THE HOUSE OF YES
A Film Review by Brian Takeshita
Rating: **1/2 out of ****
I must admit that I've never understood the fixation that many people have with the Kennedys. Sure, one can point out a number of positive things JFK achieved during his presidency, but if you study history, you'll also find that he was quite an opportunist, pumping the nation full of such rhetoric as to fuel the Cold War and send the country's young men down a path that led deep into the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia, all in the name of going anywhere and fighting any fight, apparently with little regard to the real elements of national security, or the real meaning of honor. The man took risks like approving the poorly-planned and disaster-ridden Bay of Pigs invasion (Kennedy served in the South Pacific as a PT Boat commander during World War II, yet consented to an amphibious landing that benefited from no air support). He took the nation to the brink of nuclear holocaust one October in the biggest gamble this nation has ever waged. I therefore found it very difficult to get into a movie where the main character is preoccupied with the lives of John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy. However, it was somewhat comforting to know that this character is also supposed to be insane.
THE HOUSE OF YES is a comedy which starts out with that television special from the early 60's where Jackie Kennedy takes the nation on a tour of the White House, intercut with a home movie from the early 70's with a young girl dressed up as the first lady, taking the viewer on a tour of her own mansion. We are then brought to the present day, and are introduced to that young girl, now grown up, and we find that she has gotten her family to call her Jackie-O. We are also told by her narrative voice that at the age of 14, she went to a costume party in a replication of the famous pink dress Mrs. Kennedy wore on that fateful day in Dallas, covered with ketchup for blood and macaroni for brains. Very disturbing.
Jackie-O (Parker Posey) is indeed certifiable. She has spent time in a mental institution and is on a string of medications. When her twin brother Marty (Josh Hamilton), now living in New York, comes home to the family's Washington D.C. mansion for Thanksgiving dinner and brings his new fiancee, Lesly (Tori Spelling), Jackie-O goes absolutely ballistic. Within minutes, it seems that Jackie-O, her mother (Genevieve Bujold), and her younger brother Anthony (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) are all trying to break up the happy couple. Why? And why is Jackie-O so enamored with Jackie O.? The answer lies in more than one family secret.
One of the first mental notes I took upon viewing THE HOUSE OF YES was that the dialogue is hilarious, but sounds like it was meant for the stage. Delivery, wordplay; it's all much like musical theater in between the songs, or perhaps Shakespearean comedy. I later found out that this film is, in fact, based upon a play by Wendy McLeod. Where it was performed or how well it did, I have no idea. Director Mark Waters clearly wanted to translate that feel directly to film, and it's a bit off-putting at first. However, you quickly get used to it and can enjoy the rest of the film, which is actually quite funny.
The problem is that the movie is also very predictable. Inside of the first ten minutes, you're able to put in a good guess as to what both the primary and secondary family secrets are. Sure, the dialogue still makes the film enjoyable, but mostly you're just watching the mechanics as it gets to where you know it's going in the first place. As the movie progresses, precious little additional information is revealed about each of the characters. A little more character development would also have really helped. There are also moments in this film that are so done up with music and slow motion that you get the feeling that Waters wants to make you believe you're witness to something profound. It is at these times that the film simply takes itself too seriously.
One of the things this film does well is depict alienation. Anthony is the little brother who seems to get kicked around and has spent most of his life trying to keep up with his siblings. He gets told what to do by everyone in the house, and try as he might to rectify the situation, he's still low man on the totem pole. Lesly, trying to make a good impression, is only rejected by Jackie-O and her mother for reasons obscure to her until the very end. Even Marty, mindful at first of her feelings, soon becomes party to her persecution as an outsider. A scene where Lesly terribly plays a chopsticks piano duet with Marty, and is then "shown how it's done" by Jackie-O as she sidles up next to her brother on the piano bench, is heart-wrenching.
Ultimately, however, it's the acting in THE HOUSE OF YES that really stands out. The cast is admittedly small, but all five actors deliver exceptional performances. Parker Posey is being hailed as the queen of independent films, and it's no wonder. She's acted in nearly two dozen of them, and has effectively portrayed a wide variety of characters, displaying an impressive range and competence not found in the majority of Hollywood newcomers (or big names, for that matter). In this film, she's really got the polish on, doing an incredible job as the always-on-the-edge Jackie-O. One minute she seems sweet as sugar, the next she's being caustically sarcastic, and then she's suddenly flipping out like a nutcase - and it's all totally convincing as well as a pleasure to watch.
Freddie Prinze, Jr. does a nice job playing the little brother who seems to get kicked around and has spent most of his life trying to keep up with his siblings. Genevieve Bujold is also apt at playing the mother who is disapproving of anything outside of her own family. Josh Hamilton as Marty interacts well with all the characters, perhaps since his is the most normal in the film, and is the one with which we most identify. Most surprising, however, is Tori Spelling. I've never really liked her in anything, largely because it seems she plays the same character so often (or maybe it's the same character I keep seeing - how long was she on 90210, anyway?), but here she actually impressed me with her performance as a girl from humble roots who, in spite of her vacuous persona, still has more substance than everyone in Jackie-O's household combined. My opinion of her improved considerably after viewing this film.
Although THE HOUSE OF YES is laden with an imbalance between its acting talent on the one hand, and it's direction and scripting on the other, it's still an enjoyable film, as the former kind of makes up for the latter. However, I kept getting the feeling that with a more fleshed-out screenplay, this film could have been something really great.
Review posted September 29, 1998
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