Will you find this ‘Poehlerising’ too?
THE HOUSE (R16, 88 MINS), DIRECTED BY ANDREW JAY COHEN,
It’s a day of celebration in the Johansen household. Teenage daughter Alex (Ryan Simpkins) has been accepted into Bucknell University. There’s just one problem: budget cuts in Fox Meadow mean the city council scholarship they were relying on has been recalled.
After attempts at loans and pleading for wage rises fail, parents Scott (Will Ferrell) and Kate (Amy Poehler) decide that they at the very least need to call off their proposed trip to Vegas with Scott’s best-mate Frank (Jason Mantzoukas). However, with Frank depressed thanks to an acrimonious looming divorce, the duo cave and head to Sin City anyway. Persuaded to gamble, an amazing hot streak by Frank looks to have solved all their money woes, until Scott ‘‘jinxes’’ the dice. But through their anger and despair, the trio come up with a cunning plan – what if they set up their own casino?
Bad Neighbours franchise and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates writer Andrew Jay Cohen’s directorial debut offers up the same mix of surrealness, schmaltz and sex and drug references that peppered those other films.
Characters are extremely thinly sketched to the point that Ferrell and Poehler are forced to create Martin Scorsese’s Casinoinspired alter-egos (‘‘The Butcher’’ and ‘‘The Burner’’) in order to give themselves some kind of character arc.
Likewise, the lack of memorable, or even any dialogue, is papered over by an abundance of on-the-nose musical cuts, from Flo Rida’s My House to Momma Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J.
This is a movie that throws in casual date rape jokes, copious weed gags and violence at every turn.
It’s not without its charms – a scene involving the perils of stationery shopping with a hangover provides some laughs, while Ferrell’s character’s fear of numbers is the one running-gag that constantly delivers. But, in the end, there’s not enough bring-the-house-down moments to warrant gambling 90 minutes of your time by seeing this. – James Croot