House of oh hell Yes

JFK, incest, &Tori Spelling? oh my!

I just want to preface this review by saying that this was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen and also that I really goddam loved it.

I somehow had never heard of House of Yes until a week ago, when I saw an instagram post about an article listing the best edgy/off beat rom-coms for Valentines day. Now it is a well known fact that I hate the rom-com genre, but the image they posted was enough to peak my interest. The post was a still of Parker Posey dressed as Jackie O. in her assassination-day best (too soon?), tweed pillbox and all, with a gun in the air. All I needed to see was Parker to want to see this movie, but the Jackie factor was a nice touch as well. After taking a trip to google I discovered that the film also starred resident dad-joker of Eighth Grade fame, Josh Hamilton, who also happens to be my current boyfriend. in addition to Parker and Josh, the film also featured Freddie Prinze Jr. and pre-benihana incident, Tori Spelling. This additional knowledge was suspect, but nevertheless I persisted. I should also add that Tori either won or was nominated for a Razzie in this role, so congrats to her, ygg!

try and tell me you wouldn't watch this shit

And on the 7th day the Lord said, "Thou shalt now listen to my synopsis of this freaky-deak, yet a++++ movie." House of Yes centers on the relationship between Jackie O. (Miss. Posey) and her twin brother Marty (Josh ♥). After taking a trip to a mental hospital following an incident, Marty leaves the family leaving their brother, Anthony (Freddie), to take care of Jackie O. I should add that after getting out of the hospital their sister refuses to be called anything other than Jackie O., due to a childhood fascination with the first lady that we will get to later. The film takes place over Thanksgiving when Marty will be returning for the first time since the incident, this time with a...friend. "Who is this friend?" you might ask. It's good ol' Lesly (Tori...) and guess what, she and Marty are getting marrrriiiiiiieeeeeeddddd, and Miss. Jackie O. does not approve. Anthony, who's an awkward college droppout takes up an obsession with Lesly, constantly following her around the house and making sure there are fresh towels in the guest room. I don't want to spoil too much of the film, but I will say that the relationship between Marty and Jackie O. is a special one. Following a power outage, Lesly decides to go up to bed while the siblings stay and chat. Jackie O. expresses her dislike of Lesly stating that "she's from Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania's just this state that's in your way when you want to get somewhere else". Get her Jackie O. After this the conversation shifts to Anthony's sex life, or lack of one. The conversation basically ends with Jackie O. encouraging him to go sleep with Lesly because "Marty wont care".

After Anthony's departure, Jackie O. suggests she and Marty take a trip down memory lane to revisit their favorite ritual. And what does this ritual entail? Well it involves an uncomfortably serious, and semi historically accurate recreation of the JFK assassination, hence the iconic pink tweed getup. I'll leave what follows this recreation to your own imagination, but if you demand a hint here it is, Flowers in the Attic. Google at your own risk.

when Marty's friend ain't a guy, what a mood

Now for my thoughts. Upon conducting my research on the film I discovered it was adapted from a play by the same name. And you can tell. Sometimes the dialogue and actions in play-to-screen adaptations can read very stage. I usually have a problem with this, but since this movie is already soooo goddam weird the stage style actually really worked. As for the acting, Parker is The Queen of the indie, and she does this role justice. Josh is lovely as always. Tori was just being Tori, god love her. And Freddie ended up giving my one of my favorite performances. Usually he plays a popular hottie jock, and in this role he was a bit of a creep ass and aggressively pitiful. They also gelled his hair down which made him 10x more attractive than the douche canoe hair of his other films. The mom was great. I don't really feel like looking up her name, but she gave total freaky bitch attitude and I loved it.

I also really loved the opening scene. It was a mashup between Jackie O. and Marty's recreation of real Jackie's White House tour, and the real footage of the tv special. Really I was just here for all of the Jackie business. The costumes for our Jackie O. were iconique, and that bob.... guys. I also want someone else to bring pillbox hats back because I want to wear one but I'm not balls enough to start the trend myself.

fuck em up Jackie O.

In the end, I really loved House of Yes. It's total cult material, so it definitely isn't for everyone, but it is for me and that's all that matters. I'd like to thank House of Yes for being the rom-com of my dreams, and also Parker Posey for being That Bitch. To sum it up Parker Posey Jackie O.>>>>>> Natalie Portman Jackie O.

House of Yes gets 4.5/5 OK's