The House of Yes

For other uses, see House of Yes (disambiguation).

The House of Yes
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Waters
Screenplay by	Mark Waters
Produced by	Robert Berger Beau Flynn
Starring	Parker Posey Josh Hamilton Tori Spelling Freddie Prinze Jr. Geneviève Bujold
Cinematography	Michael Spiller
Edited by	Robert Duffy, Spot Welders
Music by	Rolfe Kent Michael Glenn Williams
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date	October 10, 1997 (1997-10-10)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,500,000
Box office	$626,057

The House of Yes is a 1997 American black comedy film starring Parker Posey, Josh Hamilton, Geneviève Bujold, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Tori Spelling. With screenplay and direction by Mark Waters, the film is based on the play of the same name, written by Wendy MacLeod. The film was produced by Robert Berger and was released in the United States by Miramax Films on October 10, 1997. It received a Sundance Award and mixed, though Spelling was nominated for a 1997 Razzie Award for Worst New Star.

Plot

On Thanksgiving Day 1983, college student Marty Pascal (Josh Hamilton) brings his fiancée Lesly (Tori Spelling) home to McLean, Virginia to meet his family.

Marty's family prepares for his arrival and for an impending hurricane. His twin sister "Jackie-O" (Parker Posey), recently released from a psychiatric hospital, is ecstatic about his arrival until learning a "friend" is accompanying him. Long obsessed with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the Kennedy assassination, Jackie-O emulates the former first lady in her dress and hairstyle, and exhibits symptoms of borderline personality disorder, including sudden mood swings and an inability to cope with change.

Lesly meets Jackie-O, her younger brother Anthony (Freddie Prinze Jr.), and their mother Mrs. Pascal (Geneviève Bujold). Anthony and Mrs. Pascal are very protective of Jackie, and Mrs. Pascal is immediately suspicious of Lesly.

Marty and Lesly are unable to escape the house as the hurricane intensifies. After meeting Lesly, Jackie-O comes close to a breakdown at her bathroom sink, but suddenly regains her composure. She playfully interrogates Lesly about her and Marty’s love life, going so far as to ask for graphic sexual details. Mentioning a former girlfriend of Marty's nearby, with whom he shared an intense affair in his youth, Jackie-O hints that there might be a "reunion".

It becomes clear that Marty's lover was Jackie-O after she coerces him into playing their favorite childhood "game," a reenactment of the JFK assassination, which led to their first sexual encounter at age 14. After Jackie-O has "shot" Marty, she cradles him in her arms, begins to kiss him, and they have sex. Lesly walks in on them and, horrified, runs upstairs. Anthony, who had tried to warn her of Marty and Jackie's sexual relationship, convinces Lesly that he is an insecure virgin dying of a brain tumor, leading to a brief and awkward sexual encounter.

In the morning, Lesly confronts the family about the previous night’s events, and Mrs. Pascal coerces Anthony to tell Marty that he slept with Lesly.

Jackie-O searches the house for a gun that Marty was ordered to hide by their mother, finding it in the bathroom. She flushes Marty's car keys down the toilet and returns to the living room, where Lesly confronts Jackie-O about her mental illness and incestuous relationship.

As Lesly runs to collect her and Marty’s suitcases so they can leave, Jackie pulls out the gun and asks Marty to play their game one last time, agreeing to let them leave afterward. Anthony races to find Jackie-O’s medication, while Marty cautiously plays along. In tears, Jackie shoots and kills Marty, and Lesly runs from the house. In a voiceover found in some versions of the film, Jackie explains that Marty was buried in the backyard, "next to Daddy".

Cast

• Parker Posey - "Jackie-O" Pascal
  • Rachael Leigh Cook - Young "Jackie-O"
• Josh Hamilton - Marty Pascal
  • David Love - Voice of young Marty
• Tori Spelling - Lesly
• Freddie Prinze Jr. - Anthony Pascal
• Geneviève Bujold - Mrs. Pascal

Production and release

The film was financed entirely by Tori Spelling's father Aaron Spelling and his company Spelling Entertainment. It premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance screening attracted the interest of Miramax. According to the Boston Herald in June 1997, Miramax paid two million dollars to acquire the distribution rights to the film. They gave The House of Yes a theatrical release beginning October 10, 1997, with the film failing to recoup its one and a half million dollar 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".

Upon its October 1997 release, reaction to the film was mixed. Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs down on the October 25, 1997 episode of their show. Roger Ebert 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 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." 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."

External links

• The House of Yes at IMDb
• The House of Yes at Rotten Tomatoes
• The House of Yes at Box Office Mojo