LIFE AS A HOUSE

Year: 2001
USA: New Line Cinema
UK: Entertainment Film Distributors
Cast: Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen, Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen, Mike Weinberg, Scotty Leavenworth, Ian Somerhalder, Jamey Sheridan, Scott Bakula, Sandra Nelson, Sam Robards, Barry Primus, William Russ, Hillary Tuck, Mario Winkler
Director: Irwin Winkler
Country: USA
USA: 124 mins
UK: 125 mins
USA Rated: R for language, sexuality and drug use
UK Certificate: 15 contains some strong language and drug use
USA Release Date: 9 November 2001
USA Release Date: 2 November 2001 (Wider Release)
USA Release Date: 26 October 2001 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 15 March 2002


Synopsis

LIFE AS A HOUSE is the poignant, often humorous journey of one man who decides to tear down his house and winds up building the world around him. From the day he picks up his sledgehammer, George Monroe embarks on a grand adventure that will shatter expectations and build a fountain for many different dreams among his family and neighbors.

Academy award winner Kevin Kline stars as architect George Monroe who has had a life long ambition to achieve one of the great American dreams: to build his own home, a refuge set on a cliff at the edge of the sea but it's a dream George has put off again and again, while he has sunk lower and lower - ending up divorced, overworked and estranged not only from his friends and family but from himself. Now George has hit rock bottom and there's nowhere left to go except out onto the edge.

At first his plans seem wild-eyed and crazy. His cul-de-sac neighbours despise his sagging dilapidated shack. His teenage son Sam (Hayden Christensen) would rather stare into space than help him. His ex-wife Robin (Kristin Scott Thomas), who once shared his house and his dream is now emotionally distant from him. Local city officials want to sabotage his plans. It seems there is no one left with any faith in him.

But George is determined is determined to rebuild this house even if it means refurbishing his life. Starting the project alone he soon attracts a disparate group of people - from the next door neighbour's sexy, young daughter to Robin's children from her new marriage - to his scheme. What begins as a way for George to redeem his own bruised dreams turns into something much bigger than he ever imagined and something far stronger than just a shelter.