Reviews (182)

certainly memorable
Life as a house is a brilliant movie. There is never a dull moment. Although it does not have war planes crashing at every second, it still keeps your attention. The story is about a divorced man (Kevin Kline)who has drifted from his family and from his son espcially. His son visits him on certain weekends and doesn't like it too much. Then the dad finds out he is going too die soon so he wants to do the things in his life that he has put off for so long, like rebuilding his beach shack and reconnecting with his lost son, Sam (Hayden Christensen). Hayden Christensen turned in a beautiful performance and he really makes you feel what the character was feeling. Sam is somewhat of a case. Certainly not the kind of kid your parents wanted you hanging around. It will surely be a long time before I forget this film, not only because of the wonderful story line and intense drama, but for the wonderful Oscar deserving performances also. Espcially by newcomer Hayden Christensen(Anakin Skywalker in upcoming Episode 2). He really portrayed his character, Sam, perfectly. He is an outstanding actor; not just for a newcomer. He really gets your attention.
Life As A House is one of the best films I have ever seen. It was certainly a memorable film.

A good movie that might have been great
Have you ever watched a movie, totally engrossed, walked out of the theater satisfied that your hard-earned money was well spent, went to sleep, and then woke up the next morning with the sneaking suspicion that someone had pulled a fast one on you? This was my reaction to Life as a House.

Wonderful, engaging performances by Kevin Kline, Kirsten Scott-Thomas and Hayden Christensen make it an enjoyable experience despite the overcrowded, mediocre screenplay, which often resorts to cheap and unnecessary tricks and clichés to tug on our emotions. An early scene involving George (Kline's character) and a compassionate nurse is one example. Another involves an awkward subplot with an angry neighbor and a building inspector. Like many things that happen in Life as a House, it adds nothing to the story, and detracts from the characterizations and struggles of the main players. And the final scene! Well, please. Don't get me started.

Still, despite the flaws, the movie is sweet and enjoyable. After all is said and done, a good movie that might have been great with a better screenplay.

Wonderful
A person walks away from this movie thinking how lucky he or she is to just be alive! Bravo! Kevin Kline's best performance except for "Sophie's Choice."

Life is a house, not American Beauty
First of all, Life As A House is pretty much like American Beauty, only better. Hayden, from Star Wars 2, portrays the teenager in a very dysfunctional family, while Kevin Kline plays his father. Like American Beauty, it seems like the whole block is dysfunctional, and they pretty much are. Yet, when Kevin Kline is diagnosed with cancer he decides to build the house he has always dreamed of, and in doing so try to reconnect with his son. I personally feel that although this is a very typical picture of teen angst and family dysfunction it is shown in a fresh new way, and one that actually connects with the audience.

good movie
this overall was a very good movie. hayden christensen was excellent in it, as was kevin kline. i would have given it the full 5 stars, but some parts were a bit melodramatic. besides that, this movie was both funny and sad, put together with a great cast to produce a very good movie. i would probably give it 4 1/2 stars but thats not really an option. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A Wonderful Story Riddled with Too Many Unanswered Questions
De-Lovely has all of the makings of a great movie. It has a wonderful and engaging cast, especially Kevin Kline as the American composer and songwriter Cole Porter. Ashley Judd is ethereal as the long-suffering wife of Cole Porter, Linda Lee Porter. Cole Porter?s music?performed mostly by today?s musical contemporaries like Robbie Williams and Sheryl Crow?is still beautiful, catchy and witty. The period suits and dresses are aesthetically pleasing. With all those pluses, De-Lovely should have been an excellent and entertaining movie but it isn?t. It left with me with an empty and confused feeling.

Cole Porter (1891-1964) married Linda Lee Porter (1883-1954) in 1919. Linda was a wealthy divorcée, and several years older than Porter was when they wed. Porter was gay. Linda and Cole shared a mainly platonic marriage, which included separate bedrooms in their lush houses. The biopic De-Lovely inspires to be a celebration of their relationship, a love affair that is higher (and perhaps purer) than sex and sexual orientation. However, it doesn?t succeed.

