The House

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source: The House

Is it just me or are all comedies starting to feel interchangeable? Within the first few lines of 'The House' I thought to myself, oh so these guys are just going to play these characters for the millionth time? As progressively more and more Hollywood genres seemingly have run completely out of material, up until recently comedy seemed like one that still had some freshness left in it. Now I'm starting to wonder whether that's the case anymore. It seems the common formula is: find two A-list celebrities, put them in the lead roles, hope they find chemistry. Then the entire success of the film depends on how many jokes those two can land, because let's face it, no one is there for the story line. So did 'The House' find chemistry between its leads? Yes, but only just enough to keep it afloat. Interestingly in 'The House' there isn't much comedy left to the supporting cast. Jason Mantzoukas plays a reasonably big role and does help add a lot of humour in a number of scenes. Other than that though the laughs really are left to Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler. Ferrell plays the role he seems most comfortable in these days which is basically the quirky straight-man who often isn't all there. Poehler also plays the role we are most familiar with seeing her in, which is the off-beat mum who could say or do anything at any time. Something I noticed was that there was a surprising lack of conflict in the film. A couple of story lines develop late that change things up a bit and make for some drama, but for the most part the film is happy just showing the fun these characters are having with the situation they have created for themselves. I actually quite liked this structuring of the story. Too much conflict can bog the comedy down in these films, and as long as there is some at some point I like it being kept on the minimal side of things. 'The House' is a film that could have been a lot better, but also could have been a lot worse. Is it worth your $20? Probably not unless you've seen every comedy film ever made. It's fair to say it plays it very safe and this results in its biggest weakness which is that it's pretty forgettable. There are some solid laughs though and if you're a big enough fan of Ferrell or Poehler then chances are you're going to have a good time.

Well Ferrel plays the exact same character he has played in every one of his movies. A big, lumbering idiot who tries to be funny, but fails in every regard. He should have stuck with SNL where he had to actually assume a different role from time to time and was very good. Pohler continues to be the over-the-top actress whose actions, meant to be comedic are sorely lacking. In the film they team up with an actor I've never heard of to create a casino in his house. Targeting mostly neighbors and the occasional big shots. Eventually they make hundreds of thousands off their friends and community members on the premise that they they want to pay for their daughter's college education and so that whatever his name is can pay off the mortgage on the house. In the end they are just greedy. A local cop, the only one in town it seems, finds the casino and threatens to arrest them, but the Community Mayor(?)/Council President(?) wants the money for himself. So, he just steals it. Some silly stuff happens and the casino burns to the ground. Forcing our foursome out of business. They decide to steal the money back from the mayor guy. Suddenly the lone cop shows up and switches sides to help them. In the end, the daughter is able to go to college and the movie ends on a happy note. The acting throughout the movie is pretty awful. The plot is so removed from actual reality that it crumbles under its own weight. Simply a terrible movie all around.