Life As A House - DVD Review

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

One Disc
2.1:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 Surround
English DTS
English Subtitles
Original Theatrical Trailers
Documentary
Featurette
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes With Commentary
Run Time: 124 Minutes
Snap Case

MOVIE
Rated R for profanity, drug use, sexuality and brief nudity

There are two types of movies that I'm really a sucker for; movies where the main character, fighting a system he doesn't understand, delivers an impassioned speech to the oppressors that, while it may not win him the day, it elevates him to superior over them; the other type is movies where the main character is dying and has to tie up loose ends. Both of these sub-genres have the potential to be REALLY good, or REALLY REALLY bad. Rarely is there one that's just okay. That's because this formula either works perfectly or not at all. When it doesn't work, it's not because of a misstep somewhere, but because of thousands of tiny miscalculations that allowed it to miss the boat completely. Life as a House works, as many of its type do, because who on earth hasn't wondered what they would do if their life suddenly got an expiration date and it was close at hand. This is one of life's many universal questions, and instantly draws you to the film.
I think it's inevitable that people will compare Life as a House to American Beauty. And why not? They're both high profile dramas lead by a respected and talented actor with darkly comedic commentary on the nature of the human family and the more than slightly dysfunctional nature of upper class suburbia, where the neighbors are gay or angry or having sex with teenagers. They're a lot alike. And they're mostly alike in the way that, despite the inherent tragedy of the story, they still manage to deliver an uplifting message. Life as a House falls just short of the achievement made by American Beauty due to an ending that feels stuck on. But it came damned close.
Life as a House is the story of George Monroe (Kevin Kline) a model designer who found out he has roughly three or four months to live because of a non-specific cancer inside him. George comes to grips with his illness quickly and decides to use the remaining time he does have to resurrect his relationships with his ex wife Robin (Kristin Scott Thomas) now remarried and his rebellious teenage son Sam (Hayden Christensen) who wears black, dark makeup, body piercings and as we meet him, is practicing autoerotic asphyxiation. George has lived in a broken down house his father left, moving into ever smaller and smaller quarters as the house crumbles around him. He decides that, over this, his last summer, he'll knock the shack down and build the house he's always wanted, bringing his son along for the ride.
Kevin Kline is a tremendous actor with a versatility that few have. One need only look at his body of work to discover achievements in comedy leading to a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in A Fish Called Wanda and fantastic, though largely unrecognized performances in The Ice Storm and Chaplin. Then there's my favorite of his, Dave, where he played two different people who were similar but managed to separate them, making both believable. His performance in Life as a House is no exception. He plays the role light, never overdoing it. There is never the big dramatic death that most actors would see as an opportunity to chew the scenery. Kline chooses to play George as quiet most of the time, but when passion overtakes, a flicker in his eye, and you know something magic is going to happen. The supporting cast includes child star (now teenage) Jenna Malone as George's neighbor's daughter who seems to have the hots for both he and Sam. Malone is shaping up to be quite an actress, following in Christina Ricci's footsteps, using edgy rolls to avoid the teenage pitfalls of most young actors. Between this and her fantastic role in Donnie Darko, I can't wait to see what she does next. Kristen Scott Thomas delivers an evolving performance as we get to see her feelings towards George change and hits it nearly note perfect. As for the film itself, the script isn't contrived and manages to transcend its material, actually teaching us and making us think and reflect on our own lives. And, for the people I've spoken to, myself included, make you want to build a house with your dad. The one moment where the movie falls short is with its denouement, the wrap up. It follows up on a thread from earlier in the film that I don't feel was well established enough. Or maybe it just wasn't the ending I wanted to see. A bit of tough love. Just ask Life is Beautiful.

VIDEO QUALITY
Life as a House looks fantastic, though I was a bit disappointed by a strange jittering phenomenon that made me think my DVD player was crapping out during some scenes. Willow didn't seem at all bothered, so I figured it wasn't noticeable but to someone looking for defects. (After consulting some other reviews, I'm relieved that it wasn't my DVD player, but also more disappointed that it was the image) Scholars of widescreen will notice that the film is not presented in a standard ratio but instead in 2.1:1. This is not the original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1. This Anamorphic transfer was blown up slightly at the request of the filmmakers and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, so I guess we can just deal with it. They probably knew what they were doing.

AUDIO QUALITY
Both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and the DTS track sound fantastic, though I noticed more realistic sounding effects on the DTS. There is minimal use of the surround, but in a film where most of the action takes place directly in front of the camera, that's to be expected. This being said, there are moments that are well designed for the audio to travel across the fronts to the back which draw you in. These moments are just frequent enough to constantly remind you that you're listening to a DTS track. The music swells beautifully throughout the soundscape bringing yet another DVD that I wish had a music only track. Oh well.

EXTRAS
The audio commentary is a mid-grade commentary. Interesting and worth listening to the entire thing, but afterwards, empty, hollow. Sitting here the morning after, I can remember only a few things I learned in the commentary. Those nuggets of information are worth listening to, especially the genesis of the script and the casting process, because it's so not the way Hollywood usually works. Next up is a short documentary (24 mins) and a featurette (10 mins) that only cover slightly different information and wind up repeating a lot if these are viewed back to back (something we reviewers must do). Both feel like your typical promotional material and don't have the feel of documentaries on some of New Line's other DVDs (namely Hedwig and the Angry Inch) but they're interesting. It's worth watching one. Or both if your DVD-ROM drive has that nifty speed up feature. You can get them both done in roughly twenty minutes that way. The deleted scenes are quite interesting for a change, and all would have added to the film. The most interesting deleted scene, though, is an alternate version of one of the other cut scenes with William Russ playing the role of George's cop friend instead of Scott Bakula. Surreal to see these two different versions in quick succession. Then, of course, the theatrical trailer.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Once again I praise New Line for consistently offering quality releases at reasonable prices. (Are you listening Paramount?) This film is given their low end Platinum treatment and, like Pleasantville and Frequency, is quite a worthwhile package. The film itself is lyrical, and one that many will want to watch again with their families. Specifically their dads. Definitely worth a rent, and when this DVD release heavy holiday season passes, a buy.