Bill Campbell in 'Enough'

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.

Matt Dillon in 'You, Me and Dupree'

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'

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."

Woody Harrelson in "Indecent Proposal"

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.