Life As a House

Producer-turned-director Irwin Winkler builds his dying-man-struggles-for-redemption drama on an already-visited ”American Beauty” cul-de-sac with ”The Graduate”’s Mrs. Robinson living next door. As George, a terminally unhappy and ill would-be architect trying to reconnect with his aerosol-huffing son (a daring Hayden Christensen) by rebuilding his house, Kevin Kline solidly leads a talented cast (which includes Mary Steenburgen as the seductress neighbor). But there’s only so much substance they can add to Mark Andrus’ over-manipulative gingerbread-house script.