Life as a House Movie Review 2001

George (Kline) is an architect who lives in a broken down shack surrounded by ritzy homes on California's Pacific shore. His ex-wife Robin (Thomas) is raising their drugged-out Goth son Sam (Christensen) with her emotionally unavailable husband Peter (Sheridan). In quick succession, George is fired from his job and learns he has a fatal disease. He examines his life and decides to use his remaining time to tear down the old house and build a new one. He forces Sam to help him, intending to use the project as a means to repair his relationship with his son. Robin's feelings for George also rekindle, and they become more than friends once again. The performances of the excellent ensemble cast, especially Kline and Thomas, save this from being called "Sappy Symbolism as a Movie."

Distribution

New Line Home Video, 116 N. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: (310)854-5811, Fax: (310)854-1824, URL: http://www.newline.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 124 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Terminal Illness, Teen Angst, Parenthood, Bad Dads, Second Chance, Handyman Specials, Family Drama, Architects & Architecture

Screenplay

Mark Andrus

Cast

Kevin Kline, Hayden Christensen, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen, Jamey Sheridan, Scott Bakula, Sam Robards, Mike Weinberg, Scotty Leavenworth, Ian Somerhalder, Sandra Nelson

Cinematography

Vilmos Zsigmond

Director

Irwin Winkler

Music

Mark Isham

Other

Richard Lightstone, Julie Monroe, Tom Taylor, Molly Maginnis, Dennis Washington

Producer

Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan, New Line Cinema

Awards

Natl. Bd. of Review 2001: Breakthrough Perf. (Christensen).