Life as a House

Alphabetical Listing of Movie Reviews

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


  • Life As a House -- Contrived drama about a dying man (Kevin Kline) who sets out to fulfill his dream of building his own house while enlisting the help of his estranged son (Hayden Christensen), hoping to salvage the relationship before it's too late. As directed by Irwin Winkler, the tearjerker's few life-affirming moments are sullied by several distasteful episodes, while the rudimentary story about the measure and meaning of a man's worth is emotionally manipulative. An attempted suicide, a few sexual encounters, sporadic drug use, implied male prostitution, brief rear nudity and some rough language. A-IV - adults with reservations (R) 2001




    These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

    The classifications are as follows:

    A-I -- general patronage;
    A-II -- adults and adolescents;
    A-III -- adults;
    L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
    O -- morally offensive.

    Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.

  • Office for Film and Broadcasting | 1011 First Avenue, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10022 | (202) 541-3000 © USCCB. All rights reserved.

    Catholic News Service Media Review Office — © USCCB. All rights reserved.