Life as a House *** (2002, Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas) – Classic Movie Review 1898

Director Irwin Winkler’s 2002 drama stars Kevin Kline as George Monroe, a lonely, middle-aged Southern California coast divorcee. He is living alone, apart from his dog, and has been working in a hated job as an architectural scale-model-maker for 20 years, but he is suddenly is hit with a terrifying double whammy. He loses his job just as he finds out he has cancer and only has months to live.

Hayden Christensen plays Kline’s rebellious teenage son Sam, who enjoys getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father. But dad wants the boy to live with him for his last summer, not only to help him build a house to replace the rundown shack he has lived in for 25 years, but hopefully for the two of them to reconnect.

Despite some script (by Mark Andrus) and directing hesitancies, this is an earnest, moving, beautifully acted, and entirely satisfying tearjerker. Kline and Christensen are both excellent and there are a slew of eye-catching performances from a cast that also includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen, Mike Weinberg, Scotty Leavenworth, Ian Somerhalder, Jamey Sheridan, Scott Bakula, Sandra Nelson, Sam Robards, John Pankow, Kim Delgado, Barry Primus, Margot Winkler, Brandon Kessel, Jon Foster, Art Chudabala and Claire Yarlett.

Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography and Mark Isham’s score are impeccable assets, as you’d expect from two of the screen’s finest workers.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1898

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