Man of the House

Last night, my couch companion (aka roommate) and I watched 2005's Man of the House. I remember slightly wanting to watch it when it came out, but I never did. It was 2005 and I was in grad school. Go figure.

Anyway. It was a cute movie. Highly predictable, of course. Tommy Lee Jones (TLJ) proves that he's a versatile actor and I loved that he got the girl in the end.

One thing that I would have liked more is to see the relationship between TLJ's character and his daughter. He was a rough and tumble good ol' boy Texas Ranger and his daughter was a, presumably, senior in high school. Yes, they're relationship did get better over the course of the movie and they got a little closer. I just wanted it fleshed out a little bit more. I felt they focused too much on his relationship with the witnesses he was protecting more than with his own daughter. Even so, the cheerleaders that he was protecting helped lead to a better familial relationship with his daughter.

I also wanted to see more of the Texas Ranger, a female, who was the partner of TLJ. She gets shot in the beginning and is in the hospital. And that's pretty much all that's mentioned. One of the girls asks TLJ why he doesn't go. He just claims it's because he's supposed to be there with them. Really? C'mon! That would have been a great moment, especially since TLJ was one of those Rangers who didn't want females added to their ranks. Show some more growth!

So, it's a great movie if you don't really want to think. If you want to drink, because this movie just lent itself to drinking games, start with two shots for every time someone is wearing a "keep Austin weird" shirt.

If you're doing a double feature, this is best paired with The House Bunny.

Happy watching!