The movie never truly explains why Linda accepted this type of arrangement even though she knew from the start that Cole would rather sleep with men. Did she do it because she was lonely? Did she do it because they were great friends? Or did she do it because she needed a cover for her own sexual orientation? One never knows. In De-Lovely, Linda Lee knowingly marries a gay man yet balks (a lot!) when Cole has trysts with men. She encourages him to move to different parts of the world to work on his music in hopes that it will distract him from his extramarital affairs, and then becomes upset when it doesn?t. She even leaves him, only to come back when he is injured in a horseback riding accident. It only appears in this movie that Linda stayed with Cole to be able to apply for martyrdom.

One is motivated to watch the movie from beginning to end to see if the secrets of their relationship are ever revealed. They are not, and, in the end it, makes De-Lovely a very dissatisfying movie despite its wonderful characteristics.

As earlier mentioned, Kevin Kline?s performance is sublime. The music, although performed with a certain amount of campiness, remains timeless. (Skip the De-Lovely soundtrack and check out the Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole Porter or the Frank Sinatra Sings Cole Porter CDs.)

Even educated fleas do it.
My main problem with "De-Lovely" has nothing to do with the acting, the music or the way that director Irwin Winkler has chosen to present the material.

Kevin Kline is excellent in this movie, and Ashley Judd gives her best performance in years, which isn't really saying much. The music is excellent, though it's occasionally obtrusive in the movie.

The "It's a Wonderful Life" story device used to tell the story is a bit odd, to be honest. In it, the aged Cole Porter is commanded by some sort of visiting angel or "director," played eerily by Jonathan Pryce, to tell the story of his life. So, occasionally, the entire natural story stops, allowing for aged Cole to interfere or intervene in the way his life is going.

My main problem, I fear, has to do with the arrangement behind the marriage of Cole and Linda Lee Porter, which is not the movie's fault at all.

I'm bugged by the fact that Linda Lee marries Cole knowing full well that he's gay - yet much of the movie is devoted to how it's difficult for her to live with this choice. When she sees him devoted to another man, she moves them to another country, even though she knew he was gay to begin with. It's like she's a hanger-on, even though he didn't love her the way she needed to be loved. There's was a marriage-of-convenience, not of romantic love.

There are too many shots of Linda looking disappointed that her husband is cavorting with men, even though she knew before they married what he did.

Linda herself admits to not much liking men. Her first husband, according to the movie, abused her, so her marriage to Cole, one of "respect," is without passion.

The entire movie is about their compromise, and it's difficult to watch or determine what exactly we as an audience are supposed to feel about it.

Either Cole is horrible for cheating on his wife with her permission. Or Linda is silly for intentionally entering into a loveless marriage to someone who is actually a very dear friend who cares for her intimately.

See it for the music. See it for the acting. And, if you're gay, be very happy that you live now and, more than likely, no longer have to undertake a sham marriage and hide who you really are.

Absolutely Fantastic
I had to drive nearly 60 miles just to see this movie and it was worth the gas money to do so. This film is brilliant, and without a doubt, I would drive the 60 miles just to see it again.

Kevin Kline stars as songwriter Cole Porter, who lives his life to the fullest and doesn't deny himself any happiness, whether it's happiness with his wife (played by the fantastic Ashley Judd) or with a man. It's life shown even at it's weakest moments-- his wife losing a baby and Cole being thrown from a horse and having serious problems with his legs afterwards, making it hard to use the piano pedals.

This film is so poignant and lovely in every aspect. We get plenty of musical numbers of marvelous Cole Porter tunes, sung by wonderful guest stars, including Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, and Alanis Morissette. The performances by Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd have OSCAR written all over them.

I highly recommend this film! Even if it's out of your way, as it was for me, try and make the trip anyway. If you're one of the lucky few who lives close to a theater playing this wonderful film, do not miss out on the amazing opportunity to see this one!

