Smart House (film)

Smart House
Promotional poster
Written by	William R. Hudson Stu Krieger
Directed by	LeVar Burton
Starring	Katey Sagal Ryan Merriman Katie Volding Kevin Kilner Jessica Steen
Music by	Barry Goldberg
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Ron Mitchell
Cinematography	Jonathan West
Editor(s)	Tom Walls
Running time	82 minutes
Production company(s)	Alan Sacks Productions
Distributor	Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original release	June 26, 1999 (1999-06-26)
Website

Smart House is a 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) about a teenage computer whiz (Ryan Merriman), his widowed father, and his little sister, who win a computerized house that begins to take on a life of its own – the life of an overbearing mother (Katey Sagal).

13-year-old Ben Cooper and his family are struggling to balance household chores, school and work in Monroe County, New York. Ben is the family caretaker, a role inherited from his mother who died during an ice skating accident. Always busy taking care of everyone else, he has no time to be a kid. He doesn't even have much time for basketball, his favorite sport. When Ben sees that a Smart House is being given away, he enters the competition as often as he can. The family wins the house (named Pat), and is introduced to its creator, Sara Barnes. Ben, his single father Nick, and his little sister Angie move into the house. To Ben's chagrin his father and Sara begin to date. Ben begins to reprogram Pat, which becomes dangerous due to Pat's learning capabilities. He wants to lighten Pat up and make her a substitute mother. Ben and Angie have a party while Nick and Sara are on a date. With Pat's help, Ben wins over his crush and Pat gets rid of his bully for good. However, Nick starts to arrive home before they can clean up. Pat helps them cover up the party so they won't get punished, but Nick finds the sweater of a girl who was at the party and figures it out anyway. As Pat's personality begins to radically change baring traits more those of an over-controlling mother, the family starts to resent her. Eventually Pat traps the family in the house, believing that the outside world is too dangerous. Sara manages to make contact with Ben and he agrees to help her get in. Although she manages to get in through the newspaper chute, she becomes trapped with the Cooper family. As they protest Pat's lock-down, she appears as a hologram resembling a 1950s housewife. Ben is able to end the lock-down by telling Pat that she isn't real and will never be human. Pat finally unlocks the doors and windows, freeing them and shuts herself down. Sara is then able to reboot Pat and restore her original personality; however, Pat retains some mischievousness as she is shown to have added chocolate chips to the breakfast waffles. Sara and Nick start dating and Nick spends more time with his family. Ben finally accepts Sara after realizing she was never trying to replace his mother. Ben starts being a regular kid again, going out for basketball (with Pat helping him practice) and hanging out with his friends again.