The House

Score:  B+

Directed by Andrew Jay Cohen
Starring Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas, Nick Kroll
Running time: 88 minutes
Rated R

Long Story Short:  The House is one of summer 2017's major comedy films, featuring stars like Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler - and has fallen flat with critics and avoided by the masses.  But I would urge you to give this oddly old fashioned movie, about desperate parents and their unscrupulous friend starting a suburban casino, a try.  Its stars may not shine quite as brightly as expected, but the script, structure and tone are surprisingly good and carry the load.  Just be sure to see it with some friends.


Scott and Kate Johanssen (Ferrell and Poehler), and their daughter, Alex (Simpkins), are a happy family, but Alex's graduation from high school challenges their close-knit relationship.  Alex is excited to attend college in the fall, but Scott and Kate get a nasty shock when they discover that the community scholarship that was to pay her way has been canceled.  Desperate, the parents search for ways of making a lot of cash and fast.  When Frank (Mantzoukas), Scott's friend who has his own financial problems, learns about their crisis, he thinks he knows how to solve both of their problems at once.  While he has lost much already to a gambling addiction, the experience has taught him how much there is to gain from being on the other side of the table.  Thus, right in the middle of their sleepy suburb, Scott, Kate, and Frank begin a secret, lucrative, and increasingly wild new illicit adventure.

The House is stocked with some of the funniest comic actors in Hollywood, embracing the silly proceedings with varying levels of success.  Ferrell is perhaps the biggest name in film comedy (and my personal favorite), but he doesn't meet his own level of success here.  The tone and his role set him up well for his brand of hilarious wildness, but he fails to make the character as distinctive as many of his other iconic characters, and is even upstaged by his co-stars through much of the film. Amy Poehler seems to better embrace the style of the film, although the script unfortunately gives her relatively little to work with.  Still, she makes the most of what she has (and watching her more closely would be a great reason for a repeat viewing).  The star who shines the brightest here is the somewhat unknown Jason Mantzoukas (The League, Brooklyn Nine-Nine).  He is perfectly cast, as even when he is calm and speaking rationally, he seems capable of doing something crazy at any moment.  Jason is good at pacing himself, though, and easily commands attention in just about every scene.  There are a number of nice supporting roles, two of the biggest (and best) being Nick Kroll's crooked councilman and Rob Huebel as an earnest police officer.  They are polar opposites, and perhaps the most cartoonish (and possibly the funniest) of all the characters, but Kroll and Huebel both give great performances.

The House is a deceptively good, seemingly standard-issue comedy that occupies an intriguing place in today's genre.  Like so many other comedies, it has a two-part hook in an interesting premise and being led by a roster of well-known comic personalities.  Many recent titles have gotten by mostly, if not entirely, on the comedy chops of its stars (from Ferrell to McCarthy and so on), and the structure of the films themselves are often quite flimsy beyond the basic premise.  Here, it's surprisingly just about the opposite.  Ferrell and Poehler may be disappointing and/or sidelined, but the script serves up good old fashioned slapstick comedy that picks up the slack.  It's both goofier and more straightforward than its contemporaries, which takes some time to adjust to.  However, it does a great job of being consistently funny, in both the little moments (Ferrell and Poehler's suburban parent banter) and the big scenes (including some great setups in the underground casino like Ferrell's attempt to intimidate a cheater gone too far, and an impromptu fight club).  The script can seem a bit clunky sometimes, but I think that's largely part of it's back-to-the-basics approach, eschewing the modern style of being (or trying to be) coy, meta and/or quirky.  The House also does a good job at making you feel the feels it wants you to, whether desperation early on in realizing Alex's college career is in jeopardy, or - most effectively - a great sense of joy and fun in the casino.

***

The House is one of those films where I strongly disagree with the critics.  The film has an abysmal 18% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes, which likely had a big effect on its miserable $9 million opening weekend.  This film deserved a much better reception.  Although I have yet to read through those reviews yet, I would bet (seems appropriate for this film) that they simply were expecting a movie in the same style as other big contemporary comedy titles.  To be fair, partly it could be Ferrell's somewhat lackluster performance, too.  I felt jarred by the direction and tone of the film at first, too, but if you make the effort to go with its flow, you'll be richly rewarded.  Another reason for the poor reviews might be the result of critics watching it by themselves.  Most comedies are best seen with friends who enjoy the same stars and type of humor, and this movie might be more dependent on such a viewing setting than others.  So do yourself a favor and grab a friend or four and check this one out in the theater!




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