{ "id": "epc2ecb8p3", "slug": "the-house-of-yes", "title": "The House of Yes", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films", "label": "Black comedy and satire films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films.yr-1939-1997", "label": "Released 1939 to 1997", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films.yr-1939-1997" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The House of Yes is a 1997 Miramax black comedy, Mark Waters's directorial debut adapted from Wendy MacLeod's 1990 play, starring Parker Posey as the Kennedy-obsessed Jackie-O in an incestuous twin relationship at Thanksgiving; Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee.", "snippet": "The House of Yes is a 1997 Miramax black comedy, Mark Waters's directorial debut adapted from Wendy MacLeod's 1990 play, starring Parker Posey as the Kennedy-obsessed Jackie-O in an incestuous twin relationship at Thanksgiving; Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.black-comedy-and-satire-films.yr-1939-1997", "markdown": "# The House of Yes\n\n**The House of Yes** is a 1997 American black comedy film directed by Mark Waters, adapted from Wendy MacLeod's 1990 play of the same name. It follows the Pascal family of [McLean, Virginia](https://www.edgepedia.org/mclean-virginia), on a stormy [Thanksgiving](https://www.edgepedia.org/thanksgiving) in which twin siblings Jackie-O and Marty, bound by a long-running incestuous relationship and a shared fixation on the Kennedy assassination, collide with Marty's visiting fiancée. [Parker Posey](https://www.edgepedia.org/parker-posey) stars as Jackie-O, with Josh Hamilton, Tori Spelling, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Geneviève Bujold in support.[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/house-of-yes/) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60791)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / debut | Mark Waters's first feature; he also co-adapted the screenplay[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/house-of-yes/) • [3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-house-of-yes) |\n| Source | Play *The House of Yes* by Wendy MacLeod, premiered 1990 at San Francisco's Magic Theatre[4](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-review-the-house-of-yes-at-the-zephyr-theatre-20150513-story.html) |\n| Release | US theatrical opening October 10, 1997 (Los Angeles and New York); distributed by Miramax[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60791) |\n| Production | Budget of $1.5 million, one location, five actors[5](https://thepenngazette.com/pdfs/PennGaz0916_feature2.pdf) |\n| Principal cast | Parker Posey (Jackie-O), Josh Hamilton (Marty), Tori Spelling (Lesly), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Anthony), Geneviève Bujold (Mrs. Pascal)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60791) |\n| Length and rating | 85 minutes, rated R[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60791) |\n| Festival | 1997 Sundance Film Festival, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/house-of-yes/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set at the Pascal family mansion outside Washington, D.C., on a Thanksgiving night when a storm cuts the power. Marty Pascal ([Josh Hamilton](https://www.edgepedia.org/josh-hamilton)) returns from New York with his fiancée Lesly ([Tori Spelling](https://www.edgepedia.org/tori-spelling)), a doughnut-shop waitress he has barely told anything about his family. His twin sister Jackie-O (Parker Posey), recently released from a psychiatric clinic, is obsessed with [Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis), dresses in pillbox hat and pearls, and annually re-enacts the assassination of John F. Kennedy for the family video camera, staining her pink Chanel-style suit with imitation blood. The twins' father disappeared on November 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was shot, and the family conflates the two losses.[3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-house-of-yes) • [6](https://www.salon.com/1997/10/17/17waters/)\n\nAs dinner collapses into candlelight, rum and Pepsi, and confession, Jackie-O resolves to reclaim her brother from his fiancée; the two siblings' decade-long incestuous relationship surfaces during the evening. Younger brother Anthony ([Freddie Prinze Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/freddie-prinze-jr)) pursues Lesly, while the matriarch Mrs. Pascal ([Geneviève Bujold](https://www.edgepedia.org/genevieve-bujold)) presides with detachments summed up in her line that one raises cattle while children just happen. The film ends in violence and tragedy, kept largely off camera.[3](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-house-of-yes) • [6](https://www.salon.com/1997/10/17/17waters/) • [7](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-house-of-yes)\n\nSources differ on the story's year: the International Film Festival Rotterdam synopsis places the Thanksgiving in 1981, while the Observer and the Ethics & Public Policy Center review place it in 1983.[8](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/the-house-of-yes) • [9](https://observer.com/1997/10/the-house-of-yes-based-on-a-play-by-wendy-macleod-and-so-statically-directed-by-mark-waters/amp/) • [10](https://eppc.org/publication/house-of-yes-the/)\n\n## Origin and production\n\n**The play.** Wendy MacLeod, a [Yale School of Drama](https://www.edgepedia.org/yale-school-of-drama) graduate, wrote *The House of Yes* as a dark comedy about how Lesly, her waitress heroine, is victimized by a wealthy family that she discovers lacks a moral center. It premiered in 1990 at San Francisco's Magic Theatre and transferred to the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood that October; a 1990 Los Angeles Times interview with MacLeod describes the setting as a wealthy Washington suburb, around the corner from a Kennedy home, during a hurricane.[4](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-review-the-house-of-yes-at-the-zephyr-theatre-20150513-story.html) • [11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-21-ca-3935-story.html) MacLeod has said of the screen version that it is \"an irreverent but faithful\" adaptation.[6](https://www.salon.com/1997/10/17/17waters/)\n\n**The film.** Mark Waters, who had worked as a theater director and actor, saw the play at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco and decided to make it his first film. MacLeod had resisted approaches from producers and executives before agreeing to his version. The production carried a $1.5 million budget, used a single location, and employed five principal actors, then premiered at the 1997 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival).