Moving film about a man remembering his childhood in the 1970's, and how his 13th year was the one that made his tumblers click from a boy into a man. A very underrated film, it sports Robin Williams in a fantastic, yet second-banana role to Anton Yelchin, who makes every man i who sees him reminisce about his childhood. Combined with the most moving use of the Allman Brothers' "Melissa" I have ever heard, both from Erykah Badu and at the dance, this is a far better film than I could have imagined, and deserves much more credit than it gets. Duchovny has a firm grasp on the writing and directing aspect of Hollywood, and I can't wait to see his next.

This was a fantastic movie. First off, the main actors: Robin Williams is brilliant & abstract, as always. Anton Yelchin once again demonstrates his prowess at an early age. David Duchovny is plain and basically David Duchovny-esque. Zelda Williams is good.The movie, while kind of lopsided regarding time span and storytelling, is like a combination of very very subtle, almost sub-soul influences coming together and affecting you mentally and emotionally. This movie will either cause in you intense desires or great satisfaction, as it touches upon many aspects of craving and loss.This is kind of like a Robin Williams movie, but the main character isn't Robin Williams. What I mean by that is the movie had funny sections, and parts were comedy, but most of the movie is deep drama.SPOILERS AHEAD (THEY DON'T GIVE AWAY THE STORY BUT GIVE SMALL DESCRIPTIONS. YOU SHOULD BE OK IF YOU DON'T MIND KNOWING TINY TIDBITS OF THE STORY)!!!!!:Regarding the sensibilities thing, don't watch this if you get very easily offended or shout racism at the drop of a top hat. It has only two significant black characters, one of whom is a pimp and the other of whom is in jail. Robin Williams plays a character constantly referred to as a "retard". Kids kiss. A woman ODs. A boy removes the plug of his mother's heart pumping machine (she was in a coma). There is a closeup of a low cut shirt and some insinuated things which I will not mention. SPOILERS OVER!!!!The purpose of this movie isn't to offend. It's to tell a different kind of story. I deeply enjoyed this movie. You might.

My first reaction to this film is that it reminds me of why I'm not a fan of David Duchovny. Something about him as an actor doesn't work for me. He's never really done anything (including "The X Files") that has really turned me on. "House of D" doesn't change that. His actual role as Tom Warshaw is a limited one - restricted to the first and last few scenes set in Paris and New York respectively. That role wasn't the key role of the movie, but it is Duchovny's character who sets the stage by telling his French wife that he's finally going to tell her the story of how he came to France. Most of the rest of the story is a flashback to 1973 New York, when Tommy (now played by Anton Yelchin) was 13. Tommy's life was an unhappy one. That point was certainly made, and somehow Tommy ends up receiving life lessons from a woman inmate who speaks to him from the window of a detention centre (the House of D). They speak about love and friendship and family, but eventually everything in Tommy's life spirals out of control. There's a certain sympathy for the character no doubt, but somehow the structure and pacing of the movie didn't build the story well - which probably explains why Duchovny hasn't done much else as either a director or writer. The movie was not put together well. The story moves along slowly and largely purposelessly until all of a sudden there's about 10 minutes of nothing but attempts at tearjerking, as literally all of Tommy's relationships collapse. There was too much all at once after too much of very little. After Tom finishes telling the story to his wife, the movie ends with Tom confronting his past and recovering some relationships by returning to New York.I'd say this was disappointing, but the truth is that I didn't expect that much from this. There's a solid enough supporting cast, including the likes of Robin Williams as Tommy's "retarded" friend Pappas and Tea Leoni (Duchovny's real-life wife) as Tommy's mother, but Duchovny himself showed little talent as either director or writer for building a story and moving it along at a proper pace. (3/10)

Judging by the high rating this film got from IMDb voters, it seems to be artificially pushed upward by a group of David Duchovny's fans. Actors who want to direct easily forget whatever lessons they learned while acting and being directed by professionals. To add to injury, David Duchovny wrote the material for his screen directorial debut, something that could have improved by an experienced writer.Mr. Duchovny, an actor who made his mark in television, is generous to a fault with his cast. The basic problem was engaging Robin Williams, an actor that without the proper guidance tends to run amok doing his own thing. Pappass is a child tried in a grown man's body that befriends Tommy, the teenager who is the director's alter ego.The transformation of Tommy into an artist that leaves New York to make a life in Paris is something not to be believed. The emphasis was in the relationship between Tommy as a teen ager and Pappass. We know little about his mother, who is obviously depressed after losing her husband. As a young widow she loses her will to live, even though she has a son to bring up.The basic fault with the film is that it has all the clichés in the world for being believable.