Life As A House

Life As A House Review

starring: Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline, Kristen Scott Thomas.
directed by: Irwin Winkler

Since this is my first ever review, I want to point out that I don't like doing ratings because I really do like almost every movie that I watch, I can connect with the characters and story emotionally which is why I dislike giving a rating on how the movie is.

Okay, on to the review; I Love this movie! No wonder Hayden Christensen won so many awards for his portrayal of Sam. He really did a wonderful job on making me believe that he was a lost, unguided teenager that just needed some real parenting, love, and a special friend to help him climb up out of his rock hard shell. His crying scenes were amazing to say the least. Although he wasn't crying, I really felt for him when he was smoking pot in the car with Josh right before he was supposed to.... you know. His glassy eyes really sold me when he took his final inhale of smoke while staring at the black Lexus he was about to enter.

Another part that gives me chills was when Sam finally learned the reason why he and his Dad were building the house and why his Dad wanted him for the whole summer. The part that gave me the chills the most was  when Same yelled at his dad, "congratulations, because you fucking pulled it off!" and stormed out to seek his comfort in his best friend Alyssa. Beautiful acting by Hayden there.

Kevin Kline did a fantastic job at keeping his character real. What I mean is that after George learned about his diagnosis, his attitude was as if he had a plan, a purpose and nothing but love and a goal in mind. His 'who cares' attitude to life's tiny problems is how I would want to live. For example when his dog kept going to the bathroom on his neighbors lawn or car and his neighbor got really upset, George just laughed it off. Another example- when he made turkey sandwiches and Sam refused to eat it, after the pizza came he exclaimed "I don't even like turkey sandwiches" and forgot about the turkey sandwiches and had some pizza instead.

Overall I really loved this movie and wish there were more movies like this to be honest. I am thankful that this movie is online for free on YouTube so I can watch it any time I want, and if you haven't seen it I highly suggest watching this film. It's one great movie.