A decent time-waster. I was surprised it took so long before I laughed but eventually it got solidly funny. Nothing amazing but pretty good. Still, it makes me appreciate Rough Night more. That was much funnier.

B-

This was by the books comedy that mostly misses on comedic timings even though the leads try really hard. There is not even a single LOL moment that I can remember. The story seems stretched from its single line concept and doesn't build enough material for a movie, even though side stories are hinted and become part of a tag-along finale. The final act has no stakes, no emotional conflict or connection whereas the end clings to physical comedy which unfortunately also misses. Poehler and Ferrell could do so much better but they make most of these single-dimensional characters.

4/10

This is dreadful. A career nadir for both stars and a waste in general of a deep, gifted ensemble. I had to will myself to even smile. It finds this perfectly unsuitable spot between a soft, mainstream comedy (the protagonists' empty-nest anxiety; the evil town councilman) and a more extreme one (white suburbia descending into violence, sex, and decadence) and plants its flag there for an extremely hectic, but never amusing 90 minutes. And neither side of the film shows a single sign of life. Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler are on autopilot and have no overt chemistry, so any gesture toward romance or uplift is a nonstarter. The film wanly tries to portray them regaining a certain confidence and lust for life via pretending to be gangsters, but this goes no deeper than a few tired Scorsese references. And the nastier or more vulgar Hangover-style elements—including a few severed limbs—are forced and unearned. And there is no internal logic...the operation of the underground casino is inconsistent and unconvincing; it becomes an instant success within the space of a montage, and I hate how every neighbor bar a policeman and the aforementioned councilman just instantly accepts its existence and starts dropping thousands of dollars on roulette and indulging in extreme debauchery. The film also never decides precisely how imbecilic its character are: at times it suggests a bit of self-awareness and wit on their part, as if they are flawed, but functioning adults inside an absurd premise, but then there is, say, a gag where they believe a 401k plan means $401,000 in savings.

F

I feel so square saying this, but I had a problem with the violence in this movie. It feels...tone deaf. Consider the montage showing them going around town, enforcer-style, beating the shit out of people who owe them money. The main characters are not very sympathetic. And even rolling with the it-is-just-a-comedy dynamic, the total absence of any punishment for their crimes feels odd. They get to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars earned tax free at an underground casino because...the town councilman is a meanie and SO MUCH WORSE. Eh.

And the movie has such bizarre leaps and cuts. It misses so much potential for comedy by having the entire neighborhood instantly embrace this casino-fight-club-massage-parlor-brothel. It completely leaps over the core gag, which should be exhausted, uptight, overly mortgaged suburbanites in their 30s and 40s slowly letting loose and embracing their wild side. The character arcs and plot structures in, say, Old School or Neighbors are brilliant compared to this.

One thing I found incredibly jarring in the leadup to the opening is how little chemistry Ferrell and Poehler had even just in previews or in a silly, throwaway appearance on Ellen. Someone obviously said "Those two are funny, put them in a movie!" but they don't seem to have any chemistry together.

Ferrell needs to stop doing comedies with other prominent, co-starring comedians. His style doesn't seem to gel with other comedians. In the last ten years, his modest-to-underwhelming films (Get Hard, The House, The Campaign) were alongside other comedians (Zach Galifianakis, Amy Poehler, Kevin Hart), whereas his bigger hits (Daddy's Home, The Other Guys, Step Brothers, Anchorman II, Blades of Glory) were either opposite game actors that are typically serious (Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly), featured Ferrell in at least the main role (Anchorman II), or against a largely-unproven star (Jon Heder).

yeah... not good. The Jeremy Renner bit was so out there that it was amusing though lol

I'm going to take a guess as to what happened. The director submitted a 95-110 minute cut of the film to Warners. Someone panicked, saw that it didn't work and instead of a shitty comedy with a bloated running time, demanded 20 minutes be cut out of it, and we're now left with barely a movie at 80 minutes. I'm guessing this because there is a mob plot featuring Jeremy Renner that goes nowhere. It has no beginning, a middle, and the end is just his cameo. I'm guessing he had at least two more scenes. And you can kill a mob boss and nothing bad will happen to you?

Also, Alexandra Daddario is listed in the end credits as Corsica. She's nowhere to be found in the final movie. Now, it's not like she's a star or anything, but what the hell? I'm guessing she's somewhere in that mob plot. And some stuff had to be cut out with the daughter as well. Aside from a very unfunny scene beginning with Poehler peeing on her front lawn, the daughter, and her friends, completely disappear from the middle of the movie.

What we're left with is what barely feels like half an effort. Everything feels half-assed. And to make matters worse, this film is loaded hilarious people (most you probably haven't heard of if you don't listen to podcasts). Lennon Parham deserves much more than a "comedic" fight scene. Jessica St. Clair and Randall Park deserve more than a quick scene of them doing cocaine. And Jason Manzoutkas deserves a much better starring role. This movie should've been hilarious. It isn't.

D

There is also a scene in the blooper reel with the African American neighbor eating lunch with his children. This is nowhere in the actual movie, if I remember correctly.

Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler's talent is wasted on The House - the writing is very, very weak. *D*



(I don't remember any year in movies where I haven't seen a good comedy by the time July rolls around - and the upcoming release schedule doesn't look at all promising for the rest of the year either. Is the feature comedy film dead? )

You disliked Transformers: The Last Knight, you disliked The Mummy, and now you dislike The House. What's going on, Bradley? You've let me down. I always counted on you to give "294 out of 10" to films like this. It is almost as if you are filling the general consensus void that "she-who-shall-not-be-named" left.

I honestly didn't mind this one. I have to agree with Mike that a best it's a decent timewaster much like how Rough Night was for me. It takes a while to actually get funny, but once it does it's pretty consistent IMO. Jason Mantzoukas is easily the best thing about it, although I thought Ferrell and Poehler played off each other well, especially the scenes with the daughter. The Jeremy Renner cameo was weird, but still amusing though lol.

It actually starts decently and then by the end devolves into being pretty lame and by-the-numbers. There are a few funny moments, but the movie honestly feels hacked to death in post production. It's a fine rainy day movie though. You'll forget about it the second the credits roll. C

The House didn't start off good, but finally it ended up better than I expected. The best bits and only time it made me actually laugh was at the end credits blooper reel unfortunately. The film itself is mostly a bit too lame overall, but a few funny gags here and there keep it light and bearable.

C