ArchitEXploitation

Frank Ghery in 'The Simpsons'

2009-04-27T22:55:00.004-05:00

Last night's episode of The Simpson's had Bart entering a model building contest with his model of the Westminster Abbey. He was pitted against Milhouse and Martin, who built OMA's CCTV Tower in Beijing, and Oscar Neimeyer's Brazilian Congress. I've been to one of these buildings, and I'll give you a hint *it hasn't caught on fire yet. I was really hoping that Milhouse's CCTV Model was going to catch fire as Super Intendant Chalmers walked by it, as in a reference to the MP Sketch as seen below.

In any case, this sighting of famous contemporary building reminded me that this isn't the first time that The Simpsons have lampooned modern architecture. In April of 2005 Frank Gehry stared as himself. This show made fun of the 'Bilbao Effect' with Marge trying to get Springfield on the map by constructing a new concert hall designed by the Canadian himself. I could right alot about this, but instead, I'm going to direct you to the posts that have already been written by A Daily Dose of Architecture, Veritas et Venustas, Architecture Enlightens Life, Mirage Studio 7, and DavidTeoh.com.

John Cleese in 'Monty Python'

2009-04-26T22:34:00.004-05:00

John Cleese as Mr. Wiggin
of Ironside & Malone
Eric Idle as Mr. Leavy
of Wymus & Dibble

In this sketch, two architects makes very different pitches to real estate developers. One is absurd, and the other is just silly. Is it safe to say that sometimes we take ourselves to seriously? Now, I'm not advocating that we start designing buildings that look like giant picnic baskets or binoculars, but whats it hurt to step back and have a good laugh...

Art Vandelay in 'Seinfeld'

2009-04-26T22:17:00.007-05:00

Jason Alexander as George Costanza as Art Vandelay

Importer, Exporter, Architect
Art Vandelay might be as much as a cultural phenomonom as the Bilbao Guggenheim. His presence has spawned numerous t-shirts as seen above, and with the words 'I'm an architect' and 'the new addition to the Guggenheim' printed on them. At Moe's Southwest Grill, a national burrito chain, a special burrito is named 'the Art Vandalay'. There is even a firm in the Netherlands thats named Import/Export Architecture.

Zach Braff in 'The Last Kiss'

2009-04-26T21:56:00.005-05:00

Zach Braff as Michael
Casey Affleck as Chris
Barry Julien as Brian
Ian Finlay as Firm Principle

Michael is an architect who dumps his pregnant girlfriend to hit on jail bait. Unlike the crazy antics we remember from Scrubs, this Braff mobile is not that fun. However, it is nice to see an architect who's life is about as realistic as they come (although hes slightly immature), someone who's not a vigilante or chasing women through time (*cough 'Keanu').

Lazy Set Designers couldn't even plot two different boards for the background

While grossly overscaled, the building we see Zach design is certainly in the upper teir of 'architect movie designs.'

Oh, wait, they ran off three of the same boards for the background shots

A bit out of scale with the context....

Unlike so many other movies, where the architects meeting is just a placeholder to fill a few seconds and show that the main character is smart, the following scene is used to show the audience just how immature Michael can be, even in his professional life, while advancing the plot by throwing a curve ball into the subplot relationship of Chris and his wife...

Michael: So I was just thinking that if we move the garage from where it currently sits there's no reason why this atrium couldn't be pulled up the entire height of the building. So that way it's the middle of winter and all these people get to look out their windows and see trees. And maybe even birds.
Brian: Or without the birds.
Michael: Shup up brian
Brian: Like wha...
Principle: Shup up brian
Brian: Sorry
Michael: Dick
Principle: Thats really interesting Michael. I'm just a little concerned about cost. What do you think Chris?
Chris: I think I'm going to leave my wife.

David Duchovny in 'Return to Me'

2009-04-15T00:05:00.003-05:00

David Duchovny as Bob Rueland
Brian Howe as Mike

Ok, so David Duchovny is the Principle of a Design/Build firm in Chicago who's married to a gorilla veterinarian who works at the Lincoln Park Zoo. And she dies. But she was an organ donor. A year later David falls in love with a waitress who received his wife's heart, but he doesn't know that shes has his wifes heart. And, this whole time hes been building a new gorilla range for his dead wife, he's falling in love with the new girl who received her heart.

Yes this is a real movie, not a mad lib. Hilarity ensues and they kiss in the end.

Bill Campbell in 'Enough'

2009-04-14T23:47:00.003-05:00

Bill Campbell as Mitch Hiller

In 2002 Hennifer Yopez stared in this theater release that should have been a Lifetime Original. Mitch Hiller is an architect who seems like the perfect husband until he starts beating his wife.

As the movie progresses from nonviolent fairytale to super psycho stalker film to exploitation revenge movie, Mitch moves from a Colonial style two story suburban home into a super sleek beach house that is poured concrete and steal beam. Hilarity does not ensue, and she kills him in the end.

Luke Wilson in 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend'

2009-04-14T23:33:00.004-05:00

Luke Wilson as Matt Saunders
Anna Faris as Hannah Lewis
Rainn Wilson as Vaughn Haige
Wanda Sykes as Carla Dunkirk

This is a horrible movie.

Drawings!

Architect Glasses!

Hard Hats!

Models!

"Our design integrates classic architectural ideas from the history of Chinese culture and transforms them into a contemporary 21st century aesthetic, but you can see clearly that funtionality has not been sacrificed, as you can see here by the the multiple entrances into the central courtyard area. And with the total capacity for...(stops talking as he sees his girlfriend fly by the window outside)"

Matt Dillon in 'You, Me and Dupree'

2009-04-14T23:06:00.005-05:00

Matt Dillon as Carl Peterson
Michael Douglas as Mr. Thompson
Todd Stashwick as Tony

Matt Dillon, having already tried to a role where he is a character pretending to be an architect, now gets to try his chops pretending to be a character who is actually an architect. Here, he's married to his boss's daughter and has to deal with his best friend moving onto his couch.

Obligatory Drawing Shot

The first day back from his honeymoon, father in law Mr. Thompson takes Carl's proposal for a small 'eco-friendly' housing development and turns it into the largest, fast track development the firm has ever done. He also cuts out a few of the essentials...

Thompson: The Oaks at Mesa Vista, stunning, stunning...
Carl: You know sir, if we're not going to have any trees, maybe we should consider changing the name.
Thompson: No! no, no. I love the name. Names are important Carl.

