Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.0

The House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 17, 2017

The House squanders a talented cast and a promising concept with lazy writing and even lazier direction. First-time director Andrew Jay Cohen, who co-wrote the script with his usual partner, Brendan O'Brien—they gave us the Neighbors series—seems to think that he's done his job by assembling a cast of improv veterans and letting them riff in one improbable situation after another. Cohen and O'Brien don't seem to grasp that effective comedy has to be worked out as precisely as drama (maybe even more so), with a narrative structure that supports the jokes. Having recruited several former Saturday Night Live stars, the pair proceeded to write them a series of sketches that barely hold together.

Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell re-team for the first time since they left SNL to play Kate and Scott Johansen, a suburban couple who are sufficiently well-off to have given their teenage daughter, Alex (Ryan Simpkins), a comfortable upbringing, but can't afford her college tuition. When the scholarship on which they were counting is abruptly discontinued by the City Council, the Johansens try to raise the necessary funds by opening an illegal casino in the home of their long-time friend, Frank (Jason Mantzoukas).

Frank's life has crumbled because of his own gambling addiction, but he's revived by the prospect of becoming a gaming entrepreneur. In fact, it's Frank who conceives and implements the idea, leaving the Johansens as bystanders to the scheme that's supposed to be at the center of The House, and leaving Poehler and Ferrell adrift in the movie, relegated to playing variations of the goofballs they've done on TV and in prior films. An extended routine with an intoxicated Kate peeing on her front lawn is typical of The House's many random efforts at humor, and it isn't even the most groan-worthy. That would be the sequence featured in the trailer, where Scott chops off the finger of a gambler (Steve Zissis) who refuses to pay his debts, but it's supposed to be funny because Scott dismembers the guy by accident while trying to act tough (and then suffers what are supposed to be hilarious hallucinations featuring more amputated digits). A similar mishap befalls the local crime boss (Jeremy Renner), when he shows up late in the movie, and the joke doesn't improve with repetition.

The notion of respectable neophytes trying to cobble together an amateur casino has rich comic potential, but Cohen and O'Brien bypass every opportunity to explore it. The necessary facilities magically appear in Frank's home, which seems to be infinitely expandable, and the need for stealth to evade the authorities is limited to having patrons park at a local convenience store and enter through the rear. Both of these elements—the challenges of construction and the challenges of remaining secret—could have supplied a wealth of material to a competent dramatist, but these filmmakers lack either the patience or the imagination (or both). By the end, they all but abandon their initial premise, focusing instead on the nefarious machinations of City Councilman Bob Schaeffer (Nick Kroll), whose embezzlement was the real reason why Alex lost her scholarship and who, when he learns of the Johansens' covert enterprise, escalates from graft to robbery. The councilman's comeuppance is supposed to be the film's comic payoff, but it’s so haphazardly achieved that there isn’t even the satisfaction of seeing the villain appropriately humiliated.

The House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The House was shot digitally (on Alexa, if I had to guess) by Jas Shelton (Keanu). Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is a polished presentation reflecting all the usual virtues of digital capture, in that it's sharply detailed with an absence of noise or interference. Densities are excellent, and the lighting effectively distinguishes between the Johansens' makeshift casino and the rest of the world. As is becoming typical of the Warner theatrical group with their less successful features, The House has been encoded on Blu-ray with a higher average bitrate than the studio grants its A-list titles, here 27.94 Mbps. And unlike so many Blu-rays from the theatrical group, Warner has actually used nearly all of the BD-50, thanks to over two hours of extras in hi-def.

The House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Compliments are due to the sound engineers who created The House's 5.1 mix (encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA), because comedies frequently get short shrift in the sound department. But The House has a number of unexpectedly dynamic moments that creatively utilize the surround array. Voices are sometimes heard from behind and off-camera, as are the sounds of casino action in Las Vegas and Frank's home. An especially noteworthy use of rear panning occurs during one of the impromptu smackdowns that become yet another object of wagering in the makeshift casino, when blows to the head cause blood to spurt and teeth to fly in slow motion. The sounds of violence are even more wince-inducing than the CG-generated gore. Dialogue is always clear, and the score by the team of Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues ) works as hard as the actors to inject levity into the proceedings.

The House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Improvs abound in the extras, thereby confirming the degree to which the cast had to work overtime in an effort to fortify The House's anemic script.

• The House: Playing with a Loaded Deck (1080p; 1.78:1; 12:47).



• If You Build the House, They Will Come (1080p; 1.78:1; 13:43).



• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 15:43): The scenes are not separately listed or selectable, but a title card precedes each one.


• Sc 1-2: Alternate Opening: Yogurt & More
• Sc 12: Trim Your Bush
• Sc 57-58: Frank's Awakening
• Sc 59: Container Store Cashier
• Sc 62: Reggie Checks In
• Sc 62: Reggie Tries to Sleep
• Sc 91: I Come Correct When I Come Collect
• Sc 105: Yogurt Run-In
• Sc 118: Tea with Chandler
• Sc 120: Charades
• Sc 127: Outside Town Hall



• Extended/Alternate Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:19:54): The scenes are not separately listed or selectable, but a title card precedes each one. As the overall running time and proximate scene numbers suggest, this extra is virtually an alternative cut of the film.


• Sc 1: Asshole Dad
• Sc 4: Mom Shorts
• Sc 6: Town Hall
• Sc 7: Risk Averse
• Sc 8: My Kids' Names
• Sc 10: Corsica
• Sc 14: All in on this Vegas Trip
• Sc 18: What if We Were the House
• Sc 20: Kitchen Conference
• Sc 27: Pot Luck
• Sc 28: Scott's Casino Job
• Sc 32: Who Told Craig
• Sc 32-45: Neighborhood Casino Upgrades
• Sc 41: Heckler
• Sc 51: Laundry Sex
• Sc 62-70: Casino-Style Upgrades
• Sc 70: Club Ooze
• Sc 72: Hot Tub
• Sc 79: Bob & Dawn's Secret
• Sc 85: Officer Chandler Crowd Control
• Sc 87-89: Finger Anxiety
• Sc 99-101: Shakedown
• Sc 102: Town Business
• Sc 107: Vodka Soaker
• Sc 107-114: Coke Night
• Sc 116-117: Coke Bust
• Sc 120: Chan Man's Got a Plan
• Sc 124: Hallway Fight
• Sc 126: Bob Sandwich
• Sc 128: The Wrath of Tammy
• Sc 132: Oxygen Fight
• Sc 132: Fireside Chat
• Sc 133: Asshole and Reprise



• Gag Reel (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:57).



• Line-O-Ramas (1080p; 1.78:1; 8:41): These resemble nothing so much as outtakes from the gag reel.


• Line-O-Rama
• Fight Night Commentary
• Gorilla with a Baseball Hat



• Introductory Trailers: The film's trailer is not included. At startup, the disc plays a trailer for It and the familiar Warner promo for 4K UHD.

The House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Judging by the extras, the cast and crew of The House had a blast making it. Unfortunately, that doesn't translate to the screen. The Blu-ray is technically proficient, but the movie isn't worth even a rental.