Being an unattached, childless, slightly under achieving man approaching his mid-30s, you can imagine that the pressure and expectations from both friends and family grows with every day that this status remains unchanged.  Also not helping matters much are movies like Life As A House, an ambitious, sometimes melodramatic, but truly heartfelt story of a father’s attempt to atone and regain a love and life lost.  There are numerous movies that deal with midlife crisis, and diseases of the week, that go straight for your heart and tear glands, failing to show actual and natural emotion, in favor of false or sugary sentiment.  Life As a House comes a little heavy at times, but still has a realistic, believable appeal, and by the end, unless you are a heartless unfeeling soul, it will touch you in ways that you can digest and discuss afterwards

Kline plays George, an architect, divorced father, underachiever, neighbor from hell, and cancer victim.  His estranged wife is married to an icy business who hugs his children not because he wants to, but because he feels like he has too. His son is the typical gothic, dark, troubled teen, who changes hair colors, has more holes on his body than a regulation golf course, listens to the typical music, habitually uses drugs, and has trouble communicating with just about everyone.

Once George loses his job to downsizing, and gets some other life changing news, he decides that with summer approaching, he is going to try and do some repair work, both to his life, and his dilapidated dwelling.  He brings his son, Sam, to his worn down house, and decides to tear it down, and build his dream house in its place, with his son’s help.  Of course, the son is against it, but slowly warms to the idea aided of course by the presence of  a bold, but adorable classmate (Malone) who just happens to live next door to her father.  Winkler always has several balls in the air at once, with other storylines running concurrently, sometimes intersecting and bumping into each other, but never seeming unrealistic.  At times these go a bit over the edge, with storylines involving a neighborhood mother, an angry neighbor, male prostitution, and drunk driving, but these do add a sense of flavor and realism to things, and thusly are forgivable for the sake of the films overall message.

In a story that is more about the who’s, then the what’s, the performances are essential, and Kline and company do not disappoint.  I marvel at the range of Kline, who like Steve Martin, and Robin Williams occasionally, is an actor who can do side-splitting, scene-stealing comedy one moment, and dramatic, broad ranging emotions the next.  He revels in this role, playful at times, stern and frustrated at others but always showing the varying rollercoaster of emotions that parents can feel. Christiansen (soon to be a household name for some little space movie later this year) holds his own in a role that could have been played to every troubled teen stereotype in the book, but instead comes across as that kid that you pass on the street and thank goodness he’s not related to you.  Add in yet another strong supporting performance from Malone (Donnie Darko)  along with contrastingly emotional turns from Steenburgen and Thomas and the foundation that this house was built on becomes a strong one.  The analogy of using a house to represent life is not lost, but also not driven into us, as it could have been.  Some criticize the films heavy handed approach to the issues, but I ask them to consider the end result, and remember your own father, and your relationship, before criticizing.  Anyone who puts forth criticism over films that seem unrealistic should put themselves in a similar situation, before passing judgement, I think the perspective and opinion would be drastically different.  Personally, being long estranged from my father, it is hard to relate, but not difficult to imagine, a similar reaction from myself, given the circumstances.

Ultimately, Life as a House is a well-intended, simple, but effective look at the families and social issues of the 90s, through the eyes of a man trying to make something of himself and his life.  I have often been scared of fatherhood myself, because the thought of my words, actions and such completely and totally molding the mind and life of someone else, frightened to my very core.  What if I make mistakes, what if my child hurts other people, and its because of me? But as the Beatles say, and this movie proves, all you truly need is love, and to try and do your best with what you’re given.  The believable tension, and bond between Kline and Christiansen, the touched upon, but never completely exploited story between Christiansen and Malone, and the progressive nature of the fathers intentions, and its effects on those around, make this a movie that all fathers and sons, or familes for that matter, should share.  Change is so subtle, that sometimes you never even notice its happening until it has.  That sentiment is similar to the films, since you don’t realize how much the movie has touched you, until the end, and you feel your heart, truly feel it, and appreciate the effort put forth by all here.

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