When confronted with the model shown above, Carl doesn't like it.
Carl: What is this? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of a joke?
Tony: Carl, Thompson wanted more units. I thought it would work better as a wrap around.
Carl: Wrap around? Mesa Vista is not a wrap around.

Thompson: You see the preliminaries?
Carl: Yeah, I did. It is completely different from my original proposal.
Thompson: Goddammit Carl, would you stop fighting this? People buy homes, let the government pay for the parks, thats why we have taxes. The Oaks at Mesa Vista is a money train. You want to be on it?

Obligatory Standing in Front of Model Shot

Probably the best part of the whole movie is that Carl knows that the 'Bad Movie Design' is actually bad in real life. Although he states his opposition to the design, the movie never shows his original 'good design' thereby freeing our minds to believe that Carl might actually be good at what he does. Its a cheap trick, but it works...

Gary Cole in 'The Brady Bunch'

2009-04-14T22:52:00.004-05:00

Gary Cole as Mike Brady
Steven Gilborn as Mr. Phillips

Gary Cole as Mike Brady, AIA finds out he has only a week to come up with $20,000 in back taxes to save his house. Unfortunately for him, he jumped right out of 1970 and into the early 1990's, where the effects of a recession are in full swing. Money is hard to come about, especially for an architect with limited design skills....

Mr. Phillips: A $20,000 advance! Ha, I'd like to Mike, but we're still hurting from the recession. I only have three developers comming all this week.
Brady: Let me have a shot at those projects, Mr. Phillips. If I can sell one of them my design, you can front me the advance, right?
Mr. Phillips: Sure, but... How should I put this delicately Mike? You designs are from another time.
Brady: Thats kind of you to say Mr. Phillips. I've always thought of my style as classic as well. I'll get right to work.

"What do you think?"
"I Love it, but its too interesting. I want something simple, a couple of self serve pumps and a slurpy machine. Sorry."

"And after much consideration Mr Swanson, I designed a structure especially for your needs. "

"The hardest thing about the health club business is getting people to leave their house."

Matthew Perry in Three to Tango

2009-04-14T22:24:00.010-05:00

Matthew Perry as Oscar Novak
Oliver Platt as Peter Steinberg
John C. McGinley as Strauss
Bob Balaban as Decker

Matthew Perry as Oscar Novak is in Love with Neve Cambell, but everyone thinks hes gay! In fact out of the four architects in this flick, Novak is the only one who is straight. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Anyway, hilarity insues and they kiss in the end.

Not bad design, for a movie architect. Not that theres anything wrong with being that.

Novak and Steinberg make up the firm of Novak+Steinberg, a small firm that is vying for the 900 million dollar civic project that the firm of Strauss+Decker are also going for. The first scene in the movie is a set up of the bad blood that exists between the two groups.

Decker+Strauss Novak+Steinberg

Strauss: Oh look at this! Gilligan and the Skipper too.
Decker: What have you two studmuffins been up to lately? By the way, congratulations on the work you did on that men's room in the bus station.
Strauss: Yes, your use of mosaic in the urinal trough was vaguely reminiscent of the 90 foot mural we did in the lobby of the Hancock building.
Decker: Except people don't line up to piss on ours.
Steinberg: That is not true! We read the reviews.

D+S present the project to the developer by having him wear a virtual reality goggle set that was all the rage back in 1999.

The reviews were true

Struass: Sir, the Charles Newman Cultural center would redefine cultural life as we know it in this city. There would be a museum, an opera house, an international food court.
Decker: Picasso, Madame Butterfly, Burritos!

Well, the developer sets the two firms in a competition with each other for publicity. He tells them to build what seem to be quarter scale models for presentation to the public, where the winner will be decided and announced. So Steinberg and Novak set out to design and build their model, and they apparently set up a whole new office on the site of the design.

I really don't get why people think hes gay

At the office, a girls walks up to Steinberg, and after a brief condescending glance from the goatee'd architect, she runs away crying.
Novak:How much are we paying them?
Steinberg:They're interns. They're free.
Novak:Yeah, well, we're getting ripped off.
Steinberg: *nods yes

Modern Barbie Play House at Quarter Scale

Gary Cooper in The Fountainhead

2009-03-12T23:37:00.009-05:00

NUFF SAID

Tom Hanks in 'Sleepless in Seattle'

2009-03-12T23:00:00.004-05:00

Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin

Tom Hanks is a Chicago Architect who's wife dies (again), so he moves into a house boat in Seattle, is stalked by Meg Ryan and meets her on top of the Empire State Building. Romance and hilarity ensue. They hold hands in the end.

See Sam as he...

Quits his job in Chicago

Visits a construction site

Lives in an awesome house boat

The real kicker (other than the fact that Sam has a full sized plotter on his houseboat) is at the end when they show a dated CGI of the Empire State Building.

The year is 1993, my friends.

Michael Keaton in "White Noise"

2009-03-12T22:12:00.004-05:00

Michael Keaton as Jonathan Rivers

Whats that? Another movie with an architect who's wife dies? Then he gets messages from beyond the grave? Sounds like a winner!

Too Many TVs are Spooky.

You see the Ring and then you die. Oh, wrong movie. I get these things confused sometimes.

Lauren Tom in "The Joy Luck Club"

2009-03-12T21:47:00.006-05:00

Lauren Tom as Lena St. Clair
Michael Paul Chan as Harold, Lena's Husband

The Stairs are Grey

The Joy Luck Club is a movie about daughters trying to live up to their Mother's expectations. Lena's mother was married to an crazy abusive husband in China. Lena decided to take the total opposite route and married a man who is as fair to her as the day is long and just about as unemotional to boot. This man is Harold, the principle at the architecture firm that Lena works at.

The Kitchen is Grey

The scene that this story occupies takes place in the apartment of the couple. It is a modern, but passionless and lifeless home. Its made of steel and cinder block, with nuetral furniture and a bedroom with walls so crooked that you can't even hang a picture on them.

The Living Room is Grey

This movie presents the opposite of what we've come to expect from the movie architect. Harold and Lena aren't passionate, they are too calculating, they don't seem to like what they do. This couple is so devoid of life that the only TV show that Harold watches is Jeopardy, and he only shows real anger and frustration when he misses a question. There is no music in their lives, a fact that is presented in the movie by suspending the score for a solid 8 minutes, the whole of the scene.

The Bedroom is Grey and the Walls Are Crooked

"All around the house I see the signs my daughter does not see. This is a house that will break into pieces."

