Better Late Than Never on "The House"

I was looking for a movie to watch the other day since I had some free time while my kids were in school. I went to a few different streaming services and ended up going with HBO Max. There I saw a movie called "The House" which featured Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell. I vaguely remember hearing about this movie other than it got bad reviews. But, I enjoy Poehler and Ferrell, and the 95 or so minute runtime was perfect, so I decided to watch.

Now, right off the bat, this is not a very good movie. The story is thin, the young actors don't get much to do and for its short runtime, certain moments felt like they went on forever. That being said, this movie did make me laugh, and isn't that the whole point of a comedy? For those that may not know, "The House" is about a family that needs to make money to get their only child into college. They team up with a neighbor and open a casino in his basement. Pretty simple outline. Here's the problem, here's the solution and some wacky stuff will happen along the way. But Ferrell and Poehler made for a dynamite comedy duo, and I found myself laughing more times than not. Those two know how to sell a joke, they know how far to take it and they both seemed to be having a good time while making the movie. Jason Mantzoukas, who I adore, was the neighbor and it was nice to see him play a bigger role in a movie. He always seems to be a side character that comes into a show or movie and steals every scene he is in. He also seems to always play someone gross. Here he does do some gross stuff, but he is the comic relief for the most part. Poehler and Ferrell are still hilarious, but Mantzoukas was right there with them with the comedy the whole way through the movie. I also appreciated that the casting director cast funny people to play bit parts in this movie. Andrea Savage and Lennon Parham play neighbors that hate one another and they are both hilarious. Their fight scene was pretty great. Rory Scovel plays a yokel that just wants to have fun. Nick Kroll and Allison Tolman play scummy local political people, and they had a ton of unexpected laughs from me. Rob Heubel plays a bumbling police officer. Cedric Yarbrough plays a dad in town who doesn't pay back all his loans. Kyle Kinane is a local drunk. Michela Watkins plays Mantzoukas' ex, and she has some of the best line deliveries in the whole movie. Steve Zissis and Jeremy Renner play local thugs who want to take down the casino. And actors like Sam Richardson, Andy Buckley, Wayne Federman, Ian Roberts and Jessica St Clair are peppered throughout the cast and they all do some funny stuff while on screen.

Again, this is by no means a good movie. It does have slow parts and some jokes don't land. But I was never bored when watching. I laughed quite a bit. I found the movie to be a perfect background for if I am writing or doing some housework. Do I recommend it? If you like the people I mentioned, yeah. But if you are looking for something to move you or see epic cinema, skip it. My final thoughts, this movie had funny parts, is not a great story and it kept my attention for most of it. I guess it is a soft recommend from me, but only if you know and like the people involved. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Comedian Kyle Kinane Tried Out Some New Live Material and it Was Great

The Second most important tool for good stand up comedy.

Last night I saw comedian Kyle Kinane at the Ready Room in Saint Louis and he was great. I've been a fan of his for awhile now and last night was the first time I've seen him live. I've watched his specials, I enjoy his bit role on the highly underrated and very funny television show, "Those Who Can't" and I like his many podcast appearances, so I was predestined to like his stand up.

Kinane controlled the stage for his almost 90 minute set. Headliners usually do about 45 minutes to an hour, for fear of getting stale, but Kinane's 90 minute set never once felt boring or slow. Kinane was working on new material, he has another special coming up, and I love hearing all new material. He says that he didn't want to repeat anything from his last live show in Saint Louis, and talking to some people who saw him last time, it was all, for the most part, new. That's great. His material is always a bit blue, but he wasn't as blue as I was expecting last night. He did make a joke about a guy wearing a shirt with a very dirty saying on it, but that was about as dirty as he got. Kinane looks so comfortable on stage, even though he made many references to how uncomfortable and how weird his job is. He is a comic and he makes money doing that. It's weird, but when you are as good as Kinane, you deserve to make a living doing that. He bounced around a lot during his set, but there was always a through line or segue that made everything make sense. His bit about getting gout and then getting a physical was dynamite. It was thoughtful, reflective and hilarious. When he talks about the doctor being so smooth when doing the physical, I was in tears laughing. His freaky Friday bit was great as well. He imagined what it would be like to switch places with a semi truck driver during rush hour and a Benihana chef. Both were great. I could picture someone freaking out in both scenarios and he brought that to life excellently, especially the Benihana chef. When he talked about flipping the shrimp in his hat, once again, tears from laughing.

His very new material was equally as good, even when he didn't think so. At one point he said a joke, it didn't land great, he acknowledged that and completely saved it with a great tag. When he said he had some weird jokes, I found them more funny than weird. He covered a lot of different topics throughout the night. I mentioned the freaky Friday and the doctor, but he also talked history, self diagnosing, touring the Midwest during tornado season, living in LA, still wearing skater shoes, even though they have orthopedic inserts, among many other things.

Kinane was on stage for an hour and a half, but it never felt long or boring. It was straight up funny. Kyle Kinane is a very good stand up that puts on a very good live show. He's funny, engaging, a good writer and appeals to young and old alike. I went with my father and he laughed as much as I did. This was a very good show. I'm glad I bought the tickets and I now get to check another comedian off my bucket list. Go see Kyle Kinane if he comes to your town. I guarantee you will enjoy yourself and have a very good laugh.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Are you a band that does comedy or a comedian that does music, or the other way around, contact us and Ty will check out your show. Ty has his very own twitter, go follow him @tykulik.