I don’t really have anything to preface this. Combining
disappointment with apathy doesn’t make for the best material, especially in
response to something, but as I’ll get into, that’s about the extent of this
film’s level of engagement. Time to board the “Will Ferrell, what are you even
doing anymore?” train once again: This is The House.
The plot: Suburban parents Scott (Will Ferrell) and Kate
(Amy Poehler) are ecstatic to discover that their daughter Alex (Ryan Simpkins)
has been accepted into college. Unfortunately, since they didn’t get her
scholarship, they don’t have the means to afford it. With the help of their neighbour
Frank (Jason Mantzoukas), they decide to open an underground casino at home to
generate the college tuition. However, they soon run into trouble with their
local councilman Bob (Nick Kroll), who plans to shut the whole thing down.
If I can give this film credit for anything, and it’s a bit
of a strain to do so in the first place, the cast here is pretty good. Ferrell
and Poehler work nicely opposite each other, and they handle the suburban
parents/sub-Mafioso duality better than I ever could have expected. Mantzoukas
returns with yet another scene-stealing performance, to the point where the
film is arguably more about his character than anyone else here, and he makes
that prospect rather inviting. Kroll has gone from being a literal douchebag in
last year’s Sausage Party into just a figurative one, except here, that doesn’t
equal an engaging presence; it just makes you want to reach through the screen
and deck the bastard. Oh, and Jeremy Renner shows up as well to get set on
fire; if I ever find the reason why this is a thing, I’ll likely transcend this
mortal plane full of incredibly weak comedies.
Between the Bad Neighbours films and even last year’s Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates, writers Brendan O’Brien and Andrew J. Cohen (the
latter of whom is in the director’s chair for this one) have earned a
respectable place on my radar of late. Well, not every project turns out a
winner and it looks like we’ve stumbled upon their first real dud. The initial
premise, coupled with a bit of anti-authoritarianism in connection to the
councilman antagonist, is pretty solid and allows for a lot of comedic
possibilities. Or at least it would, if the story had any real direction to it.
We have the setup, Scott and Kate raising money for their daughter’s college
tuition, and aside from an initial showing of every other alternative in terms
of getting that money before resorting to illegal gambling (in a touch
reminiscent of the original Bad Neighbours), that’s it in terms of progression. What
follows from that point on for the rest of this 80-minute film is a series of
set pieces involving some form of violence, threat of violence or just rambling
to fill up space. None of which feels like they’re connected in any real way to
each other, other than desperately hoping to make the audience laugh.
Considering how funny and smart Cohen
and O’Brien’s previous work has been, even the less-than-appreciated Mike And
Dave, this is a serious step backwards for them.
Then again, I get the sneaking suspicion that they weren’t
exactly firing off on all cylinders here to begin with. I say this because
there’s way too instances where you can clearly tell that these guys aren’t at
their trope-defying best; namely, because of how over-used some of the gags
are. Not to mention dated, like a certain quip near the end that seems to be a
sly dig at Trump, only it’s clear that it was written while he was still
running, meaning that it’s another example of the leftist hubris “let’s mock
the guy, rather than actually trying to get in his way” that resulted in him
being elected in the first place. The script was first shopped around in 2015
and it shows.
Beyond that we have a scene, after Scott and Kate make their full
transition into The Butcher and The Torcher respectively, with the Sopranos
theme song in the background. Coming from two writers within the Point Grey
stable, usually the best around in terms of licensed song comedy, this is
pretty weak. And yet, that’s not even the worst of it. No, the worst of it
comes when the police arrive at the casino, causing the policeman in question
to yell “Respect my authority” in proper Cartman fashion without any inkling
that the film is on its own joke. Anyone else coughing from the thick layers of
dust on these gags or is it just me?
All in all, this is a serious disappointment as someone who
is a big fan of Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien’s past work. Instead of
their usual genre-tilting expertise coupled with a genuine understanding of
character, what we have here is a potentially decent concept ruined by a lack
of narrative progression and some embarrassingly dated jokes. I know I’m in the
minority when it comes to Mike And Dave, but even still, that looks like a
proper masterpiece compared to this throwaway of a film.
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