E. Fay Jones in Star Trek

2009-03-03T00:31:00.004-06:00

Thorncrown Chapel as The Vulcan High Court

A few months ago, the new preview for JJ Abrams' Star Trek remake came out. At 1:09 into the preview you can see the Vulcan home world, which I assume is in Arkansas because it bears a striking resemblance to the E. Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel.

Its my guess that the production didn't travel to Eureka Springs to film this scene, most likely they CGI'd the background. Its almost certain that the Production Designer did have a photo or two of the chapel in question while working.

Thorncrown has been hailed as one of America's most spiritually uplifting buildings. One does have to question why the production had to choose such an impassioned building to represent the ideals of a race who's nirvana is pure logic.

Brian Dennehy in "The Belly of an Architect"

2009-03-02T23:55:00.005-06:00

Brian Dennehy as Stourley Kracklite
Lambert Wilson as Caspasian Speckler

American architect Stourley Kracklite comes with his young wife Louisa to Rome to supervise an exhibition devoted to Etienne-Louis Boullée, a French architect of the 18th century. Suffering from severe abdominal pains, Stourley doesn't pay much attention to his pregnant wife, and she finds consolation in the arms of suave Caspasian Speckler. Built from rigidly symmetrical images, the film has quite an unusual subject: the belly -- both the sick one of the architect and the pregnant one of his wife, the rounded forms alluding to the spherical constructions designed by Boullée, the architect whose visionary projects seldom materialized. Beautifully shot on location in Rome, this ironic fable wittily examines the issues of artistic creativity.
~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

If I have learned anything from the last two movies, its that only American architects are allowed to have fun. Anyway, I added the plot summary from Yuri above because I couldn't have said it better myself. Again, this movie is loaded from beginning to end with studio settings, quotes on working, living and thinking like an architect, that I can't sufficiently summarize it in a few paragraphs. As the movie progresses, Kracklite becomes more and more insane. He writes postcards to the dead architect he is celebrating, he photocopies pictures and sketches of stomachs endlessly, he punches a lot of people in the nose, starts to believe that his wife is trying to poison him and his colleagues are plotting against him.

Of course, during all this insanity, his wife does nothing to make him feel better.
Architect: Tell me please, what does 'oh-ahhh' mean?
Wife: Stourley, you've built six-and-a-half-buildings. And now you're spending nine months putting on an exhibition in memory of another architect who also built practically nothing.
F3!

Of the whole movie, there is one thing that I have to comment on because of its originality. When Kracklite goes to visit a doctor about his stomach pains, the doctor asks what symptoms the architect has.
Not wasting even a moment, the architect says "Why yes, I've been documenting the symptoms."
Here, we would expect a verbal account of whats going on, the sensations that are being felt, an emotional expression of the pain that is spoken. However, the architect proceeds to take out a folder and hand the doctor more than a dozen sketches over photocopies of stomachs, frenzied drawings of red, orange and yellow. Images that are grotesque yet beautiful,images that convey the silent suffering that the architect endures throughout the last months of his life.

Kurt Naumann in "Die Architekten"

2009-02-27T10:13:00.003-06:00

Kurt Naumann as Daniel Brenner

In 1990, the film Die Architekten (for those of you who don't know East German, its "The Architects") was released. This project was planned and filmed in the months right before the fall of the Berlin Wall, an event which most probably diminished its impact. Daniel Brenner is a 38 year old architect who has never built anything. Even with a wife and a child, he considers himself a failure. Early on in the film, I spotted a huge difference between the way American and European architects work. At a meeting with the architect Daniel works under, the modest Daniel admits that he has won first place in two competitions, coming in second a few times and earing an honorable mention in many more. The head architect congradulated Daniel on these achievements, but Daniel will have non of it. These days, you'll be hard pressed to find a firm that is willing to allocate a substantial part of its budget to a time consuming project that might go nowhere, but in other parts of the world, the chase seems to be as important as the catch. Its here that Daniel stands alone, he seems to want to be part of the western world. He values his work as long as it produces something tangent, something that can be used. He is alone, apart from his society, he goes so far as to deny his association to the communinist party even when confronted with the fact that his joining would lead to a number of commissions.

In an odd chance, Daniel is given the opportunity to design a huge building, one that would contain housing, movie theaters, resturants, a bowling alley, parks... A whole city in one block. He accepts on the condition that he can choose his dream team, a team consisting of the best students that he worked with during his days at the university.

The Seven Samuri at the Site

Throughout the movie, the important themes of design and construction are as important to the plot as the relationships the characters have with one another. At every turn, the communist party bureaucrats try to negate the design of the complex, and Daniel tries to find ways to covertly include real, unique ideas into his masterpiece.

This movie is worth much more than I can express in a few paragraphs. No matter where you work, find someone in your office who has Netflix, set up the projector on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, get a few bottles, watch it and discuss amongst yourselves. Then go see Click with Adam Sandler to lighten the mood.

Tom Selleck in "Three Men and a Baby"

2009-02-26T22:30:00.004-06:00

Tom Selleck as Peter Mitchell

Three bachelors live by themselves in this 1980's showcase of absolutely no style and horrible situational comedy. Peter Mitchell is the architect who in the same day gets mixed up both in sudden single parenthood and illegal heroin trafficking. Hilarity ensues.

Like all comedy architects, we see Peter as he:

Deals with a baby on his Construction Documents

Cant find his Construction Documents

Points to something important on the job site

The best line of the whole movie is when Peter is trying to change the baby and he states, "I'm an architect for Christ sake, I build 50 story skyscrapers, I assemble cities of the future, I can certainly put together a goddamn diaper." The 50 story skyscraper in question is located on 56th btw 6th and 7th, as ascertained by the above picture. In the background, we see Phillip Johnson's AT&T building, which lead me to believe that the building he is building is this masterpiece:

Charles Bronson in "Death Wish"

2009-02-18T10:47:00.004-06:00

Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey
William Redfield as Sam Kreutzer
Jack Wallace as Ives

Urban violence reached its peak in the mid 1970's. In New York, people were afraid to walk the streets at night, muggings were a common, and white flight was in full swing. Paul Kersey is an architect who takes to the streets and pursues vigilante justice after his wife is murdered and his daughter is placed in a coma by thugs.

"Bang Pow!"

However, Paul didn't start out as a violent man. He was a Consciencous Objector in the Korean War, a bleeding heart liberal who has finally had enough. As an architect, he is fighting to reclaim the city that he helped design. Charles Bronson has taken on vigilante roles before, most notably as a cowboy in the Magnificent Seven. However, Death Wish is one of the first films to depect an ordinary citizen taking up arms in a modern urban setting.

