I laughed a few times. But the up-close moments, the Ferrell and Poehler non-repartee and barely physical comedy, are embarrassing.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 14, 2017

A dismayingly lightweight experience.

| Jul 13, 2017

Instead of catching fire, The House just sits there collecting dust and mold.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 6, 2017

This Ferrell and Poehler-powered comedy blockbuster has big laughs, an enjoyably grisly streak, and a film-stealing turn from Jason Mantzoukas.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 3, 2017

Running less than 90 minutes, "The House" is excruciatingly flat and goes on forever. There are many funny people in this film. By the time it's over, you may forget that they ever made you smile.

| Jul 1, 2017

A dark, startlingly bloody journey into the bitter, empty, broken heart of the American middle class, a blend of farce and satire built on a foundation of social despair.

| Jul 1, 2017

Cohen and his team never figure out a way to address the paradox implicit in their title. Scott and Kate are battlers against the system, yet at the same time they are the system, directly profiting at the expense of their friends and neighbours.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jun 30, 2017

It's all meant to be wild and crazy, but somehow it seems simultaneously nasty and dull.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jun 30, 2017

Instead of writing actual characters, they've hired a gaggle of beloved comedians to do bits based on stereotype and persona, and have concocted a cockamamie suburban crime story that manages to be both bizarre and incredibly thin.

| Jun 30, 2017

There's more character development (and more believable plot turns) in a typical "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jun 30, 2017

While there's nothing directly humorous about the struggle to pay for college, The House does what good comedy does: It uses humor as a coping mechanism.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 30, 2017

The pace is hectic, but the jokes just aren't there.

| Original Score: D | Jun 30, 2017

Broad comedies are always something of a roll of the dice. And while The House isn't an absolute disaster, it's undeniable that this is one that's crapped out.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 30, 2017

All these performers are given decent setups, but the script loses interest in anything that starts to look like a comedic through line.

| Jun 30, 2017

You both feel bad for the actors and wonder how it is that they never banded together to mutiny on set and demand a better script - unless, like their characters, they simply laughed all the way to the bank.

| Original Score: D | Jun 30, 2017

The rare raunchy comedy that actually could have stood to be a little longer-and not just by padding the running time with outtakes.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jun 30, 2017

An outstanding candidate for the worst film of the year.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 30, 2017

Clocking in at under 90 minutes, The House feels like the result of terminal creative panic.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 30, 2017

Nonsensical characterizations abound throughout The House without ever dipping into unbridled absurdity.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 30, 2017

Both performers seem totally disengaged, zombie-ing through their parts as though they'd rather be somewhere, anywhere else (and fair enough).

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 30, 2017