life as a house

the film follows chris kline, who plays an architect model builder, as he gets let go from his job and at the same time comes to find out that he has terminal cancer. now with his priorities back in line, he decides to finally build that house on the ocean that he has always put off. he forces his estranged teenage son to join him in building the house. as the movie progresses he begins to build his relationship with his son as the house is getting built. oh what a clever metaphor, huh? everything in this movie is about as heavy handed. kline does a great job and is very interesting as a man who has lost so much as he tries to rebuild himself with what time is left. here's the big problem with the movie though: the son is played by hayden christensen. he must have graduated from the ryan phillipie school of acting because he is about as natural an actor as a piece of plywood! what could have been a decent movie, if cliched, instead turns into a 'worlds worst actor' display of destruction that leaves every positive aspect of the movie destroyed because of christensen. i almost feel sorry now for george lucas who seemed to have gotten suckered into hiring this worthless actor to ruin star wars episodes 2 and 3!