Early in the film, Paul's boss sends him to a job in Arizona to get his mind off the attack on his family. It is here, where Paul meets Ames, a local developer. Mind you, this conversation takes place a good 20 years before 'sustainability' was a key word for the in-crowd.

Ames: I wanted you to see this country before you see the drawing back at the office. Give you a better idea. I don't want to change these hills. Don't want to bulldoze them flat.
Paul: You waste a lot of building space.
Ames: Wastin' space. Now those are some words you big architects have got to change for something else.
Paul: Such As....
Ames: Well... Space for life! (pointing at a man on horse at the top of a ridge) Like old Judge up there, space for people! Horses! Cows! I got funny ideas about building things.

The Conscientious Objector and the Cowboy

Later on, Paul is working late at night in the Arizona office. Ames is about to take Paul to the gun club where. A brief conversation about all-nighters takes place.

Ames: When do I get a look-see?
Paul: In a couple days.
Ames: Guard said you were here till after midnight last night.
Paul: Yeah, thats the way I work.
Ames: Somebody once said, I forget who, that he never looked back because something might be gaining on him. Whats gaining on you Paul?
Paul: 20 million dollar investment. What else?

Woody Harrelson in "Indecent Proposal"

2009-02-18T10:20:00.007-06:00

Woody Harrelson as David Murphy

In 1991, a recession hit America. As a result, architect David Murphy and his wife Diana, a realtor, both loose their job. They are $50,000 in debt because the architect is in the middle of constructing his 'dream house', a structure that "sums up everything he believes about architecture." After a trip to Vegas, David makes a deal with a billionaire: one night with Diana for one million dollars.

This is the house that sums up everything Woody Harrelson believes about architecture.

The movie starts out with dual voice over narrations, David and Diana desribe their love for each other, their past, the whole set up for the movie. In one scene, Diana says of her husband...

"We never had much money, so for entertainment David would show me architecture that moved him. But sometimes I'd have to ask, 'Why are we looking at a stupid car wash.' And he'd reply, 'No, not stupid. Don't just use your eyes.' He made me look at things differently."

The writing is on the wall

After the breakup, with the recession in full swing, David goes back to USC to interview for a job as a professor. Here, it seems like the dean really doesn't want good, experienced teachers to shape the minds of the future of architecture:
Dean: You've done alot since USC. First in your class. AIA award. Why would you want this job?
David: Well, I want to work.
Dean: Overqualified.
David: Fine, exploit me.

Woody and brick.

The scene quickly moves on to David giving a lecture to a group of students:
David: Great architecture is only going to come from your passion. And even that won't assure you a job. Louie Kahn, died in a men's room in Penn Station for days noone claimed the body. (slide shows the Salk Institute) Look at that, is that beautiful? The money men did not weep, because the great ones are impossible to deal with, they're a pain in the ass because they know that if they do their jobs properly, if they just once get it right they can actually lift the human spirit, take it to a higher place. (holds up a brick) What is this?
Student #1: A brick!
David: Good. What else?
Student #2: A weapon.
David: Louie Kahn said that even a brick wants to be something. A brick wants to be something. It aspires. Even a common, ordinary brick wants to be something more than it is. Wants to be better than what it is. And that is what we must be. See ya on Friday.

During the lecture, David shows slides of some pretty iconic architecture. The complete list is: Guggenheim New York Interior, Barragan House, Guggenheim exterior, A house that looks like Ghery's moms house, but isnt, Salk Institute, Phillip Exetor Library, Salk Courtyard, Salk again, Gaudi's Casa Mila rooftop, Eygptian Pyramids, Panthenon, Notre Dame, Ronchamp, Sagrada Familia, Chryster Building

Interesting not, today we get our first crossover, two time architect...
Student #2, played by Art Ghudabala, also played an employee of the firm in Life as a House.

I know alot of you out there are worried about the economy, some of you may have been laid off, some might be worried about mortages... I'm not saying that selling your spouse out is a surefire way to make it through the next year, but, its always an option.

Michelle Pfeiffer in "One Fine Day"

2009-02-18T10:09:00.004-06:00

Michelle Pfeiffer as Melanie Parker
George Martin as Smith Leland

A day in the life of two single parents, George Clooney is a writer, Michelle Pfeiffer is an architect, both of whom didnt make it to drop off their kid at a field trip, so now they have to trade off kids while they do their business. Inbetween work and falling in love, George has to expose a political scandal and Melanie (Pfeiffer) has the biggest presentation of her life. As she lands the big account, the empowered woman learns that she can't do it all on her own. This film runs like a golden age romantic comedy and has some great, memorable dialoge between the two leads. Hilarity ensues and they kiss in the end.

This is the first film ArchitExploitation reviews with a woman as an architect. Quite an important point in a field that is mostly male, mostly white, and very control oriented. Watch Melanie as she ...

Sketches infront of clients at a bar!

Puts Hilariously out of scale toy cars in a model!

Awkwardly carries the model! I hope she doesn't drop it!

The best lines from One Fine Day come from the scene where the architect takes a model to be repaired at the model shop her firm runs. The model was damaged after Melanie was carrying the model, steped on a dinosaur her son was playing with and smashed the whole thing.

Melanie:How bad is it?
Model Shop Guy: Well, it modulal, so its concievable that I could life out the damaged portion and replace it with the same piece from the mock up so i wouldn't have to start from scratch. It wont be perfect. I know you Melanie, you won't be happy with less than perfect.
Melanie: Today, I will.

That today should be everyday for us all.

In life, I mean. Perfect your work you lazy fuckers.

Helmut Bakaitis in "The Matrix Reloaded"

2009-02-13T00:48:00.001-06:00

Helmut Bakaitis as The Architect

Hello Neo, Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah. Blah Blah. Ergo, Blah Blah Blah. Blah blah...blah. Blah blah. Blah, Ergo, Blah blah blah. Blah ... blah blah, Vis-à-vis: blah.

Its my guess that hes a posh retail architect.

Kevin Kline in "Life as a House"

2009-02-13T00:33:00.003-06:00

Kevin Kline as George Monroe
John Pankow as Bryan Burke

This 2001 emotion-fest is about an architectural drafter/model maker who finds out he has cancer and is given a few months to live. He quits his job, decides to build the house he always wanted to build and reconnects with his troubled son, ex-wife, nosy neighbors, and anyone else who is willing to give him a hug. The story is predictable, the acting is mediocre, and the architecture is craftsman, but dammit, they got me. I did cry, but only a little bit, I swear.