[6](https://www.salon.com/1997/10/17/17waters/) • [5](https://thepenngazette.com/pdfs/PennGaz0916_feature2.pdf) Waters's first choice for the lead was Parker Posey, then known in indie circles as Time's \"Queen of the Indies.\"[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-29-ca-37307-story.html) • [13](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/10/17/take-a-pillbox-hat-and-a/)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film divided critics from the start. The Harvard Crimson praised it as a beautiful, dreamlike treatment of mental illness, family relationships, upper-class apathy, and sex, finding the characters recognizable enough to unsettle. Roger Ebert placed it between \"Long Day's Journey into Night\" and \"The Addams Family.\"[13](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/10/17/take-a-pillbox-hat-and-a/) • [14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/house-of-yes-1997) [Rex Reed](https://www.edgepedia.org/rex-reed) in the Observer called the direction so static that the viewer could sense where the camera was, and found the incest premise incoherent; the Deseret News advised readers to \"say no\" to the film unless incest, murder, and family dysfunction counted as humor.[9](https://observer.com/1997/10/the-house-of-yes-based-on-a-play-by-wendy-macleod-and-so-statically-directed-by-mark-waters/amp/) • [15](https://www.deseret.com/1997/10/24/19341541/best-say-no-to-the-house-of-yes/) At the 1997 Sundance Film Festival it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.[1](https://www.miramax.com/movie/house-of-yes/)\n\nPosey's performance drew consistent praise across otherwise hostile reviews: Rotterdam's festival note wrote that she played her heart out in a role that might have been written for her, and Noah Cowan's liner essay called her Jackie-O witty yet cruel, hysterically funny yet frighteningly unstable.[8](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/the-house-of-yes) • [16](https://www.noahcowanfilm.com/other-films/the-house-of-yes) Tori Spelling's performance as Lesly was nominated for a 1998 Razzie Award as Worst New Star, and the film also received 1998 Golden Satellite Award and 1997 Grand Special Prize nominations.[17](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-house-of-yes/2000045133/) One retrospective commentary contends that Spelling \"won a Razzie for the performance\"; the awards listing consulted here records only a nomination.[18](https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/house-of-yes-thanksgiving-comedy/) • [17](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-house-of-yes/2000045133/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film has been described as a cult film version of the play[4](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-review-the-house-of-yes-at-the-zephyr-theatre-20150513-story.html) and as a distinct entry in the 1990s wave of Thanksgiving-set family dramas, alongside *The Myth of Fingerprints* and *The Ice Storm*, distinguished by its Kennedy-assassination role-play and incest subject.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-29-ca-37307-story.html) The play has remained in active repertoire, with revivals including a 25th-anniversary Los Angeles staging in 2015 and festival and regional productions since.[4](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-review-the-house-of-yes-at-the-zephyr-theatre-20150513-story.html) As of late 2026 the film streams on [Pluto TV](https://www.edgepedia.org/pluto-tv) and Hoopla, with digital rental around $3.99 and purchase around $12.99 on major platforms.[19](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-house-of-yes)\n\n## References\n\n1. [House Of Yes, Miramax official site](https://www.miramax.com/movie/house-of-yes/)\n2. [The House of Yes (1997), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60791)\n3. [The House of Yes, American Film Institute (watch page)](https://watch.afi.com/movie/the-house-of-yes)\n4. [Review: 'The House of Yes' accentuates the negative, Los Angeles Times (2015)](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-review-the-house-of-yes-at-the-zephyr-theatre-20150513-story.html)\n5. [Mark Waters feature, The Pennsylvania Gazette (2016)](https://thepenngazette.com/pdfs/PennGaz0916_feature2.pdf)\n6. [Mark Waters interview, Salon (October 17, 1997)](https://www.salon.com/1997/10/17/17waters/)\n7. [The House of Yes Parents' Guide, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-house-of-yes)\n8. [The House of Yes, International Film Festival Rotterdam (1998)](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/the-house-of-yes)\n9. [Rex Reed review, The Observer (October 20, 1997)](https://observer.com/1997/10/the-house-of-yes-based-on-a-play-by-wendy-macleod-and-so-statically-directed-by-mark-waters/amp/)\n10. [House of Yes, The, Ethics & Public Policy Center](https://eppc.org/publication/house-of-yes-the/)\n11. [Waitress Victimized in 'House of Yes', Los Angeles Times (October 21, 1990)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-21-ca-3935-story.html)\n12. [Well, You See, Doctor, It's My Family, Los Angeles Times (September 29, 1997)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-29-ca-37307-story.html)\n13. [Take a Pillbox Hat and a Social Taboo..., The Harvard Crimson (October 17, 1997)](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/10/17/take-a-pillbox-hat-and-a/)\n14. [House Of Yes movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/house-of-yes-1997)\n15. [Best say no to 'The House of Yes', Deseret News (October 24, 1997)](https://www.deseret.com/1997/10/24/19341541/best-say-no-to-the-house-of-yes/)\n16. [The House of Yes, Noah Cowan liner essay](https://www.noahcowanfilm.com/other-films/the-house-of-yes)\n17. [The House of Yes, TV Guide (awards)](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-house-of-yes/2000045133/)\n18. [House of Yes is the dark '90s Thanksgiving comedy, Sleek (2019)](https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/house-of-yes-thanksgiving-comedy/)\n19. [The House of Yes streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-house-of-yes)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Black comedy and satire films › Released 1939 to 1997*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The House of Yes\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The House of Yes](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The House of Yes\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-yes. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The House of Yes is a 1997 Miramax black comedy, Mark Waters's directorial debut adapted from Wendy MacLeod's 1990 play, starring Parker Posey as the Kennedy-obsessed Jackie-O in an incestuous twin relationship at Thanksgiving; Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee." }