With a dangerously corny title, and a few lines which ram home the central metaphor just a little too strongly, it would be easy to hate this film. Trouble is, it's just too damn good. Sure, the story unfolds with an easy predictability, and it's as least as emotionally manipulative as any other terminal illness film. But as the patient declines, and his relationships recover, it's the three leads who defeat your cynicism and manage to keep this high-risk weepy afloat. Kline is perfectly unsentimental in a role which, on paper, must have been crying out for Kevin Spacey or Harrison Ford. But in the scenes that really mattered, Kline had me thanking God that neither of them got his part. Kristin Scott Thomas has never been more convincing. And Hayden Christensen proves that his performance in 'Episode II' was, like most of that movie, an aberration for which we can blame George Lucas. (Christensen had me crying in both films but for entirely different reasons.) This is easily the best thing Irwin Winkler has directed, and Mark Andrus' script, for my money, beats his mostly irritating 'As Good As It Gets' hands down.
Review of Life as a House
