LIFE AS A HOUSE

You know that saying about sometimes needing a good cry?

Well, if you’re in the market for some jerking of tears and don’t mind being shamelessly manipulated by a filmmaker and his project, then Life As a House should do the job nicely for you.

Don’t get me wrong – I really, really liked this movie, schmaltz and all – but a small part of me wanted to kick myself for giving in so easily to what is essentially a movie designed to turn on my waterworks.

Kevin Kline stars as George Monroe, an architect who loses his job and finds out that he has terminal cancer with, probably, less than a year to live. Determined to do the most with what remains of his life, George sets out to rebuild – literally and figuratively. As a means of reconnecting with his goth-y, drug-taking, rebellious teenage son, Sam (Hayden Christensen), George decides to force the lad to spend the summer building a dream house overlooking the ocean…from scratch. George’s ex-wife (Kristin Scott Thomas), who so obviously still has a warm place in her heart for her former husband, is skeptical but gives in to his plan. Needless to say, Sam is a little less than enthusiastic about the whole thing and puts up quite the fight before realizing that he doesn’t have a choice in the matter. Dad wants his son to love him; Sam wants to loaf around Tahoe instead.

Now, here’s the kicker: George doesn’t tell anyone he’s dying. At all. Not even that he’s feeling a tad under the weather. And there, my film-going friends, is where much of the heart-wrenching drama stems from. Each look, every off-hand comment, countless moments…all become a million times more poignant because the audience knows George is not long for this Earth, but no one onscreen does. While we watch George whither away as time passes, the oblivious characters carry on, noting only that George looks tired and seems to be getting thinner – a sure sign of impending onscreen death, second only to the nondescript “cough” that ailing characters often develop. Sigh.

The cast is superb. Kevin Kline deftly blends humor into his otherwise tragic role, and Hayden Christensen, who’ll soon be stuck behind his Star Wars alter-ego, is equally good, injecting just enough sadness into Sam that his motivation is clear and you go from wanting to slap him to wanting to hug him. Kristin Scott Thomas? Elegant and strong, as always. The only cast members who seem oddly out of place are Mary Steenburgen and Jena Malone, who tart up the screen as a randy mother-and-daughter team living next door to George. (Nevermind Mary’s feels-kinda-gratuitous nude scene. Thanks, Mare. You can put those away now.)

As I said, the story is constructed to wring out every possible tear. And it works. I cried. A lot. That said, I’ll make one suggestion to anyone venturing out to a holiday screening of this moving drama: if you’re seeing it during the day, bring sunglasses for your stroll out the theater doors once the credits are done rolling. Trust me, you’ll need ‘em.