THE HOUSE OF YES Movie review by Chuck Dowling Copyright 1998 - Chuck's Movie Reviews http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/
The House of Yes (1997) * out of ***** - Cast: Parker Posey, Josh Hamilton, Tori Spelling, Freddie Prinze Jr., Genevieve Bujold. Written and Directed by: Mark Waters. Running Time: 85 minutes.
Boy, there's nothing like a good dysfunctional family story. Too bad "The House of Yes" is a HORRIBLE dysfunctional family story.
"The House of Yes" is set at Thanksgiving in 1983. Parker Posey plays Jackie-O, a mentally disturbed woman who believes she's Jackie Kennedy-Onassis. Her brother (...) is coming home for the holiday and she just couldn't be happier. To her dismay however, he has brought along a surprise: a fiancee (Tori Spelling, in a surprisingly good performance).
Things immediately turn ugly. You see, there's a reason Jackie-O has gone insane. She and her brother just happened to be lovers for quite some time. They liked playing a game where they would re-enact the Kennedy assassination and then proceed to have sex. Hard to believe that could mentally disturb someone isn't it? I was disturbed enough to break into sweats and cower in the fetal position just watching it. Anyway, for some reason they just can't resist this game once he returns home, much to the disgust of his fiance and the younger brother in the family.
"The House of Yes" was adapted from a stage play by Wendy MacLeod, and the fact that it was a stage play is warning sign number one. There's a reason some stories are told on stage and some on screen. And the film plays exactly as if it was a play, aside for moments of obnoxiously blaring score music that come out of nowhere, usually announcing the incest which is about to be happening. Speaking of incest, I guess that would have to be warning sign number two. Need any other warning signs to save yourself from this film? [R]
-- Chuck Dowling --
Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed at Chuck's Movie Reviews. Web address: http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/
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