This Is Your Life, Cole Porter!
Irwin Winkler, the director of this film about Cole Porter, has chosen the device of the movie within the movie or play within the movie to present his story. Cole Porter (Kevin Klein) is an old man (wondrously made up incidentally) sitting in an empty auditorium watching his life unfold before him. There are many good reasons to see this movie, not the least of which is the score (words and music by Cole Porter). Both Klein and Ashley Judd do respectable jobs with their singing, which runs of course in the Judd family along with good looks. Some of the singing done by various artists is uneven; but seeing the movie made me want to buy a Cole Porter CD sung by someone with the talent of Ella Fitzgerald, for instance. Although the critics seem to be agog over Klein's acting-- and he is fine here-- certainly his performance is balanced by that of Ms. Judd, who does a beautifully nuanced portrait of Linda, Porter's (for the most part) understanding wife.

Although Mr. Porter wrote wonderful music which is still bringing joy to a great many people, his marriage, particularly in his later life, if the movie is accurate, was not always happy. There is never any question, however, that the love between the Porters was true and enduring, in spite of Porter's other gay "night" life. The film is quite moving; the stranger sitting next to me wept several times in the movie and I heard sniffles behind me.

The movie is beautifully filmed. The Coles obviously were high rollers-- lots of alcohol, cigarettes, roses, parties, fine cars and furniture; and the two stars must have worn every costume from the Armani catalogue.

A glossy, sometimes brittle and ultimately sad movie.

Truly being in love and what it calls of us.
This is a magical story of success in love and in the world and what toll each of these takes on the other. Keven Kline and Ashley Judd play the Porters in young and old makeup and you are taken along for the ride without question. Both give oscar nomination performances. After the showing the audience erupted in applause. This is a love story first and foremost. It will captivate your finer feelings, at times likely to insult them but all in all will stretch concepts, perameters and capacities of love. I walked away loving life and feeling hopeful. ... Read more

Description

A grandfather (Richard Crenna) has his hands full when his Los Angeles-based angry teenage grandson is, against the boy's wishes, sent to stay with him on his Colorado Ranch. The boy's insistence on being defiant leads to his desecration of the American flag, to the public humiliation of his grandfather - which prompts the patriarch to grant the boy his wish - to be returned to Los Angeles. The catch is they will travel together from Colorado to L.A. -- on horseback like old-time cowboys! The result is a bittersweet journey in life lessons set against a beautiful, rustic backdrop of country. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent Film with Down-Home Values!
Teen actor, Chris Olivero, and Hollywood legend, Richard Crenna, deliver outstanding and believable performances in this coming of age movie about a bratty, California kid, Mike Lewis (Olivero), who is shipped off to visit his grandfather, Ben Maxwell (Crenna), in Colorado. While there, the argumentative and often smart-aleck Lewis, stirs up enough trouble for the town and his kindhearted grandfather. After several confrontations, the disrespectful grandson decides he wants to return to his spoiled lifestyle in Los Angeles. His grandfather agrees, but decides the two will travel to California by way of horseback. A disgruntled Lewis, tries his hardest to come up with every excuse to avoid the trek to the Pacific coast, but finds himself on the losing end of the battle. Shortly after their journey begins, they meet up with a group of Ben Maxwell's longtime friends, who together, take Maxwell's grandson on the journey of a lifetime by exposing him to down-to-earth western values and hard-working morals. After many trials along the trail, lessons are learned and Lewis and his grandfather discover something about each other they never expected. The film is laced with thought-provoking topics, incredible chemistry, outstanding performances, and certainly the greater values in life that founded our nation. Just short of Oscar caliber for Crenna, this film is highly recommended for all! A great film with good, clean humor, and patriotic family values! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

I Thought This was a Good Movie!
I haven't seen the original 1937 black and white Captains Courageous movie that starred Spencer Tracy but I saw the remake and I liked it and I think Robert Urich was terrific and so was the rest of the cast, especially the actor who played his son and the actor who played Harvey.

Another great version of Captains Couragous
One of my favorite movies was the older version of Captains Courageous with Spencer Tracy.I bought this version and I was not disappointed.The story is a little different than the older version.In this one Harvey has no living parents,and his friendship is developed with Dan (son of the captain)instead of Manuel.This is another great version of Captains Courageous.A wonderful movie and a tear jerker.

Where's the Original????
I fail to understand how a 1996 remake of this movie can be on DVD before the original. I have never seen the remake, and will likely never. A remake, no matter how good, can only taint Spencer Tracey's performance.

Release the ORIGINAL verison! Please. ... Read more