George is about to find out he has ill. The rumors are true: zap-a-gap and accelerant do give you cancer.

After production ended, they had to demolish the house and restore the site to its natural habitat. One LEED pt achieved.

Anthony LaPaglia in "The Architect"

2009-02-12T23:57:00.006-06:00

Anthony La Paglia as Leo Waters

The Architect tells a tale of two families, one poor black family living in a southside Chicago project and the upper-middle class white family of the architect who designed the projects. It is great in that it deals with a many number of issues, cause and effect, HUD housing, and the ability of architecture and architects to create effective public housing, but not so great in the writing, acting, pacing and 'wtf' subplots.

Tonya Neely is the matriarch of the family living in the projects, where she is campaigning to get the buildings demolished. She shows up one day to confront that architect, Leo, who designed the building, an architecture professor at Northwestern University (false), and gets the runaround. Eventually, Leo takes it upon himself to make some architectural modifications to the buildings in hope that Tonya will quit her crusade to demolish his work.

Leo: I think you're going to be excited about what I've done here. OK, now this represents part of the problem. Each building is going to be resurfaced with the same glass facing. And then I'm going to open up the apartments, and use the glass atrium as a community porch. See, that way the residents have a place where they can interact and relax. Now, the sculpture in the middle unifies the whole design. Its a bekon, for the community. Aside from the external design, there are internal modifications and repairs than need to be taken care of...
Tonya: This doesn't solve anything, Mr Waters. There are systymic problems that go beyond repair.
Leo: Well, its not the design, it may be the excecution, but its not the design. Tanya, I was hired to build cheap homes. This was a state funded program. These are not luxury homes, Architecturally, this is a good design.
Tonya: People are lining up to leave. They are unhappy, they get sick.
Leo: Its mass housing. Mass housing does not cater to the individual needs of people. Look, you can redesign it, you can tear it down, but the problems are still going to be there. There will always be unemployment, there will always be drugs.
Tonya: Mr. Waters, they did not hire you to build houses, they hired you to house people. Can't you see this isn't about you, this is about so much more than you. We're not blaming you, clearly you put alot of work into this, but couldnt' you see from the state of the projects that they were beyond repair?
Leo: I redesigned this from my own original plans.
Leo's Wife: (butting in) You haven't seen them?
Leo: What?
Leo's Wife: You didnt visit them? I mean, things must have changed since you designed it. Did you want to see?
Leo: I didnt think it was necessary. I didn't want to cloud my perspective.
Leo's Wife: (who previously was infavor of the redesign) I think you should knock them down.

At the end of the film, Leo does visit the project and changes his mind. He signs Tonya's petition, only to be told that the vote was already passed, the building is scheduled to die.

Two interesting notes on the movie:
1) This is the second movie that I've reviewed in which Isabella Rosalleni plays the emotionally distant wife of an architect, the first being Fearless with Jeff Bridges
2) While the movie takes place in Chicago, the situation reminds me of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis, a housing project that was built in 1956 and demolished in 1972.

Matt Dillon in "Something About Mary"

2009-02-12T23:28:00.005-06:00

Matt Dillon as Pat Healy as Pat Healy the Architect
Lee Evans as Norm the Pizza Guy as Tucker the Architect

Although there are no real architects in this movie, two of the characters pretend to be architects to win the affections of Mary, a woman who thinks architects are sexy. Hilarity ensues.

Pat Healy the PI as Pat Healy the Architect

One of the best lines occurs when Mary drags Pat to the architecture exhibit. After Pat tries repeatedly to hurry things up and leave the place fearing that he may be found out, they run into Tucker, who exacerbates the Pat's anxiety.

Tucker: Where have I seen your work?
Pat: Well, have you been to, uh well, let me see... Santiago, Chile?
Tucker: Twice last year. Which building's yours?
Pat: Are you familiar with the soccer stadium?
Tucker: Did you build the Estadio Olimpico?
Pat: No, just down the street the Celinto Catayente Towers. It's quite a fine example, in fact. I recommend that next time you're up that way that you drop in and take a gander at it yourself.

Norm the Pizza Guy as Tucker the Architect

Dennis Akayama in "Welcome to Mooseport"

2009-02-12T22:49:00.004-06:00

Dennis Akayama as Izuki Nami

On November 18th of 2004, The William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library opened to the public. In February of the same year, Welcome to Mooseport opened in a theater nowhere near you, in fact I think it went direct to video, anyhow....

The plot of this movie involves an Ex-President (Gene Hackman) running for mayor against a small town handi-man. A subplot of the movie involves the President's contact with the architect that is designing his legacy, the Monroe "Eagle" Cole Presidential Library. This subplot involves three interactions, at the first interaction, the architect presents this piece of shit:

The Ex-President walks into the architect's studio.
Architect: I present to you the Monroe 'Eagle' Cole Presidential Library! European rationalism inter-woven with American Modernism, a metophor of organic growth, a man made mountain over which soars the Eagle!
Ex-President: Its fantastic! Is it big enough?
Architect: Its 40,000 square ft. sir
Ex-President: (to aide) Ben?
Ben: Clinton's is 20,000 sir.
Ex-President: Excellent!

Midway through the mayoral campaign, the president needs more cash to pay for his ads, posters and whatnot. This moneys for this endeavor are taken from the budget for the library, which doesn't get redesigned so much as subtracted...

Architect: Wha-la!
Ex-President: (nonchalantly) Thats it?
Architect: Nothing to it. You save 3 million dollars and look, still beautiful!
Ex-President: Excellent, excellent. I don't even miss it. (ex-pres leaves the office)
Architect: Son-of-a-bitch!

Towards the very end of the flick, the library takes some more cuts, and nobody cares but the architect. He sits at the model, crying, sobbing to himself, "It was so beautiful!"

Sorry architect, but it really wasn't.

Matthew Broderick in "The Cable Guy"

2009-02-12T22:22:00.003-06:00

Matthew Broderick as Steven M. Kovacs

Steven M. Kovacs is an architect that does all the things we expect an architect to do when the job is just a means to show that a movie character is smart, hardworking and respectable. Once again, the job serves as the straight man to Jim Carrey's stooge (see post on Steve Martin in house sitter).

Steven Makes a Presentation that Everyone Loves!

Steven takes a Personal Call while at a Job Site!

Steven Takes his T-Square with him when he gets fired (see post on Jungle Fever)!

