Cluttered, overly plotted and too much is too easily resolved. As sincere an effort as it is, it would take a much better script to overcome all of that.
House of D (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:99
Fresh:10
Rotten:89
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: A sincere but inept coming of age story.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: A comical and touching portrait of a boy’s coming of age in 1970s Greenwich Village, Lions Gate Films’ HOUSE OF D is the feature film writing and directing debut of actor David Duchovny, and stars... A comical and touching portrait of a boy’s coming of age in 1970s Greenwich Village, Lions Gate Films’ HOUSE OF D is the feature film writing and directing debut of actor David Duchovny, and stars Anton Yelchin, Téa Leoni, David Duchovny, Robin Williams, Erykah Badu and Frank Langella. The year is 1973, and thirteen-year-old Tommy Warshaw (Anton Yelchin) is on the brink of becoming a man. While his bereaved single mother (Téa Leoni) continues to mourn the death of his father, Tommy escapes his own grief by causing trouble at school and making afternoon meat deliveries with his best friend Pappas (Robin Williams), a slow-witted janitor. Hoping to win the heart of Melissa (Zelda Williams), a precocious uptown girl, Tommy seeks advice and guidance from Lady (Erykah Badu), a prostitute incarcerated in the infamous Greenwich Village Women’s House of Detention. But just as Tommy enjoys his first taste of love, he is faced with an unexpected tragedy that will radically alter the course of his life – and compel the adult Tom Warshaw (David Duchovny), thirty years later, to revisit his unfinished past… Vividly capturing the spirit of youth in all its giddiness and intensity, HOUSE OF D examines with humor and pathos the harrowing journey every young boy must take into adulthood. Sensitively directed and bolstered by affectionate portrayals from a talented cast, it is a winning, hopeful story about overcoming loss and coming to terms with one’s past. © -- Lions Gate Films [More]
Starring: Robin Williams, Anton Yelchin, Tea Leoni, David Duchovny
Starring: Robin Williams, Anton Yelchin, Tea Leoni, David Duchovny, Erykah Badu, Orlando Jones, Stephen Spinella, Frank Langella, Michael Chapman, Mark Margolis, Alice Drummond, Willie Garson
Director: David Duchovny
Director: David Duchovny
Screenwriter: David Duchovny
Producer: Richard B. Lewis, Bob Yari, Jane Rosenthal
Composer: Geoff Zanelli
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Reviews for House of D
David Duchovny wants to tell an important story. He wants his writing-directing debut to be the heaviest, most life-altering movie you've ever seen. He doesn't quite get there.
Duchovny overreaches with his first film, but he does achieve several lovely small moments when he's not directing himself.
The movie is Exhibit A of what can happen when an actor is allowed to pursue a vanity project without outside intervention.
A film that takes a steadfastly gentle look at some of life's harshest moments while not overlooking its joys.
The reasons to avoid House of D, David Duchovny's earnest, unwatchable coming-of-age drama, can best be summarized in a simple declarative sentence. Robin Williams plays a retarded janitor.
Not only is this a movie about a 13-year-old-boy, but it often appears to have been assembled by one, as well.
There is nothing particularly wrong with it, but there is little compelling to command your attention, either.
It's a warm, nostalgic mood piece that recaptures a time and place when people were friendlier and more human, things were more positive, movies were more creative and life was more fun.
David Duchovny’s debut as a writer-director puts little flesh on the bones of the roguish tricks he got up to as a lad in Greenwich Village in the 1970s.
David Duchovny’s misguided House of D is now the barometer I use to judge how bad other films are.
Feels false and platitudinous -- a calculated crowd-pleaser that, despite being an original story, plays like a poorly condensed novel with a scripter unable to make choices.
A cacophony of completely false notes that end in a tear-jerking crescendo.
This sly, often funny coming-of-age tale thwarts clichés of the genre by cloaking them in an aura that skirts the fantastical...
An overly picaresque first feature written and directed by David Duchovny.
There's a new young star in-the-making named Anton Yelchin, awaiting your perusal in this touching film...
So bogged down in problems that it's hard to enjoy what could have been a touching coming-of-age story.
Marred by a rambling voice-over at one end and a pat therapeutic resolution on the other, the film has a nice half-hour patch somewhere in the middle.
Latest News for House of D
April 26, 2005:
Duchovny Tells a "Secret"
The Hollywood Reporter brings news of former "X-Files" agent David Duchovny's next big-screen project. The actor will take the lead role in Vincent Perez's "The... More...
April 11, 2005:
There's a Whole Lot of Robin Williams on the Horizon
More...
April 06, 2005:
Former Dracula to Play Superman's Boss
Thanks to the unexpected mid-season success of the Fox TV series "House," actor Hugh Laurie has been forced to give up the plum role of Perry White in Bryan Singer's... More...
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