BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

SnoopyStyle Tom Warszaw (David Duchovny) is an artist in Paris. His son is turning 13 and he is haunted by something that happened 30 years ago. The movie flashes back to 1973 Greenwich Village. Tommy (Anton Yelchin) lives with his troubled widower mother Katherine (Téa Leoni). His mentally challenged neighbor Pappas (Robin Williams) is his best friend and a janitor at his school. They deliver meat together for the local butcher. They hide their money at the Women's House of Detention to keep it away from Pappas' angry drunk father. Tommy befriends a prisoner called Lady (Erykah Badu) and starts a teen romance with Melissa. Just as Tommy is about to turn 13, two terrible events happen.I like Yelchin and his puppy love. It's has the potential to be a good coming-of-age movie. Williams' handicap character isn't too campy. However David Duchovny's writing fails him in this movie. His directions aren't that bad but there are a few too many incidences of bad writing. Also the movie stretches out the ending too much. This is trying to be poignant with some quirky touches. Lady is the standard magic negro which annoyed me a little. Orlando Jones looks silly when compared to the rest of the cast. I really hate that Tommy literally pulled the plug. Pappas' turn needs some foreshadowing. It comes out of nowhere. Instead of letting the story flow, Duchovny keeps piling on these little awkward turns.

Rodrigo Amaro I remember Spielberg quoting something that goes something like this: "Everything's already filmed, there's nothing much to do nowadays in terms of film". Regardless if I quote him rightly or not, what's he saying is quite right. There's no stories left to tell anymore, and I add this, if there is maybe the studios are not interested in developing, or writers are not selling their materials the way it should be, they always have to alter something. What's "House of D." has to do with this statement? Well, it's a film that looks, sounds and resonates as something already made far too many times before. So, here's another coming of age flick with a good cast, thoughtful messages to present, heavily dosed with corny moments.Directing and acting in this, David Duchovny begins his story with his character, a young musician living in Paris, telling stories of his youth (now played by Anton Yelchin) and his friendship with a mental disabled man (Robin Williams, wait a minute. "Jack" again? That was better though), and the many things that occupies a boy's mind and body when he reaches the adolescence. No surprises, you can guess all sorts of problems he'll face here. First love, friendship tested, disagreements in the family because the boy's growing up, etc. All of that exists in so many (and better!) flicks that the only new pleasure in seeing "House of D." is some of the performances and some of the unreal situations presented.Audiences can enjoy this and see much more than just a simple film? Sure, they can. There's valuable life lessons in all what happens with the main character when young, that made him what he is in the future, through long talks with a woman in a penitentiary (Erykah Badu), best moments of the film where she teaches many things about life. There's plenty of cute and pleasant moments enriched with a potent and wonderful soundtrack (the highest point of the film is when Allman Brothers Band's "Melissa" starts to play, Yelchin's character selected it to dance with a crush of his named...Melissa!) but there isn't much life in this. The clichés are wasted, I've seen it enough times. If you haven't it, of course you'll enjoy it more than I did and maybe call it one of the greatest films ever made, thinking why it wasn't so much of a hit. Answer: because of everything I've said.If "House of D." works with some efficiency is because of Anton Yelchin, who carries the film with a certain innocence, rare to find these days, and some aspects that makes us remind of ourselves in a distant part of our lives. Duchovny, Frank Langella, Badu and Téa Leoni have all good roles, they make of this something more than decent. The wrong note comes to Yelchin's big partner that behaves like a kid Robin Williams, with wrong facial expressions/excessive make up to look younger. He's quite forgettable here despite having some good scenes.It's something good but never great. 6/10

MisterWhiplash The answer to that question is: "kinda." His directorial debut isn't dishonorable, but it is not something that you'd take right off the shelf to your friend and say "this is good" without the tinge of sarcasm. It's a nostalgic piece of possibly semi-autobiographical storytelling that is full of pap and melancholy and, yes, a retarded Robin Williams performance. But some of the cast, like Duchovney's wife Tea Leoni, pull through reasonably well, and I liked some of the 1970s touches (the soundtrack mostly). It's about a young boy (Anton Yelchin, a rising talent) growing up in Greenwich village with his depressive, widow mother, and his one friend being janitor named Pappas (Williams) who does things even if they aren't the right thing to do (no, not in the sexual way ::frowns::) It's certainly not a bad movie, and I was kept in the mood to watch the movie once I tuned in to see how Yelchin's character would turn out, or how Duchovney, playing the adult version, would come back to reconcile his past. But it's sure to say that Duchovney is more assured as director than writer; a lot of his ideas become cluttered in the thick of the plot, and at times it's very awkward, and not always in the good comedic sensibility (Williams stumbles more than once in the character, though it's hard to say if he's annoying inasmuch as its written for him). I suppose if Duchovney tries again behind the camera, perhaps with someone else's script, he'll fare much better. He made a personal movie, independently done, and it once or twice verges to the touching momentum it wants to build to. It's also ham-fisted and 'meh' for a lot of the time.

xredgarnetx David Duchovny's HOUSE OF D is a charming and affectionate and frequently funny coming of age tale about a 12-year-old boy Tommy (Anton Yelchin) who must cope with his widowed mother (Tea Leoni), the pressures of school, the discovery of girls and his friendship with a mildly retarded neighbor (played by a relatively subdued Robin Williams). The story is told in voice-over by Duchovny as a grown Tommy, and who enters the film in the final act. The odd-sounding title refers to a women's prison next to which Tommy and his buddy have hidden money they are saving to buy a new bike. In time, Tommy strikes up a series of conversations with a lonely prisoner (Erykah Badhu). The focus is on Tommy throughout, and HOUSE OF D feels like a play converted for the screen. Which in this case is not a bad thing. Definitely worth seeing.