The Movie:
If you don’t like sentimental films, you won’t like this one. It’s hard to imagine though, how a film dealing with the issues this one does, can avoid sentiment.
Kevin Kline plays George Monroe, a forty five year old architect who has difficulty adjusting to change, and is fired after twenty years of service. He then discovers he has cancer. With only three or four months to live, he decides to tear down the house in which he has lived and build a new one. This, of course, becomes a metaphor, not only for his life, but for his relationship with his teenage son, Sam (Hayden Christensen).
A deeply troubled young man, Sam, a Marilyn Manson fan, is hell bent on destroying himself. into drugs, chroming, body piercing and auto erection, the last thing he wants to do is go off and spend his summer holidays helping his estranged father build a house. He hates himself and he hates the world, and refuses to help his father, even when he is told it is the only way he is going to get any money. Sadly, it seems, Sam would rather prostitute himself for ‘easy’ money than work for it honestly.
George struggles heroically to break through his son’s walls of hostility and negativity, which, it becomes apparent, began to appear ten years earlier when George and Sam’s mother, Robin (Kristen Scott Thomas) first separated.
Robin, who has completely despaired of Sam, finds herself once again falling in love with George as (you guessed it) Sam too begins to rediscover his love for his father. Of course all of this rediscovery is cut short when Robin and Sam find out about George’s cancer.
Although this all sounds too soppy to be believed, it somehow manages to work. One cannot help feeling a yearning for by-gone days when the only things parents had to worry about were cigarettes and long, scruffy hair.
Kline’s performance is honest and believable, as is Kristen Scott Thomas. Backed up with solid performances from all the supporting actors, the only disappointment is Hayden Christensen. Sure he’s extremely pretty (he’ll doubtless win many young hearts), but he is stiff and wooden, and his wining voice really irritates after a (very short) while. He is no better in this than he was in ‘Star Wars; Attack of the Clones’. Come to think of it, he seems to have played exactly the same character.
The Extras:
The ‘All Access Pass’ includes two documentaries. The first of these is ‘Character Building’ a 24 minute look into director Irwin Winkler’s motivation for making the film, which also includes a lot of input from the cast. The second is the 10 minute featurette, ‘From the Ground up’. There are also four deleted/alternative scenes, with optional commentary. The Theatrical Press Kit contains text based information about the production, the cast and crew. Also thrown in is the Theatrical Trailer.
Overall:
Christensen’s lack of credibility is not bad enough to totally undermine all the other performances, and what is, really, quite a well written film. ‘My Life as a House’ has a great deal of charm and character, and is able to reach its audience.