Wesley Snipes in "Jungle Fever"

2009-01-22T21:28:00.012-06:00

Wesley Snipes as Flipper Purify
Tim Robbings as Jerry Mast
Brad Dourif as Leslie Covington

In this film, Wesley Snipes plays an Architect who winds up sleeping with his new secretary. Flipper is a hard working, family man who is next in line for the big promotion at Mast & Covington, a New York design firm. He takes pride in his work, as is seen by this line of dialog between Flipper and his boss Leslie, "Leslie, look, Tony's work here is awful. He's got this elevator shaft 6" off where is supposed to be." He also works long hours....

Oops!

About midway though the movie, Flipper is up for review, where he demands to be made a partner. "Most of the money thats made in this company is because of me, do I have to remind you of how much work I've brought in here! Do you see that design up there, right under the Mast and Covington logo? Thats my design!" After Jerry and Leslie deny him this position, he signs his resignation, and goes to pack up his desk.

In film class I learned how to appear smart by pointing out the mis-en-scene to those less knowledgeable then me. Here, the two partners are standing up while Flipper is below them, and cornered against a wall, he will never make partner.

Planning on working out of his home until his own business gets off the ground, he comes home a few days later to a surprise. His wife just found out about his affair and is throwing all of his possessions out of their second story townhouse window. In an act of desperation, after losing his identity as a family man and a company man he tries to hold onto the only identity he has left by picking up his t-square and a set of drawings.

Its difficult to see, but he is holding onto the t-square and drawing tube

Jeff Bridges in "Fearless"

2009-01-22T21:07:00.003-06:00

Jeff Bridges as Max Klein
John de Lancie as Jeff Gordon

Long before Jeff Bridges played a free spirit in The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges played a free spirit in 1993's Fearless. The opening shot of the movie is Max walking through a cornfield, holding a baby, and we soon learn that hes walking away from a plane crash. This crash transforms him into a do as you please, don't give a damn, live life kinda guy. Through out the movie, we learn in a series of flashbacks to the moments right before the hydolics on the airplane go out that Max wasn't always a this person, he used to be a high strung, anxious, nervous wreck on an architect.

It really ties the room together

In these moments before the plane crash, Max and Jeff, his partner in the firm they own, are traveling from San Francisco to Houston to present a pitch to a company named 'Nutty Nick's'.
They are going over the awesome presentation that you see above when the plane goes haywire. After the crash, we really don't see Max do any architectural, other than taking Rosie Perez on a tour of Oakland while pointing out todos los edificios.

I'm debating between:
"Hey! Careful, Man! Theres a beverage here!"
&
"Oh, The usual. I bowl. Drive Around. Occasional acid flashback."

William Petersen in "Fear"

2009-01-18T13:03:00.013-06:00

William Petersen as Steve Walker
John Oliver as Eddie Clark

Marky Mark terrorizes an architect's family in this thriller that is set in Seattle. Reese Witherspoon is the daughter of workaholic Steve Walker (CSI's Gil Grissom), an architect who is a paranoid about security. Luckily for him, his paranoia pays off, after Marky Mark's gang lays seige to Steve's state-of-the-art, automatic locked, bulletproof glassed, security camera'ed, lake house.

No magical mailboxes at this lake house

A sub-plot of the movie involves Steve's attempt to land the Vancouver account. Steve's coworker Eddie seems pretty fearful of everyone in the office losing there job. But, apparently Steves the best designer in the firm...

Eddie: The Swaggart Project went to the bad guys. We're on thin ice here. So now its the Vancouver job or bust.
Steve: Well, show me the drafts we got, I'll make the presentation myself.
Eddie: That's what I wanted to hear.

Steve does go on to make the presentation himself, and comes up with this...

He stayed up all night for this?

Eddie: Yes! You did it! This is great. This is a work of art! You think you can stay conscience long enough to crunch out the new numbers?
Steve: I've been living on pure adrenaline for 24 hours, why stop now?

Mark Wahlberg Talks to Architects

"You design buildings? I produce Entourage!
Say 'hi' to your mother for me."

Mark Ruffalo in "Just Like Heaven"

2009-01-18T00:27:00.002-06:00

Mark Ruffalo as David the Landscape Architect

Ok, so its another movie where the architect's wife is dead and he starts to see spirits. But instead of mean ghouls, he sees cute-as-a-basket-of-kittens Reese Witherspoon. And they fall in love. But she's not dead, shes in a coma! So he builds her a garden. Then they kiss at the end. Seriously, if Reese wasn't in this movie I would have turned the movie off. The only way they could have made the movie worse is if they cast Napoleon Dynamite in a role. Whats that? Oh, they did cast Napoleon Dynamite in a role! I do this stuff in the name of research, kids, all for you.

Keanu Reeves in "The Lake House"

2009-01-17T23:16:00.007-06:00

Keanu Reeves as Ted "Theodor" Logan as Alex Wyler
Christopher Plummer as Simon Wyler
Eban Moss-Bachrach as Henry Wyler

Reeves and Bullock team up again in this supernatural story about a mailbox that sends letters though time. Reeves is Alex, a contractor who was trained as an architect under the supervision of his starchitect/professor father Simon. When we first meet the father, he is teaching a design studio at an unknown Chicago school. The professor's youngest son, Henry is in this course and starts to explain his project's concept to his father...

Bowtie? Check.
Drawings of ionic columns? Check.

Henry: Obviously I derived my inspiration from the metophor of The Louvre ...[pauses]...uh, yeah...

They scene abruptly cuts, but they imply through dialog in the next scene that the father stood their for two hours without speaking in order to humiliate his son. Which is what all good architecture professors do when they aren't busy either making students cry, setting models on fire, or speaking only in words that they read in their bedside thesaurus the previous night.

To cool down from the ordeal, the brother goes out to get a beer with his older bro, Alex, who has been absent from the family for a few years. Alex goes on to explain to Henry what hes been doing....

Henry: Condos?
Alex: I don't believe it. I come back after 4 years and I get this infront of me.
Henry: What?
Alex: My little brother thining he's Frank Lloyd Whatever.
Henry: Ah, Come on!
Alex: Dad keeps you hostage in that myth-making factory of his, but you still haven't built so much as a telephone booth or a hamster cage.
Henry: That's funny you say that actually, I have a hamster cage in mind. A development of them actually. Prefab, no foundations, What do you think about that?
Alex: See? That's what I'm talking about! You have visions. Speaking of which, I bought a house...

Its like Speed, but in a house. Over a long drawn out 4 years. And no explosions. But Keanu and Sandra do kiss in the end.

When Alex shows his little brother the house for the first time, a house that their father built for the family in the 70's, before their mom left the father...

