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Poster (c) New Line Cinema
George (Kline) is just fired from his job as an architect (where he supposedly designed hundreds of great buildings-then why does he live in a normal house in suburbia?) who is diagnosed with some sort of cancer. He decides to build a house with his estranged Goth son Sam (Christensen) during his last few months. Within a few days, their relationship turns around and they both work on the house. That's it. That's a pretty exciting two hours, isn't it?
The thing in this movie that annoyed me the most was the constant barrage of morals. They had no real place in the movie, and they just kept being thrown at us. Director Irwin Winkler goes with the crap against the wall theory-throw enough crap against the wall and some will stick. That's not the case here. Nothing sticks. What's even worse is that they don't even follow with the morals they introduce. For example, George tells Sam how change is gradual and you might not even realize it. In the next scene, Sam's a completely different (normal) person. That's not that gradual, if I'm not mistaken. A mistake that was made was billing this as a dramedy. It could be considered a "drama", but it's not funny unless you laugh at a naked boy being nervous around a naked girl or people talking about the stench of their fecal material. I thought this was supposed to be an adult drama. Nope, I'm getting this confused with American Beauty again.
So if this man's final dream is to build a house with his son, why, as the movie's going towards its denouement, EVERYONE FROM THE FREAKING NEIGHBORHOOD IS BUILDING THE HOUSE FOR HIM! This architectural "genius", whose final dream is to build a house by himself (and his son), is being done for him. And he's not even upset! He might not have been able to finish it, but that's not the point. The point is that it's shoddy writing by Mark Andrus. More foul balls on the writer's court: Sam's change is uncalled for. George tells him a sob story about how his dad used to beat him, and then Sam has some sort of mental epiphany and wants to help his dad. Every single character is underdeveloped. Who is this George guy? Why should we care if/when he dies or not? Have we seen anything previously that should make us like him? And instead of making us feel sorry for Sam, I became angry at my namesake. I understand what it's like to be a teenager (I am one), and moodswings are common, but man, what a jerk! I don't have any random drug addictions like Sam in the movie did, but he's just a completely unlikable character.
Kline can never top his work in A Fish Called Wanda, and he knows it. He doesn't even try here. "I'm ready for my paycheck, Mr. DeMille." Christensen, as many may recognize from the ill-conceived Star Wars prequels as Anakin, is the opposite of Kline and trying too hard. Everyone else tries too hard. The only one who succeeds is Malone, in her small role. Her movies haven't been the greatest (see also: Saved!), but she's a good actress and can turn a role in any crappy movie into something pretty good. But just because she's good doesn't mean the rest of the movie doesn't stink to high hell. It really does. How much do I hate this movie? After I finished watching it, I tried to ruin the DVD for others before returning it to Netflix. I want no one else to watch this "movie".
Rated R for language, sexuality and drug use.
Review Date: July 8, 2004