The House of Yes (1997)
director: mark waters
cast: parker posey, josh hamilton, tori spelling, freddie prinze, jr., genevieve bujold
Parker
Posey is the early 90's “queen of the indies” and maybe someday she'll be in
a film that will “break her out”. “House of Yes” isn’t that film. How about
“House of Acting” as an alternate title? Posey is kinda like Liv Tyler but with
more range. Maybe, she should try getting into an Aerosmith video or two and
see if that gets her on Hollywood's “A” list.
“The House of Yes” isn’t a terrible film. It’s the standard filmed adaptation of a play — lot’s of snappy dialogue with good portrayals of oddball characters. This doesn't save the film from being pointless. We’ve seen this low budget film before — 5 actors and about the same number of sets, taking place during the course of one day. Yet another example of the type of project that actors love to be in but it's not as fun for the audience to watch. There’s lots of “acting” going on here.
Josh Hamilton plays Posey’s twin brother who is bringing his fiancee (Tori Spelling) home to meet the family. What he has failed to tell Spelling is that everyone in his family is insane. Another thing he’s forgotten to tell Spelling is that he has been involved in an incestuous relationship with Posey. When Spelling catches him in the act, he tries to pass it off like it’s just a different form of masturbation — after all, him and Posey are twins! They're virtually the same person! Venerable war-horse Genevieve Bujold is the whacked-out mom and Freddie Prinze Jr. plays the fucked up younger brother to Posey and Hamilton. The problem here is the passivity of Josh Hamilton’s character. He doesn’t do anything. Things happen to him, including sex with his Jackie Kennedy Onasis obsessed sibling. She likes to recreate the Kennedy assassination as a twisted form of foreplay. Shocking: yes. Funny: I didn't think so. Meaningful: no. Recommended only to those who are incest-movie completist. – Tom Graney
$3.06
© 1997 Hollywood Outsider™