History Film / LifeAsAHouse

* LighterAndSofter: This trope is used to illustrate [[CharacterDevelopment Sam's growing bond]] with his father and his [[JerkToNiceGuyPlot change of heart]]. Over the course of the film, Sam ditches his multiple piercings and {{Goth}} makeup, which his dad never liked.

* NewTechnologyIsEvil: George doesn’t want to use the computer-aided technology at the architectural firm, so his boss fires him.

* SecretlyDying: George does not disclose his condition to Sam until later in the film.

* FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding: Josh is working on the house’s roof, not knowing Colleen is waiting to rendezvous with him. George is looking for Sam, who he thinks has gone over to Colleen and Alyssa’s home. He rings Alyssa’s home, where the phone is picked up by Colleen. Colleen, thinking she is speaking to Josh, gives George an earful that obviously wasn’t meant for him. [[spoiler: This is how Colleen and Josh’s affair is found out, resulting in a {{Slapstick}} scene where Josh falls off said roof]].

* EroticAsphyxiation: An opening scene shows Sam engaging in this, [[spoiler: without success because the closet rod he ties himself to breaks]]. He also makes a reference to this activity during his conversation with Alyssa.
-->'''Sam:''' Do you have any idea what it's like to jack off in an armoire?

-->'''Sam:''' I mean, [[SomethingElseAlsoRises hello]]!

* EroticAsphyxiation: Sam mentions having dabbled in this.

* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Though Sam engages in prostitution with male clients, his heterosexuality is emphasized when Alyssa joins him in the shower.

-->'''Sam:'''I’m not gay.

* NoOSHACompliance: George is told that the proximity of an unenclosed toilet to a kitchen in his shack is a health code violation, so George resolves to quickly fix the problem by grabbing an armoire, emptying it, cutting a hole at at the bottom with his chainsaw, and then putting the armoire on top of the toilet.

After being fired from his job as an [[ThisIsWhatTheBuildingWillLookLike architectural model fabricator]], George Monroe (Creator/KevinKline) discovers that he has advanced stage cancer and any treatment would be futile. George decides to demolish the home left to him by his father and spend his last days building a new house from the ground up, enlisting his son, Sam (Creator/HaydenChristensen) to whom he has not revealed his terminal condition, with whom he has a dysfunction relationship. In the meantime, George also reconnects with his ex-wife and Sam's mother, Robin (Creator/KristinScottThomas), who decides to assist as well. Also joining in the construction are various neighbors, including Alyssa (Creator/JenaMalone), Sam's classmate who lives next door with her mother Colleen (Creator/MarySteenburgen); and local policeman and George's childhood friend Kurt Walker (Creator/ScottBakula).

* Melodrama: Plenty of it.

-->'''George:''' I put a gun to my father's head once. Ever think like that? He was passed out. Had just been yelling at my mom over nothing. Under-cooked meat. I went to my room, I held the barrel right up to his ear, and then I chickened out again. Of course it was a BB gun but still it would have hurt like hell.

* HeroicRROD: George has these in escalating fashion as both cancer and exertion take their toll on him as the film progresses, culminating in a his death.

* JizzedInMyPants: Alyssa, the girl that [[LoveInterest Sam has a crush on]], decides at one point to join Sam in the shower, which he is borrowing the use of since his and George's new house is still largely incomplete. Sam, rather understandably, promptly gets a RagingStiffie as a result. Sam, obviously being controlled by a stronger force than himself at this point, asks Alyssa if he can [[BigDamnKiss kiss her]]. She agrees on the condition that they be JustFriends afterwards. All this stimulation swiftly causes him to ejaculate all over the shower. Of course, awkward as this whole scene is for everyone involved, it does result in one of the movie's best funny moments when she immediately follows up her moment of amused disgust with "You're scrubbing down the shower."

* YourDaysAreNumbered: When George gets his terminal cancer diagnosis. It spurs him to put all his remaining time and effort into building a new house to replace the one his abusive father left him.

* HeroicRROD: George has these in escalating fashion as both cancer and exertion take their toll on him as the film progresses, culminating in a CharacterDeath.

After being fired from his architectural model fabricator, George Monroe (Creator/KevinKline) discovers that he has advanced stage cancer and any treatment would be futile. George decides to demolish the home left to him by his father and spend his last days building a new house from the ground up, enlisting his son, Sam (Creator/HaydenChristensen) to whom he has not revealed his terminal condition, with whom he has a dysfunction relationship. In the meantime, George also reconnects with his ex-wife and Sam's mother, Robin (Creator/KristinScottThomas), who decides to assist as well. Also joining in the construction are various neighbors, including Alyssa (Creator/JenaMalone), Sam's classmate who lives next door with her mother Colleen (Creator/MarySteenburgen); and local policeman and George's childhood friend Kurt Walker (Creator/ScottBakula).

* InformedPoverty: A weird example in that George is a middle-aged architect who lives in a run-down house, and the movie takes place in a supposedly middle-class neighborhood. The problem is that the "run-down house" is on the edge of a cliff with a view of the ocean; that kind of real estate ''anywhere'' in California would be obscenely valuable.[[note]]It is, however, a house and property that George inherited from his own parents, which may have been more affordable for them to purchase in their era than it would be to him. And George has probably been spending all that he can on property taxes and maintenance to stay in such a prime location.[[/note]]
* JizzedInMyPants: Alyssa, the girl that [[LoveInterest Sam has a crush on]], decides at one point to join Sam in the shower, which he is borrowing the use of since his and George's new house is still largely incomplete. Sam, rather understandably, promptly gets a [[RagingStiffie raging hard-on]]. Sam, obviously being controlled by a stronger force than himself at this point, asks Alyssa if he can kiss her. She agrees on the condition that they be JustFriends afterwards. All this stimulation swiftly causes him to ejaculate all over the shower. Of course, awkward as this whole scene is for everyone involved, it does result in one of the movie's best funny moments when she immediately follows up her moment of {{squick}} with "You're cleaning that up."
* ShowerOfLove: Sam inadvertently ends up in one of these with [[LoveInterest his crush]], Alyssa, but it goes no further than the two of them kissing before it [[JizzedInMyPants abruptly ends in awkwardness]].

* InformedPoverty: A weird example in that George is a middle-aged architect who lives in a run-down house, and the movie takes place in a supposedly middle-class neighborhood. The problem is that the "run-down house" is on the edge of a cliff with a view of the ocean; that kind of real estate anywhere in California would be obscenely valuable.
* JizzedInMyPants: Alyssa, the girl that Sam has a crush on, decides at one poitn to join him in the shower, and he (understandably) gets a raging hard on. Sam, obviously being controlled by a stronger force than himself at this point, asks her if he can kiss her. She agrees on the condition that they be JustFriends afterwards. All this stimulation causes him to jizz all over the shower. Of course, weird as this whole scene is for everyone involved, it does result in one of the movie's best funny moments when she replies with, "You're cleaning that up."