The Architect

'The Architect' never reaches the level of either drama or comedy as its sit-com story unfolds with the zest of a soggy blueprint. The plot relates how a pair of prosperous married suburbanites try to paper over their differences by commissioning a pretentious avant-garde architect to design their dream house. In the real world, a village idiot would require only a brief minute with this insufferable narcissist before dismissing him as a fraud. Worse yet, the credulous couple are never fleshed out to anything more substantial than cardboard cut-outs, and their dilemmas become increasingly far-fetched as the film proceeds.

It's tough to watch Parker Posey trudging through this humorless sludge when she's created so many idiosyncratic characters from unconventional material. At this point in her career, she seems better suited for the role of a scheming seductress, than that of an artsy airhead housewife in a lame comedy. The biggest mystery of 'The Architect' is how this sputtering slapstick-sophisticated hybrid vehicle ever got green-lighted.

First, the bad (to get that out of the way). The characters in this movie are very cliché. Most people in real life are a combination of characteristics (say, creative and practical), not so these people. They are extreme.

Also - the ending of this movie is quite unsatisfying. I kept expecting....more. There was this build up, build up, build up....and then...fizzle, as though the writer just wanted to be "done with it all."

Now, the good! I laughed! This movie is weird and quirky (with the look, feel and sound of an independent film)..and FUNNY! However, it's not funny in the usual slap-sticky, juvenile or vulgar way that so many comedies TRY to be funny these days. It's actually funny in an INTELLIGENT way - imagine that!

In fact, the movie has a more "adult" feel then most current movies which seem geared for the under 25 age group. (I always wondered what happened to Parker Posey)!

In the movie, the couple hires an architect to design their new waterfront home. Bear in mind, the couple's marriage seems fine (mostly, except you do see some "handwriting on the wall indicating lingering problems) Until....well, THE ARCHITECT enters into their lives.

The architect is an odd off-beat character who has plenty of his OWN artistic ideas (thereby raising the cost of the project every time he opens his mouth). The wife, in the movie, is enthralled. Her more practical husband? Not so much, thus setting the stage for those marital problems we saw coming.

Most of the humor in this movie lies squarely with the character of the architecture and his overly artistic and impractical view of architecture and the world at large. Anybody who has such extreme views plays well in a comedic sense, and this guy is no exception.

For the most part, the writing and acting in this movie are quite good (especially for a movie I had never heard of before). As I said, though, unfortunately, the ending is a bit lackluster (oh well).

My advice? This movie is fun (and interesting) to watch ONCE, just because it is so unique and...weirdly funny! Although I must admit, I would not buy this movie - unless, maybe, I could find it really cheap.

An absolutely ironic film, the architect makes you burst into laughter with exquisitely caricatured characters that act a contemporary and very light version of Madame Bovary. This film will not win an Oscar nor will it be in the selection of best films of the decade, but it is always good to spend an afternoon laughing at corny scenes and stereotyped discourses. The architect ironizes the imposture of the current petty bourgeoisie with its appetite for high culture. The musical reference to A homme et une femme de Lelouch is just one of the winks that this gentle comedy gives to French cinema.

If you're an architect -and I am - this film trots out every negative stereotype you've ever battled in your life and pumps it up to full volume. The architect is the comic villain in this piece: a vain, imperious, pseudo-intellectual, budget-busting, turtleneck wearing wife stealer in the classic Frank Lloyd Wright mode. Of course old FLW also had world-class talent but in my humble opinion he has a lot to answer for with the reputation he saddled generations of future architects with. But I digress. I may have found this film more amusing than most because of the many sly digs at my chosen profession, but it's still a decent comedy.

This movie is a comedy in the sense that it's not a drama. There was a certain amount of satire, but for me it was pretty much devoid of humor. Not that I require side-splitting laughter from all comedies... but a slight chuckle once in a while is not too much to expect.

Toward the end, I had given up on finding real entertainment value in it for myself, and was more hoping that it would get better just for the sake of the people who made it, kind of like a cheerleader: "Come on, little movie, you can do it!" (It couldn't).

I have great respect for the creators and artists involved in making independent films, with all the constraints that come with it... I try to keep an open mind. But in the end, a poorly written script kept this movie from really going anywhere. Like, anywhere.

The two-sentence description/"blurb" of the movie, that convinced me to watch it was far more entertaining than the movie itself.