Mini DVD Review- The Architect (3 out of 10)

So I rented The Architect, a film starring Anthony LaPaglia as the titular character and Isabella Rossellini as his wife namely. It is a densely layered story, telling about the problems each member of LaPaglia's family is having, as well as the primary conflict wherein an activist is trying to get LaPaglia to sign a petition to knock down some apartments he designed. There are also some plots following denizens of the aforementioned apartment buildings. And this is an 82 minute film. So each plotline is really only covered rather shallowly.

I never really got into this movie, no matter how interested I tried to be in it. LaPaglia's two children both are having sexual problems, and like I said before, you never really understand why. I swear, the director just wanted to be edgy, but there is no explanation, no real substance. The daughter, played by Hayden Panettiere (the cheerleader from Heroes), developed at an early age and thus wants to be loved by a truck driver? Point A does not logically go to Point B right there.

Unfortunately for Isabella Rossellini, it is hard to tell her apart from Anthony LaPaglia. They have the same hair-do and body build and facial structure. Her character is also insane and I got the vibe that she was supposed to be like Juliette Binoche's character from Bee Season, but again, much less fleshed out.

There really is no humor in the movie, but the score makes this film seem like some happy-go-lucky family comedy with the way it marches happily along. It also sounds like a cheap Midi file at times.

The movie covers gentrification in a very interesting way, but it is often overshadowed by the melodrama that this movie wallows in.

The Architect ends strong, with a couple very good scenes, but it does nothing to save this boring, tepid affair.