Better Late Than Never on "The House"
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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.
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