The House (2017 film)

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The House is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Andrew J. Cohen, and co-written by Cohen and Brendan O'Brien. The film stars Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas, Ryan Simpkins, Nick Kroll, Allison Tolman, Rob Huebel, Michaela Watkins, and Jeremy Renner, and follows a couple that opens an underground casino in their friend's house in order to pay for their daughter's college tuition.

Principal photography began on September 14, 2015 in Los Angeles. The film was released on June 30, 2017, by Warner Bros. Pictures, received negative reviews from critics and grossed $34 million worldwide against its $40 million budget.

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Plot

After losing their daughter's college scholarship, husband and wife Scott (Ferrell) and Kate (Poehler) team up with their neighbor Frank Theodorakis (Mantzoukas) to start an illegal casino in Frank's home to raise money for their daughter's tuition. Frank's wife, Raina (Watkins), divorces him due to his gambling problem. The casino operation proves to be running smoothly until they discover that one of the gamblers (Zissis) caught counting cards. The Johansens and Frank confront him but Scott accidentally chops off the man's middle finger. This earns him the nickname "The Butcher" and makes the whole city afraid of his family, which inadvertently increases their profits. Several thousand dollars away from gaining $500,000, they are caught by a city councilor Bob Schaeffer (Kroll) and a police officer (Huebel) who confiscate their money and order them to close down the casino. Nonetheless, they continue their business in the neighbor's house which burns down after being invaded by a mobster (Renner) who works with the man whose finger had been chopped off. Having admitted their plot to their daughter, Scott and Kate team up with her and the police officer who had let them loose to steal the money back from Schaeffer. After being caught, Schaeffer reveals his plot to steal money from the city budget for him and his lover (Tolman), who leaves him and returns back to her husband (Scovel). Schaeffer is arrested while Scott and Kate use the money they took back from him to pay for their daughter's tuition.

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Cast

• Will Ferrell as Scott Johansen, husband of Kate and father of Alex. He teams up with his wife and neighbor to start an illegal casino in his house to earn money, after he and his wife lose their daughter's college scholarship.
• Amy Poehler as Kate Johansen, Scott's wife and Alex's mother
• Jason Mantzoukas as Frank Theodorakis, Scott's best friend and Raina's husband, with a serious gambling problem, and who gives the couple the idea to start a casino.
• Ryan Simpkins as Alex Johansen, Scott and Kate's daughter
• Nick Kroll as Bob Schaeffer, a crooked City Hall councilman who creates trouble for Scott, Kate, and Frank when he finds out about their gambling ring.
• Allison Tolman as Dawn Mayweather, the City's treasurer, who is married with Joe and has an affair with Bob.
• Rob Huebel as Officer Chandler, a police officer.
• Michaela Watkins as Raina Theodorakis, Frank's wife, who's separated from Frank due to his gambling problem, and wants him to sign divorce papers.
• Jeremy Renner as Tommy Papouli, a local mafia boss
• Cedric Yarbrough as Reggie Henderson, a hardworking suburban resident who starts gambling in the new casino to de-stress.
• Rory Scovel as Joe, a retired at 30, bored out of his mind and Dawn's husband.
• Lennon Parham as Martha, a woman who gets a little too caught up in the Las Vegas-style lifestyle that emerges in the neighborhood.
• Andrea Savage as Laura, one of the neighbors who always gets into friction with Martha.
• Andy Buckley as Craig, one of the neighbors who starts gambling in the new casino.
• Kyle Kinane as Garvey, one of the neighbors who starts gambling in the new casino.
• Jessie Ennis as Rachel, Alex's friend
• Christina Andrea Offley as Davida, Alex's friend
• Steve Zissis as Carl Shackler, a henchman of Tommy Papouli who cheats at the casino.
• Sam Richardson as Marty, Scott's boss.
• Randall Park as Wall Street Guy--Buckler
• Jessica St. Clair as Wall Street Guy--Reba

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Production

On February 25, 2015, it was announced that New Line Cinema had won an auction for the comedy script The House, written by Brendan O'Brien and Andrew J. Cohen, and that Cohen would make his directorial debut with the film. Will Ferrell would star as a husband who teams up with his wife and neighbors to start an illegal casino in his basement, to earn money, after their daughter's college scholarship is lost. Ferrell and Adam McKay produced through Gary Sanchez Productions, along with Good Universe and O'Brien. Amy Poehler joined the cast on June 12, 2015, to play Ferrell's character's wife. On June 16, 2015, Jason Mantzoukas joined to play Ferrell's character's best friend, who is dealing with a gambling problem, and who gives the couple the idea to start a casino. On August 28, 2015, Ryan Simpkins was added to the cast, to play Ferrell and Poehler's characters' daughter. On September 15, 2015, Cedric Yarbrough signed on to play Reggie Henderson, a hardworking suburban resident who starts gambling in the new casino to de-stress. Frank Gerrish also joined the film. On September 18, 2015, Rob Huebel was added to the cast, and on September 21, 2015, Allison Tolman and Michaela Watkins were added to the cast, with Tolman playing a financial advisor, and Watkins playing Mantzoukas' character's wife, who wants him to sign divorce papers. Nick Kroll also joined the cast. Mariah Carey was supposed to have a cameo in the film, but had what co-star Rob Huebel called "multiple unrealistic demands".

Principal photography on the film began on September 14, 2015, in Los Angeles.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is credited as executive producer.

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Release

The House was released on June 30, 2017, by Warner Bros. The original date was June 2, 2017.

Box office

The House grossed $25.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $34.2 million, against a production budget of $40 million.

In North America, The House opened alongside Despicable Me 3 and Baby Driver, as well as the wide expansion of The Beguiled, and was projected to gross $10-14 million from 3,134 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $3.4 million on its first day (including $800,000 from Thursday night previews). It went on to open to $8.7 million, marking the lowest studio debut of Ferrell's career as a lead actor. In its second weekend the film made $4.8 million (a drop of 45.2%), finishing 7th at the box office.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 16% based on 68 reviews, and has an average rating of 3.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The House squanders a decent premise and a talented cast on thin characterizations and a shortage of comic momentum." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

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References

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External links

• Official website
• The House on IMDb

Source of article : Wikipedia