from Film Forum, 03/03/05Tommy Lee Jones plays a ranger assigned to protect a house full of scantily clad cheerleaders in Man of the House. That's enough of a premise to earn the film some box office success, and if you're interested in more plot details than that, well, you're probably not part of the film's target audience.
Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) writes, "Is it just me, or is the premise of an older man 'shacked up' with five busty cheerleaders in uniform—one of whom seriously wants to be involved with him—kind of creepy? The movie makes a half-hearted statement about immodesty via the 'old school' Roland telling the girls to cover up. But it's lip service only, and it's quickly forgotten."
Michael Elliott (Movie Parables) calls the movie "sleep-inducing as it takes a one-joke premise and tries to stretch it to fit a 90-minute film. The normally reliable Tommy Lee Jones … is unable to lift the material above its rather pedestrian nature. Uninspired, unoriginal and bland pretty much sums up the experience."
Mainstream critics are burning down the House.
from Film Forum, 03/10/05Marvin Olasky (World) says, "It's hard to waste Tommy Lee Jones, $40 million, and filmic use of the University of Texas grounds and insignia, but Man of the House does so."
