Life as a House

"Life is a House" is a drama with Kevin Kline as the architect George Monroe, who is fired from his job and at the same time diagnosed with advanced cancer. George in fact has only a few months left to live, and that makes him take stock of his life.

George is divorced and lives in a ramshackle hovel with a fantastic sea view. He decides finally to build the house he has always dreamt of, and at the same time he wants to try to get his neglected teenage son Sam back on an even keel. Sam, who is on drugs, lives with his mother Robin, his stepfather Peter and his two little stepbrothers. It does him no good, though, that the family is financially comfortable, for he is deeply unhappy and hostile towards everyone. He has little desire to spend the summer with his real father, but when the neighbours' beautiful daughter Alyssa positively urges him to stay, he might as well...

Life as a House bites off more than it can chew, for the film wants to depict not just George's development but also the development several of the story's other characters undergo as an indirect consequence of George's project. How likely is it that almost the whole gang gains a new outlook on life just because they help build a house?

On the plus side, even though the film becomes rather tearful towards the end, the tone is sober almost all the way through, and for an American film it is quite brave in its portrayal of youth sexuality and male prostitution.