5 Favorite Movies With A Home Improvement Theme

by Lewis Robinson

Many home buyers and homeowners eventually go through renovating their homes. The project might conclude quickly for small changes made to the dwelling, or, depending on the scale and scope of the home overhaul, it can take years. Once the family moves into the home, the repair projects do not stop. For homeowners, home improvements can seem never-ending. While many find these home maintenance chores enjoyable, a sizeable number of people find making home improvements fraught with ironies and exasperating situations as part of the process until the work concludes. In honor of those who have experienced home improvement projects' joys and sorrows, moviemakers have latched onto the subject. They can provide you with five favorite movies that offer home improvement as the focus of each film.

1. Life as a House

The theme of repairing a fractured family relationship parallels the experience of a terminally ill architect who decides to rebuild a small family home with the aid of his estranged son. Actor Kevin Kline plays George Monroe, the father who becomes sick, in this 2001 movie. George and his wife have divorced, and she has remarried, but their son Sam, played by Hayden Christensen, feels alienated in the new family. Sam ends up joining George for the summer to rebuild the house, which Sam does, without knowing that George is dying. Home construction provides the primary reason for the characters to join together, and realistic touches, such as a step ladder, often feature prominently as set pieces and props in movies like this one about home improvement.

2. Under the Tuscan Sun

Many dream of purchasing a home in Italy and starting a new life there. Such is the premise of the 2003 movie based on the 1996 memoir of the same title. Diane Lane plays the lead character Frances Mayes, who recently divorced, finds herself without her marriage home and chooses to buy a Tuscan villa, hoping to bring good changes to her life. The renovation of this crumbling home brings new people into Mayes' life and leads to romance.

3. The Money Pit

Tom Hanks and Shelley Long star in this movie from 1986, about a couple who purchases a home at a discount rate from unscrupulous sellers. Immediately after taking possession of the house, every home system begins to fall apart, and thus they start on the numerous home repair projects that last throughout the story. The movie also provides an excellent example of how home improvement projects can take longer than expected to complete but shares this information humorously in the film.

4. The Notebook

The romance of young love in the 1940s provides the impetus for this romantic yet heartbreaking film from 2004. James Gardener and Gena Rowlands play the elderly modern-day couple of Noah and Allie. Old Allie, plagued by dementia and living in a nursing home with old Noah, listens as Noah reads her a story from a notebook about a young couple who met in the 1940s and, despite the odds, eventually got together. A pivotal part of the film centers on actors Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams's portrayal of the couple in earlier years. In this part of the story, the young Noah remodels a plantation that he purchased in the hopes of winning youthful Allie back from her soon-to-be-married fiance.

5. The Karate Kid

A teenager, Daniel LaRusso, and his mother move across the country and set up residence in an apartment building, where the building handyman, Mr. Miyagi, teaches the teen about more than home improvement techniques. Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio star in the 1984 film that combines home repair with martial arts. The teen suffers when bullies make his life hard, but Mr. Miyagi teaches him about karate, leading to the ultimate confrontation of Daniel against his foe.

Home renovation projects will always make their way into modern life. However, movies with a home improvement theme can help viewers take a step back and give them a lighter look at what can often become an emotional subject.