The number of times I have seen this trailer in the last two months shows that movie theaters wanted it tattooed in the back of people's minds. Plus, with the Sydney Sweeney controversies going on, it was just free publicity at this point. Based on the bestselling book series by Freida McFadden, this was an adaptation of The Housemaid, a book I have seen in almost every bookstore but have never read. I was never interested in its premise.
Lionsgate, however, has more confidence in this film than anyone else, despite not having a true box-office hit in years. They aim to possibly create a new lukewarm franchise here with Sydney Sweeney at its front, at a time of her career that is mostly boiled down to her perhaps aalleged political ties after the infamous American Eagle ad. But the main appeal of The Housemaid is not its titular star but rather everybody else involved. It may bode well with Paul Feig, but no one else in this first film could return for a potential sequel.
I am getting ahead of myself, so let's stick with what happens in this movie. The Housemaid revolves around Millie, hired by the Winchesters, a wealthy couple in suburban New York, composed of Amanda Seyfried as Nina, her husband, Andrew, played by Brandon Sklenar, and her daughter, Cece to essentially be a modern housemaid. The main idea is that everything is too perfect, but as the film progresses, you are introduced to one twist after another, revealing that the ideal veneer hides guarded secrets. The trailer does a good job of keeping a lot under its belt for not revealing too much, but book fans were probably very well prepared.
Paul Feig has a favorite new genre in his hands, especially after adapting Darcey Bell's A Simple Favor. The themes of psychological thrillers featuring attractive people and the number of twists and scandals they entail are very similar in these two adaptations, and, once again, he pulls it off. The Housemaid does manage to pull me in, being the kind of movie about crazy, wealthy suburban families.
The Housemaid has a lot more to say than that, for it evokes the dangers of believing the kindness of the good Samaritan rather than most stories that portray the exploitation of it. McFadden is, of course, allegorizing, glorifying, and almost fetishizing perfection, which is translated here. Still, it seems baseless when you have Sweeney not doing much of a good job of being the protagonist, going against it.
Sweeney's Millie is interesting, a complex female character that you can root for. Separating the actor from the character can be easy if you don't think too much about it; for the rest of the movie, including the other actors, its tone, and aesthetic, everything around it distracts audiences enough to realize that Sweeney is just the best actor she can manage to be. But a lot of us knew that already. She did a good job in Anyone But You, but she continues to make ‘interesting’ choices. However, this is a better performance than most roles she has taken recently.
To think this could be a franchise that relies on Sweeney's acting can prove underwhelming, but I can be down to stick it out for more actors to outact her in any way. Still, I personally think there was no one else who could have done Nina Winchester justice other than Seyfried, especially after seeing her in limited shows like The Dropout. I did not doubt her portrayal of this trad wife who is very much in power, or so you think. She is the real highlight of the film. Opposite Sweeney, she is at her A-game, entertaining, terrifying, and engrossing to watch.
You may recognize Sklenar from Christopher Landon's Drop, a movie I hoped more people watched. He definitely has more play with here in comparison. Henry Golding could not hold a candle to Sklenar for portraying a problematic, wealthy husband in a Paul Feig thriller. He has the most surprising portrayal in the film.
Despite the twists that drive a lot of this film, I put the pieces together 30 to 40 minutes before we started getting answers. That's a good reason as to why I will not be picking up the novel series. The execution, though, was still enjoyable and proved to be a good time at the movies. The movie is stressful, at times cringey, and offers enough to avert your eyes during some sequences. Rebecca Sonnenshine delivers a great script that doesn't leave you bored, which I think is a big win.
Releasing this on Christmas is an interesting way to counter-program, given it is coming out the same day as Avatar: Fire and Ash, which could overshadow any chance of box-office success. Despite Sweeney's subpar performance, The Housemaid was such a treat to watch with a big crowd, a luxury I may have had but will not be possible in the long run. But there have been some sleeper hits recently, and this could be a reasonable exception.
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