Movie Review: Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler Star in “The House” of Pain

The House is a dark enterprise, and often unsettling, which is not what you usually want from a Will Ferrell flick.

It takes a tragedy—the death of the middle class—and uses it to spin chaos rather than comedy. The problem is that 'comedy' is what they were going for. I think. Honestly, that’s still unclear to me.

The desperation and ugliness at The House’s basement level means it’s mostly a bummer. It should have embraced its heart of darkness and gone harder. That would have excused (or explained) all the blood.

(I’ll confess here that it made me chuckle a few times, which is a credit to the talented cast—an army of improvisers and pro-level podcasters—and an indictment of, well, me.)

Ferrell and Amy Poehler play Scott and Kate Johansen, two broke suburbanites who, with their emotionally-destitute best friend Frank (Jason Mantzoukas), exploit their neighbours’ gambling addictions in a makeshift casino to fund their daughter’s college tuition. Almost every part of that sentence is a downer, excluding the fact that unsung Comedy Bang Bang legend Mantzoukas is third-billed in something.

The trio uses Frank’s foreclosed house to set up the illegal operation, growing it in size, introducing amenities and pumping in oxygen to ensure no one ever wants to leave. The sudden disappearance of the cityfolk in wider society raises the eyebrow of corrupt councilman Bob Schaeffer (Nick Kroll), who begins investigating deeper. He’s the one who embezzled the scholarship money meant for Alex Johansen (Ryan Simpkins), by the way. To quote another dark American sitcom about failure and despair, “Are we having fun yet?”

Eventually, the Johansens go full Casino and turn to physically torturing card-counters and anyone who owes them money. If the bloody final act puts you off, remember that the only other major comedy in cinemas at the moment is Rough Night, which somehow has a higher body count. Hollywood has a message for viewers: You’ll watch these beloved actors murdering one another and you’ll like it.

The House

This is a dark time in America, and the comedies of the era are reflecting that. If anything, we've never been more ready for no-holds-barred satire, which is usually best delivered within yuks. (On TV, Veep, The Carmichael Show, Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Better Call Saul do it all on a weekly basis.)

Director Andrew Jay Cohen and his co-writer Brendan O’Brien are responsible for two of the finest, most emotionally-resonant American comedies of the decade: Bad Neighbours and Bad Neighbours 2. Even on the ribald Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, the screenwriters managed to smuggle in some subversiveness. Theoretically, they’re the right men for the job. However, with a suspiciously short runtime, a dearth of funny set pieces and a general flatness and shapelessness instead of escalation and scope, their work on The House just feels like a failed renovation. And the satire is painted-over in a weak-sauce, tie-up-the-loose-ends finale.

Poehler and Ferrell will always be watchable, and with Mantzoukas, a yet-to-be-fully-utilised improv powerhouse, they make this amusing enough (provided you’re a die-hard fan of theirs). It’s no coincidence that the biggest laugh of the picture arrives during the bloopers—yes, some of its 88 minutes is devoted to bloopers—where the three of them improvise with abandon.

If you’re looking for a bright side to the ugliness, at least The House is better than Ferrell’s entirely jokeless Daddy’s Home and the diabolical duo of Get Hard and Zoolander 2. Wait, is this Will Ferrell’s best film since The Lego Movie in 2014? Now that’s depressing.

2.5/5

In cinemas now. Rated MA15+ for strong violence.