The House (2017)
Directed by Andrew J. Cohen
When Scott and Kate Johansen’s daughter gets into the college of her dreams it’s cause for celebration. That is, until Scott and Kate learn that the scholarship they were counting on didn’t come through, and they’re now on the hook for tuition they can’t begin to afford. With the help of their friend and neighbor Frank also in need of a major payday they decide to open an illegal casino in his suburban house, risking everything together on a Vegas-style bacchanal where money flows, inhibitions are checked at the door, and all bets are off.
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What critics compared The House to
The concept seems based on the idea that it might be funny to see Will Ferrell as a suburban dad do a take on Robert De Niro in “Casino,” with ostentatious sunglasses, gory violence and all.
When he approached Ferrell with the idea for a comedy in which a dorky dad morphs into the mobster Robert De Niro played in Casino — complete with oversize shades — the star was good-hearted enough to do the up-and-comer a solid.
In particular, a series of weird references riffing on the old Scorsese-De Niro classic Casino lifts The House out of many a potential flat spot.
Also: homages to “Casino” and “Terminator,” a surprising amount of blood and a Jeremy Renner cameo (those last two are related, natch).
Partnered with their gambling-addicted neighbour, Frank (the drily hysterical Jason Mantzoukas), they turn a McMansion into a gambling den, allowing them to exploit their friends and neighbours and indulge in comic homages to Martin Scorsese's Las Vegas classic Casino that comes with bursts of unexpected violence.
• Scott and Kate turning into mobster-wannabes inspired by Scorsese’s “Casino.”
Anyone who remembers the dud that was Date Night, which co-starred comedy titans Tina Fey and Steve Carell and was directed by Night at the Museum helmer Shawn Levy, knows the wobbly wisdom of betting on sure things.