In 1997, “The Ice Storm” debuted in American theaters. The story centered around the unhappy patriarch (Kevin Kline) of an atypical suburban family. Two years later, “American Beauty” debuted, another film about the unhappy patriarch (Kevin Spacey) of an atypical white-picket-fence family.
“Life as a House,” debuting two years after “Beauty,” continues the trend by focusing the film on the father of another atypical suburban family.
Kevin Kline returns to suburbia as George Monroe, the divorced dad of an estranged, drug-addicted teenage son. George also works building model houses for architects (a job he hates) and lives in a small, deteriorating shack at the edge of the sea. As if his life doesn’t seem bad enough, doctors have told George that he is dying.
His life hitting rock bottom, George is determined to fix the problems in his life by recruiting his son Sam (Hayden Christensen) to help build his dream house over Sam’s summer vacation. Besides the challenge of building a house in four months, George is faced with the daunting task of bonding with his son, who wants as little to do with George as possible.
Kline simply updates his underappreciated performance as Ben Hood in “The Ice Storm” by controling every last scene with his performance. Kline has the amazing talent in this film to never appear as though he is acting. His delivery and mannerisms are so natural, it seems as though director Irwin Winkler was making a documentary.
Playing George’s ex-wife Robin, Kristen Scott Thomas never is able to keep up with Kline in the film. Also coming off a string of film flops, Thomas returns to her Academy-Award nominated performance in “The English Patient.” Although still a wonderful performance, her role never captures the same sense of realism that made Kline so astonishing.
Although Thomas gets the billing behind Kline, it’s really Christensen that plays the secondary role. Having only appeared in numerous small roles, Christensen made a name for himself when George Lucas cast the unknown as the new Anakin Skywalker in the next two films of the “Star Wars” series.
Sam’s utter contempt for George, Robin and Robin’s new husband, Peter, seems so natural, it’s hard to tell Christensen ever graced the cover of “Entertainment Weekly.” Although the story is hackneyed and the direction by Winkler isn’t memorable, the stellar acting from the main cast is enough to carry the movie above the majority of the Hollywood garbage. And following in the footsteps of Spacey, Kevin Kline may grace the aisles of the Kodak Theatre and thank the academy for his Best Actor Oscar.