Henry: When did he build it?
Alex: You weren't born and I was 8.
Henry: Corbusier meets Frank Lloyd Wright
Alex: Did you know, dad played cards with both of them.

Probably more like Corbusier meets the Victorian era. In truth, the stage that was built as the house had no toilets or running water. Seriously.

Alex: There should be a stairway down to the water, a porch, a deck. Here, you're in a - in a box. A glass box with a view to everything that's around you... but you can't touch it. No interconnection between you and what you're looking at.
Henry: I don't know, you know. He's got this big maple growing right in the middle of the house.
Alex: Containment.
[He pushes a button which opens a glass door]
Alex: Containment and control. This house is about ownership, not connection. I mean, it's beautiful. Seductive, even. But, it's incomplete.
[He pauses]
Alex: It was all about him. Dad knew how to build a house, not a home. But you know... I think he wants us to do what he couldn't. But, admitting that would mean admitting that he came up short in some way... that he could do more. And that tortures him.
Henry: Do you remembering being here with Mom?
Alex: I remember she tried to make it work here... with us... with him.

In this next scene, Ted hatches a plan to travel back in time to nab Core-Bus-Air for his architectural history thesis.

In the series of letters that Alex sends Sandra through the film, they get to know each other. When asked to discribe his favorite things, Alex writes, "For me its this city. On a day when the light is so clear I can touch every detail, every brick and window of the buildings I love..."

He then goes on to include in his next magical care package for her a map of Chicago with all of his favorite buildings on it in hopes that shes goes on a walking tour of the city and shares in his joys. She does. Along the path he drew for her, he spray painted a note for her (two years in the past, remember the magical timetraveling mailbox?) on the side of a building that reads, "(Sandra), I'm walking with you right now." Really, this seems like a jerk thing to do, defacing the buildings that he loves in the city that he love. I guess that the light wasn't so clear that day.

Customized walking tour maps are like the mixed tape of the architecture world, when you want to tell a girl how special she is.

Steve Martin in "HouseSitter"

2009-01-17T22:10:00.011-06:00

Steve Martin as Newton Davis
Roy Cooper as Winston Moseby
Peter MacNicol as Marty

The architect in a comedy is almost always the straight man. The definition of a straight man that comes from the wikipedia entry,

"A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic device in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin, and profession, but drastically different personalities. Often one of them, the straight man, feed or stooge is portrayed as reasonable and serious, and the other one, the funny man or comic is portrayed as funny, unintelligent or unorthodox."

Time in time again in funny movies, the architect takes this role. Matt Dillon was the straight man to Owen Wilson's funny man in You, Me & Dupree. Wilbur (an architect) was the straight man to Mr. Ed's funny horse. Although not usually the straight man (think Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Jerk, The Absent Minded Waiter) in HouseSitter, Steve Martin takes on Goldie Hawn, who as always is playing a free-spirited, fun loving, mischief making sexpot.

Inspired by Corbusier. Notice the piloti?
And Sears aluminum siding?

So, Newton builds the girl of his dreams, his high school sweetheart, a house and suprises her with it while proposing to her. She dumps him, he hops in bed with Goldie, has a one night stand, and then she finds a picture of the house on a napkin sketch that he did and moves in. Hilarity ensues.

Like Newton Davis, sketching on napkins is my preferred method of meeting strange women in bars.

When actors play against type, they usually include a scene where the actor will profess his believes, point of views or whatnot to show their character. Steve Martin does this early in the movie at the opening of a new skyscraper his firm designed. As Newton, he's chatting with his co-worker Marty (played by the guy who was the creepy art restorer from Ghostbusters II) and makes his views on the new building known.

Newton: "I still think its a boring building no matter how you look at it."
Marty: "The absolute best thing about this building in two words: billable hours."
Newton: "But did you have fun making it?"

The Jerk, AIA, is not a fan

Deep, Newton. Deep.
But it doesn't stop there. Soon they run into the head of the office, Winston Moseby. Marty is a seedy little guy who has no problem kissing ass. Newton on the other hand...

Marty: "Well, Mr. Moseby, congratulations on another beautiful job."
Winston: "Thank you Marty. I think everyone has a right to feel proud."
Marty: "Absolutely. You know, I don't know if its the champagne talking, but I want to say your leadership on this has been an inspiration to all of us on the project and... and I hope I haven't embarrasted you."
Winston: "Not at all"
Marty: "I dont know if you know Davis here from the firm..."
Newton and Winston Shake hands.
Newton: "The building...! Huh.... Wow! Its....(thinking)....there!"
Winston: "Yes?"
Newton: "You know that Boston Bank building you designed years ago? I have stood on the sidewalk for hours absorbing that structure. It still suprises me."
Winston: "Thank you Davis"
Newton: "Don't you think we should be going for that kind of originality? Instead of these same designs over and over... this... this cookie cutter architecture? Don't you feel sometimes like were just going through the motions?"
Winston: "We are the largest architecture firm in New England. Evidently some people like what we do (starts to walk away)."

Apparently for all his talk, Newton and Marty aren't that good of architects either. Perhaps its an early phase of design, but some of the one line zingers that are said between plot advancing conversations about women problems are just too good...

"The only entrance you have here is through the air conditioning duct."
&
"You have people exiting into a wall here."

Perhaps one of the lines that most stands out in the film isn't Newton proclaiming his thoughts and theories on the built environment, but on Goldie stating her thoughts on Newton. Perhaps its a fate Newton doesn't want to be condemned to, something that as a student he feared would happen to him. When they first get back to Goldie's apartment before said one night stand...

Goldie: "Well, this is my place."
Newton: "Cozy. I like what you did with the drape...thing."
Goldie: "Well, I'm no architect."
Newton: "Its nice. I like how you used...the negative...space."
Goldie: "I like you. You're just so.... average."

Henry Fonda in "12 Angry Men"

2009-01-11T13:06:00.007-06:00

Henry Fonda as Juror #8

Sidney Lummet directed this 1957 drama about a dozen jurors. The sole voice of opposition against the Guilty verdict is an Architect, who uses his power of deduction and intellect to convince the other 11 men that the boy on trial.

The man in white

During a break of deliberation, #7, a salesmen, says to #8, "Hey, you a salesman or something? You sure got that soft sale down. Me, I'm really agressive, with jokes, tricks, stories..."
"No, I'm an architect," #8 replies.

