Mediocre, manipulative goo.
Comment
10/26/01
Life as a House (2001)
46
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:102
Fresh:47
Rotten:55
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: A manipulative tearjerker, Life as a House benefits from fine performances from the cast.
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: At 45, architect George Monroe (Kevin Kline) has lost sight of his dreams. Living in an inherited shack he had planned on rebuilding years ago, he sits high atop the Southern California coast... [More]
Starring: Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen, Mary Steenburgen
Director: Irwin Winkler
Reviews for Life as a House
Life as a House is beautifully shot, by legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, but let's get metaphorical again: a nice paint job is no substitute for a solid foundation.
10/26/01
Top CriticThe difference between the house and the film is that the house is brought to completion in satisfying fashion. The film isn't.
10/26/01
An overwrought, ramshackle weepie.
10/26/01
Will leave you a blubbering mess by the time the credits roll.
10/26/01
Top CriticLike George's house, if not his life, it's built well and full of heart.
10/26/01
Has much heart and not enough brain.
10/26/01
Top CriticFor a movie that's all about embracing life wholeheartedly, Life as a House sure does a good job of keeping its actors in check.
10/26/01
The weepy Life as a House becomes little more than a shameless riff on American Beauty by way of Bob Villa.
10/26/01
This manipulative weepie will bring a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye, but you'll bitterly resent how it was extracted.
10/26/01
Casting here is very good, and it's what moves this tearjerker from the reject bin to the front racks.
10/26/01
Entirely prefabricated...the attempt to meld 'American Beauty' with 'Terms of Endearment' proves shallow indeed.
10/26/01
while Life as a House is nothing if not conventional, it never stoops to being maudlin or weepy like Hollywood terminal illness movies are wont to be.
10/26/01
It's a pleasant movie, written with care for the characters.
10/25/01
Surely even folks who cry when Mr. Whipple squeezes the Charmin may be turned off by this Life's lurid detours and manipulations.
10/25/01
Everything about the film's set-up is stamped with TV movie contrivance.
10/25/01
Highly polished and impressive in every way except that it has a synthetic heart and mush for brains.
10/25/01
It doesn't trust the audience enough to keep from laying on the schmaltz.
10/25/01
Top CriticKline is steadfastly great, rising above the schmaltz to lay bare both George's fear and his quiet resignation.
10/25/01
Slick, synthetic tear-grabbing machine.
10/25/01
Latest News for Life as a House
June 02, 2005:
Winkler & Rubin Want to Deliver "A Perfect Divorce"
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