Review: The House

Sometimes films are thought-provoking in ways unintended by its makers. Take, for example, The House, the alleged comedy starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler and directed by Andrew Jay Cohen, making his feature film debut after co-scripting Neighbours and its sequel. Watching it, one wonders how 88 minutes could pass like a snail crawling in molasses, how so many skilled comic performers can elicit not one laugh between them, and how anyone convinced Jeremy Renner to drop in for a cameo.

It's not as if The House doesn't have a premise full of potential. Ferrell and Poehler play Scott and Kate Johansen, happily married couple and loving parents to daughter Alex (Ryan Simpkins). The three are so close that when Alex is accepted into Bucknell University, Scott and Kate wonder, half in jest, "What is it going to be like with just us?" From that line alone, Cohen and co-screenwriter Brendan O'Brien could have crafted a comedy centering on the couple getting to know each other all over again after having spent nearly two decades clinging to their only child. Alas, no. When the couple learn that the city council providing the scholarship have decided to use the funds to build a town pool, they're reluctantly convinced by their best friend Frank (Jason Mantzoukas) to start a casino in his basement. They can't lose, Frank proclaims - after all, doesn't the house always win?

"Just apologise to yourself for making a bad decision," Nick Kroll's smarmy councilman says at one point, and his words could extend not only to everyone involved in this film but for audience members who may or may not have been aware of what they were getting themselves into. There really is nothing in The House that warrants its existence. Watching the sweet couple embrace the enjoyment they derive from being shady operators should provide some modicum of subversive thrill, but it is beyond pedestrian. Scott is soon nicknamed "The Butcher" after he accidentally chops off a customer's finger, Kate syncs up as his lady Soprano, their friends and neighbours all unleash their inner wild animals. Ho hum.

There's not much more to say about The House except avoid it all costs. It's hard to even have sympathy for Ferrell and Poehler since both of them look as if they're merely going through the motions.

The House

Directed by: Andrew Jay Cohen

Written by: Brendan O'Brien, Andrew Jay Cohen

Starring: Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas, Ryan Simpkins, Nick Kroll, Allison Tolman, Rob Huebel, Christina Offley, Michaela Watkins, Jeremy Renner