The Housemaid Review
This adaptation leans into the more out there elements of the novel, and has a lot of fun while it's at it.
Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is down on her luck and needs a job desperately. She gets a role as the housemaid for Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) and her rich, sexy husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar). It seems like a dream role, but after getting the job, Millie starts to find some odd things - a room that locks from the outside, and a Nina who seems completely at odds with her initial impression and who changes up her entire personality depending on the day.
Paul Feig undertakes this novel to film adaptation, and does so with a fair amount of cheeky fun. Feig leans into the wild, out there, soap opera elements of the book. This is no Gone Girl vibe; if anything, this feels more telemovie or Real Housewives. It’s fun, funny, and a blast.
The cast is pretty much OK across the board. Sweeney and Sklenar are both serviceable in their roles, and there are moments that both shine above the characters themselves; Sweeney when taking bloody revenge, and Sklenar in a fun switch up moment. But the only issue with their performances is that they are outclassed by Seyfried, who is truly wonderful. She plays to the absolute rafters with her out there performance, and it is iconic from start to finish. Seyfried continues to shine and showcase her immense talent.
The film chugs along nicely, and there are sequences that feel really fun and engaging. Some of the set design and cinematography can at times feel a little on the cheap side, and some of the side characters are so buried (the groundskeeper is almost non-existent in this adaptation), and these moments make this film feel like a bit more fun than function.
If you are a reader of the original novel, you might find it fun how they adapted it - the things they cut, the things they included, and the things they changed up slightly.
Ultimately, this film is a blast of fun, fresh air that is perfect for the holidays.
