead of with his ex-wife, Robin (Kirsten Scott Thomas). Sam is an angry young man, with blue hair, various body piercings a fondness for drugs, and a profound sense of self-loathing. Will father and son reconcile before it is too late? Will George and Robin rekindle their feelings for each other? Will the house be built? Do you really have to ask any of these questions? You already know the answers. But it is largely because of Kline's performance that you end up not minding about the film's predictability and the way things tend to neatly fall together. Actually, the performances in this film are pretty good across the board. The developing relationship between George and Robin is especially effective; I have never been especailly enamored of Thomas as an actress, but she and Kline have undeniable chemistry. Even director Irvin Winkler was impressed by how much the pair added to the words on the page through their performances (he claims he never thought there was anything going on between the two characters until he saw the performances on screen). Of course, George is not the only character in his family with problems. Robin finds herself in a loveless marriage with cold fish Peter (Jamey Sheridan) and their rebellious son hates himself and everybody else. George also has problems beyond the fact that he is dying as he, his dog, and his house are the subject of various complaints by his assorted neighbors. George used to date his next-door neighbor Coleen (Mary Steenburgen), and now her daughter Alyssa (Jena Malone) has taken an interest in Sam. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Josh (Ian Somerahlder), has a strange way of showing he is Sam's friend. There are several surprises regarding these other characters, including a very realistic shower scene, but they are secondary to the main plot lines dealing with George's house, son, and ex-wife. I do not want to dismiss this film as a mere tear-jerker, because "Life as a House" is more than that and the best scenes in the film are not those that make you reach for your tissues. Kline is a master of gentle humor and uses his eyes as effectively as any actor working today. This is not a classic film by any means, but it is very enjoyable and simply reinforces the idea that you can never go wrong watching a Kevin Kline movie. He might not be as beloved as Tom Hanks, but he is every bit as good an actor (just do not ask me who Kevin Kline would be if Tom Hanks is the modern Jimmy Stewart).
Rating:
Summary: The Loss of a House
Review: Kevin Kline did a remarkable job as the distraught George Monroe and how he took action on rebuilding his past life and bitter memories of his late father in hopes of leaving a legacy for his son Sam. The closeness of his ex-wife, her young sons in the story illustrated the warmth of a family and their love with a fast moving pace bringing the family together during a final hour done in a subdued manner and so believable. It was blended with some humor to get over the loss of a man everyone fell in love with I could have watched this movie over and over again.
| 
