54
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe House of Yes is what happens when a film takes the dysfunctional family melodrama to its farthest reaches. It's a bold, gutsy movie that's definitely not for everyone.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe House of Yes is knowingly overripe, a kitsch melodrama that dares to make incest sexy.
- 70Los Angeles TimesJohn AndersonLos Angeles TimesJohn AndersonIn addition to its terrifically bratty performance by the epically bratty Posey, House of Yes contains some of the smarter (and smarter-assed) writing of the year.
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhen the film was over I was not particularly pleased that I had seen it; it was mostly behavior and contrivance. While it was running, I was not bored.
- 60Chicago ReaderLisa AlspectorChicago ReaderLisa AlspectorSex and JFK's assassination are intertwined in this puerile, pseudodark story about a wacky family--an adaptation of Wendy MacLeod's play that uses the medium of cinema mainly to exploit archival footage.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannSan Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannStylized dialogue tends to play awkwardly onscreen -- we're conditioned to naturalistic conversation in films -- and Waters, who makes his feature directing debut with The House of Yes, fails to create an emotional tone or attitude to match the characters' goofy repartee.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe House of Yes was adapted from a play by Wendy MacLeod. And the movie, with its brittle, outrageous dialogue has a shrill stagy feel. That would be fine, if the dialogue sustained the stylish crackle of a drawing-room comedy gone berserk, but there are many gaping holes between the funny moments.
- 50The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsDirector Mark Waters has done probably the best possible job translating the material to film, and the truly filmic moments work well, but with this dialogue-heavy material, it's like trying to translate Run-DMC lyrics into Old French.
- 50Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittWritten and directed by Mark Waters, who strives for David Mamet-style punchiness but doesn't develop the quirky momentum that would carry the deliberately out-of-kilter story past its implausibilities.
- 40Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovStaged and stagy, this adaptation of Wendy MacLeod's play about family dysfunction and the "anti-Camelot" is a muddled, middling mess, despite a witty, top-drawer performance from Posey and a surprisingly comic turn from Spelling.