''The House of Yes'' is a 1997 American
dark comedy film adapted from
the play of the same name by
Wendy MacLeod
Wendy A. MacLeod (born August 6, 1959) is an American playwright.
Life and career
MacLeod received a BA from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she now teaches and is a playwright-in-residence. She also earned a MFA from the Yale School of ...
. The film was written and directed by
Mark Waters (in his
directing debut), produced by
Robert Berger, and stars
Parker Posey,
Josh Hamilton,
Tori Spelling,
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Frederick James Prinze Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor, television & film producer and screenwriter. He has starred in films such as ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1997) and its sequel ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' ...
and
Geneviève Bujold. It was released in the United States by
Miramax Films on October 10, 1997. ''The House of Yes'' received a divided critical reaction, with Posey winning a
Sundance Award and Spelling receiving a
Razzie Award nomination.
Plot
On
Thanksgiving in 1983, Marty Pascal travels from
New York City to
McLean, Virginia, to visit his family: mother Mrs. Pascal, younger brother Anthony, and twin sister "Jackie-O". Jackie-O, recently released from a
psychiatric hospital, is obsessed with
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
and emulates her style of dress and hairstyle. Marty surprises his family with news he is engaged; he introduces his fiancée Lesly, a waitress at a doughnut store. Lesly's arrival disrupts the family's gathering, and Jackie-O conspires to break the couple up.
It becomes apparent that Marty and Jackie-O were involved in an
incestuous relationship as teenagers. Jackie-O convinces Marty to play their favorite childhood "game", involving using a gun loaded with
blanks to re-enact the
Kennedy assassination; the "game" serves as foreplay for sex. A horrified Lesly witnesses the encounter and speaks to Anthony, who had tried to warn her of the nature of Marty and Jackie's relationship. He convinces Lesly that he is a virgin and dying of a
brain tumor, leading to a brief and awkward sexual encounter.
In the morning, Lesly confronts Marty about what she witnessed. Marty breaks down and begs Lesly to return to New York with him. Jackie-O convinces Marty that she will let him leave if he agrees to play the game one final time. Armed with the gun, Jackie-O recalls the events that led to their absent father's departure; Marty claims that he walked out on the family the day of the Kennedy assassination, but Jackie-O believes that he was shot by Mrs. Pascal and buried in the backyard. Jackie-O fires the gun at Marty, now loaded with real bullets, killing him. Footage of Jackie Kennedy is then shown as Lesly screams. Lesly runs from the house and a flashback of Jackie-O in her costume as a teen is being filmed by Marty as she asks him to “stop it.”
Cast
*
Parker Posey as "Jackie-O" Pascal
**
Rachael Leigh Cook as young "Jackie-O"
*
Josh Hamilton as Marty Pascal
** David Love as the voice of young Marty
*
Tori Spelling as Lesly
*
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Frederick James Prinze Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor, television & film producer and screenwriter. He has starred in films such as ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1997) and its sequel ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' ...
as Anthony Pascal
*
Geneviève Bujold as Mrs. Pascal
Production and release
The film was reportedly financed entirely by Tori Spelling's father
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 June 23, 2006) was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the TV series ''Family'' (1976–1980), '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), ''The Love Boat'' (1977–1986 ...
and his company
Spelling Entertainment
Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
.
It premiered at the 1997
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
,
where its screening attracted the interest of
Miramax
Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.
It was initially a leadi ...
.
According to
''Variety'', Miramax paid two million dollars to acquire the distribution rights to the film.
''The House of Yes'' was given a
limited theatrical release beginning on October 10, 1997. The film was a box-office disappointment, grossing only $626,057 on its $1.5 million budget.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 39 reviews. On
Metacritic the film has a score of 58% based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Siskel and Ebert gave the film two thumbs down on the October 25, 1997 episode of their program.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
looked upon the film more favorably in his review for the ''
Chicago Sun-Times'', stating "The dialogue, adapted by director Mark Waters from Wendy MacLeod's stage play, is smart and terse, with a lot of back-and-forth word play, most of it driven by Jackie-O, who is played by Posey as smart, dark and fresh out of an institution
..While it was running, I was not bored."
In his positive review for ''
Entertainment Weekly'',
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
wrote that "''The House of Yes'' is knowingly overripe, a kitsch melodrama that dares to make
incest sexy."
He also praised the casting of Posey, noting that "Parker Posey may never have a role that suits her as perfectly."
Of Spelling, Dennis Harvey of ''Variety'' wrote, "Casting Spelling as the fiancee was an inspired stroke, as auds already associate her with a certain cluelessness but she’s actually quite good, too, as Lesly gradually reveals a surprising determination beneath her squarer-than-square surface."
''
The Austin Chronicle'' acknowledged the strong performances of the cast, but stated, "it's just that there's really not all that much for them to do."
For her performance, Posey was awarded a Special Recognition for Acting Award at Sundance.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:House of Yes, The
1997 films
Sundance Film Festival award winners
American independent films
1997 independent films
American films based on plays
Twins in American films
Incest in film
Films directed by Mark Waters
Films about bipolar disorder
Films about dysfunctional families
American black comedy films
1990s black comedy films
Films set in Virginia
Films set in 1983
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Thanksgiving in films
Films produced by Beau Flynn
Cultural depictions of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Spelling Films films
Films scored by Rolfe Kent
1997 directorial debut films
1997 comedy films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films