The architect critics the circulation & flow of the crime scene

Michael J. Fox in "The Frighteners"

2009-01-11T12:47:00.008-06:00

Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister

Before Peter Jackson made Kong and the Lord of the Rings trilogy he wrote, produced and directed this horror/supernatural comedy. Frank Bannister is an architect who is involved in a car accident that results in a) his wife dying and 2) he sees spirits.

Years of all nighters produce strange side effects

Years later, when the movie begins, he is a supernatural investigator/conman who uses his ghost friends to earn a quick buck. While the movie focuses mostly on his second job, there is a subplot that involved Bannister's unfinished house. The movie is supposed to take place in the midwest, but was actually filmed in New Zealand.

Alex P. Keaton, AIA

Paul Newman in "The Towering Inferno"

2009-01-10T23:13:00.009-06:00

Paul Newman as Doug Roberts

In 1974, Doug Roberts builds the tallest skyscraper in the world in San Francisco. At a total of 136 stories, I really don't want to do the math as to how tall this sky scraper is. I'm guessing well over a mile high though, judging by the ego's of the film's two stars, Newman and McQueen.

The opening credits: The Jetseting Architect

One hero is the Architect that must navigate the complicated plans and systems of this building for the film's second hero, McQueen's Fire Chief, to fulfill his job description. To those of you in the business out there, you'll be happy to learn that the film's villains are the contractor and the electrical engineer. These two skip on costs, use shoddy building material and 'only' build to code, which of course, is not what the architect spec'ed. In the end, the two heroes must blow up the water tanks above the penthouse of the tower to drown the conflagration.

The 136 story 'Glass Tower'

By Far, the best part of the movie is the brief encounters between Newman and McQueen.

Chief O'Hallorhan: [sighs] Architects.
Doug Roberts: Yeah, it's all our fault.
Chief O'Hallorhan: Now, you know there's no sure way for us to fight a fire in anything over the seventh floor, but you guys just keep building 'em as high as you can.
Doug Roberts: Hey. Are you here to take me on, or the fire?

Newman pretends to look at drawrings

Doug Roberts: [picks up ringing phone] Roberts.
Chief O'Hallorhan: It's out of control, and it's coming your way. You got about fifteen minutes. Now, they wanna try somethin'. They wanna blow those water tanks two floors above you. They think it might kill the fire.
Doug Roberts: How're they gonna get the explosives up here?
Chief O'Hallorhan: [after already having been given the task] Oh, they'll find some dumb son of a bitch to bring it up.

Breaking the rules:
Riding elevators while the building is on fire

Doug Roberts: I don't know. Maybe they just oughta leave it the way it is. Kind of a shrine to all the bullshit in the world.

Newman saves children

[last Lines ]
Chief O'Hallorhan: You know we were pretty lucky tonight, body count's less then 200. You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill ten-thousand in one of these firetraps, and I'm gonna keep eating smoke and carrying out bodies until someone asks us... how to build them.
Doug Roberts: Ok, I'm asking.
Chief O'Hallorhan: You know where to reach me. Goodbye, Architect.

Setting the C-4, Doug Roberts does his
best Howard Roark impression.

Adam Sandler in "Click"

2009-01-08T16:33:00.020-06:00

Adam Sander as Michael Newman
David Hasselhoff as John Ammer
Jake Hoffman as Ben Newman

Michael Newman stands in front of the only semi-decent design in this piece of crap film.

Michael Newman is the typical workaholic architect in this comedy film. After a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond, Newman finds himself in the possession of a remote that controls the universe. The film starts out with Newman late for a meeting with the Arab Prince Habeeboo (played by Rob "Dwerp" Schnieder), who commissioned a new resturant from Newman's firm, Ammer Architects, headed by John Ammer (David Haselhoff). Newman has the opportunity to present the design concept to the Prince

The Prince Habeeboo and John Ammer discuss high design.

"Prince Haboobie, when Mr. Ammer explained to me the type of man you are, a visionary who prides himself on originality, I said to myself 'Let's smash the mold and redefine elegance'. I present to you, your resturant!"

The awesomeness of it all.

The first question the prince asks, "Where is bar?". Then the prince demands that the bar be bigger, taking over the Atrium/Garden/Pond area. "No atrium, longer bar. And put drain in floor for wet T-shirt contest."
"You're kidding me!?!?" Michael responds.
"Well, he's right, water has to go somewhere Mike," Ammer says as he rips the model apart and pokes a drain into the foamcore with his pencil.
"I love it! It's Awesome!" exclaims the prince.
For those of you students out there, slaving away in studio, don't forget this very important lesson: Water does have to go somewhere.

Later, a chance to design a new hotel for a group of Japenese investors come up, Associate Michael Newman jumps at the chance thinking it will make him a partner. Taking the design home over fourth of July weekend, Michael works late into the night on this:

Angled walls always never a bad choice for good design.

As Michael tires of working, he decides to use the remote to fast forward through the weekend. Keep in mind, that in the movie they show that Michael acts like a braindead fool when he's on "Autopilot", so its no suprise that on Monday morning Mike shows up at the office with this plan:

"Its actually pretty good. Look, a river in the lobby! Cool"

However, Michael is actually suprised that his design is good. I guess he's also a bumbling idiot in real life. However, the Japanese investors don't give a damn. Once again, Mike is forced to sell out to maximize rooms and profit.

The Hoff debating the aesthetic qualities of his secretaries' toenail colors

Who would have guessed, but the remote control starts to develop a mind of its own, and forwards Michael 10 years into the future. How do we know its the future?

In the future, architects still love Barcelona chairs and the Eames chairs.

In the future, all architects will ride segways around the office while carrying brightly colored drawing tube on their back. Why can't this future be now?

Michael Newman now holds the title of "Architect of the Year". I can only assume that the Prizker foundation decides to alter their prize of have been completely wiped out of existence.

In the future, the success of the Freedom Tower leads to the construction of a second, identical Freedom Tower.

In some movies, the architect is supposed to be a cultivated man, a thoughtful man, someone who thinks through problems, is a romantic, or creative. In Click, Sandler's role as an architect is used for two main purposes. The first, as a workaholic, he seems like a great candidate for the Angle of Death (played great by Walken) to give his time remote control to. The second, we get a reminder of how the future is represented by the built environment. If a hospital door opens like a door from the USS Enterprise, it must be the future. Unfortuanly, Newman plays the architect not as the sophisticate, but as the common man who kicks people in the balls and farts in their face. But hey! Who doesn't enjoy a good laugh at a dog banging a stuffed duck?

The aesthetics of the furniture and decor of this frame serve as a reminder that the setting is the present day.