Parents' Guide to The House

Such funny people, such weak material, such a shame and a waste. Every single person in this comic misfire has acquitted themselves honorably elsewhere, from the two main stars -- who are, of course, legends (Buddy the Elf meets Leslie Knope!) -- to the outrageous excess of the brilliant third and fourth bananas: We haven't even mentioned that Allison Tolman, Randall Park, and Lennon Parham are doing time here, too, or that The House was directed and co-written by Neighbors' Andrew Jay Cohen. Still, all that talent yields only a few weak chuckles.

Part of the problem is that the movie's basic premise is so dumb. The moment -- and it comes early in the film -- that viewers catch sight of Scott and Kate's gigantic house, all the air goes out of their dilemma: Couldn't they just move into a smaller place and use that money to send Alex to college? Also: These people with good jobs were so sure that their daughter would win the town scholarship that they never opened a 529 plan? Further logic problems exist around the economic viability of their casino (they're going to wring hundreds of thousands of dollars from their neighbors?) and of a mob boss who comes to threaten them. But viewers wouldn't be worrying about these holes if they were laughing harder. But while everyone onscreen is visibly working to make us laugh, the jokes are just inert. There are stupid comedies that are still funny. Too bad this one isn't one of them.