The Architect

'The Architect' never reaches the level of either drama or comedy as its sit-com story unfolds with the zest of a soggy blueprint. The plot relates how a pair of prosperous married suburbanites try to paper over their differences by commissioning a pretentious avant-garde architect to design their dream house. In the real world, a village idiot would require only a brief minute with this insufferable narcissist before dismissing him as a fraud. Worse yet, the credulous couple are never fleshed out to anything more substantial than cardboard cut-outs, and their dilemmas become increasingly far-fetched as the film proceeds.

It's tough to watch Parker Posey trudging through this humorless sludge when she's created so many idiosyncratic characters from unconventional material. At this point in her career, she seems better suited for the role of a scheming seductress, than that of an artsy airhead housewife in a lame comedy. The biggest mystery of 'The Architect' is how this sputtering slapstick-sophisticated hybrid vehicle ever got green-lighted.

There are two characters in this movie. The husband needed to be fleshed out, or he was just an annoying one-dimensional sideshow. There was also a baby that came along and was ignored. There was a twist at the end. Even the obvious romance was glossed over. If the film was not gonna give us anything else, that would have sufficed. No. One shag and they don't talk until the end. When the twist all happens in two minutes. I didn't have a problem with the things the architect says, but this isn't a message about art either, because that was also not given time. Just a bit more footage would have made it at least make sense. Surely savaged by the editor, to make it quippy and funny, when it didn't need to be.

If you're an architect -and I am - this film trots out every negative stereotype you've ever battled in your life and pumps it up to full volume. The architect is the comic villain in this piece: a vain, imperious, pseudo-intellectual, budget-busting, turtleneck wearing wife stealer in the classic Frank Lloyd Wright mode. Of course old FLW also had world-class talent but in my humble opinion he has a lot to answer for with the reputation he saddled generations of future architects with. But I digress. I may have found this film more amusing than most because of the many sly digs at my chosen profession, but it's still a decent comedy.

This movie is a comedy in the sense that it's not a drama. There was a certain amount of satire, but for me it was pretty much devoid of humor. Not that I require side-splitting laughter from all comedies... but a slight chuckle once in a while is not too much to expect.

Toward the end, I had given up on finding real entertainment value in it for myself, and was more hoping that it would get better just for the sake of the people who made it, kind of like a cheerleader: "Come on, little movie, you can do it!" (It couldn't).

I have great respect for the creators and artists involved in making independent films, with all the constraints that come with it... I try to keep an open mind. But in the end, a poorly written script kept this movie from really going anywhere. Like, anywhere.

The two-sentence description/"blurb" of the movie, that convinced me to watch it was far more entertaining than the movie itself.

Absolutely bugs the @#$% outta me when any movie has obvious problems in this area. This movie is the worst I've ever seen with this issue!

Watch as the robe is removed, and then change of cameras shows her with robe on.

Watch as salads are removed in a huff from dinner and last leaf is attempted to be picked up by fork, but doesn't work so fingers are used...but camera change shows leaf entering mouth via fork!

Sure, most don't care but this is a small thing to fix to make your movies so much better!

Other than that, pretty cool and offbeat movie.